Issue 08-03-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Terry Hobday on real community
Is it my imagination or did we once have a Testimony to Community? We need to rediscover it, or think about fostering one. This will not be an easy task, as there are cultural, social and psychological roadblocks in our way. I am indebted to previous generations of Friends for...
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‘We are committed to fostering a spirit of loving unity within Quakerism.’
As Young Friends General Meeting (YFGM), we have been aware of, and sometimes troubled by, the growing conversation in Quakerism about trans and non-binary identities. Relative to cis people (whose gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth), trans and non-binary people face unique challenges, ranging from obtaining adequate...
‘It is tempting to think of Benjamin Lay as an anachronism.’
Some time around the year 1731, a Quaker called Sarah Lay went to visit her neighbour on Barbados. Sarah was shown into her neighbour’s kitchen, and couldn’t help noticing something hanging from a beam in the ceiling. It was not a side of ham or a brace of conies,...
‘It is the only local organisation offering these services.’
The Peace Centre in Cape Town was founded by members of the Cape Western Monthly Meeting (CWMM) in the 1980s. This was when conflict between South Africans and the apartheid government was at its height. From the outset, Friends in Britain and Ireland – and elsewhere – provided financial support. In 2008, the...
‘Telling the Truth About God’ by Rhiannon Grant
Everyone does theology. Each of us has an understanding of what God is or is not, and for Quakers that begins with our experience. We value our meetings and the experiences we have there, which we might call ‘spiritual’. This is a direct experience, without a priest, and traditions may...
Seen and Unseen: Ways of being along Quaker and Buddhist paths by Peter Jarman
In developing a post-Christian and posttheist perception of what is of value in faith and practice, Peter Jarman has produced a challenging study that embraces an investigation of the meaning of God, prayer and spiritual experience. His reflections focus on his experience as a Quaker, on Buddhist belief, and on...
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QCEA launches anti-hate speech campaign
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has launched a campaign aimed at tackling antimigrant hate speech in preparation for the European Parliamentary elections in May.
Stansted Fifteen’s call back to court a mistake
The Stansted Fifteen protesters have been told that their summons to court on an aggravated trespass case last month was an ‘error’.
Anti-BP protest on anniversary of UK’s peace rally against the Iraq war
Sixteen years on since millions of people marched against the prospect of a war in Iraq, Quakers joined hundreds of activists at the British Museum to protest against its sponsorship by BP.
Quaker author gives workshop on creativity
Twelve Friends attended Winchmore Hill Meeting House on 24 February for a workshop with Quaker author Stephen Cox. The debut novelist of Our Child of the Stars talked about the link between Quaker silence and creativity.
Quakers at Church and Peace gathering
Quakers from around Britain made up about half of the participants who gathered in Birmingham on 23 February for the third annual Church and Peace (C&P) gathering. The topic, ‘Peace is not a fairy-tale – we have to work to make it happen’, had been devised by C&P...
Manchester Friend’s ‘biscuit challenge’
A Quaker intends to launch a ‘Quaker biscuit challenge’ in response to discussions at the Spring Gathering on Sustainability organised by Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting last month.
The poet, the prophet and the pilgrim
spirit guides their feet as they dance in a daze, in a haze waving their nets above untamed hair beach side, sea side
Letters - 8 March 2019
Getting real I felt so moved by Judy Clinton’s article (1 February) that I want to tell you how much it spoke to my condition. I am very grateful to have read it and am astonished to note how much her words apply to my own difficulties, not with Fibromyalgia,...