Issue 15-03-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Catharine Weaver on open living
I sit still, listening to the repeated opening and slamming of the outer door as other Meeting house users arrive. Our small number of evening worshippers has centred down, probably barely aware of the sounds, while for me they intrude yet. Can we not wedge that door open? After all,...
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‘The symbol of Christ must continually be interpreted in new ways.’
One day a young man stops me on the street earnestly asking: ‘Do you believe in God? Are you a Christian?’ I am in a hurry to reach the train so I quickly answer: ‘That really depends on what you mean by that.’ For several years I have actually been...
‘We older folk need young people more than they need us.’
Is your Meeting thriving or surviving? How well is it attended? How many of the people who come are over sixty? Is it difficult to fill all the positions required to make the Meeting function, or is it just the same people doing the same jobs year after year?
‘For me it need not and should not be “just” anything.’
The current Viking exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery has carvings combining Odin with Christian symbols. The merging of the two religions continued after the Vikings settled here. As other religions encountered Christianity in Africa, Asia and the Americas in later centuries, many of their followers found ways...
‘The survey focuses on who people are, asking respondents to classify themselves.’
Diversity should be valued, and being an inclusive community is important. Any work to address these issues is very welcome. How genuinely welcoming are we to anyone who feels drawn to the Quaker Way? How able are we to translate our message into different idioms? We may not be aware...
The children in Quaker Meeting
The children in Quaker Meeting are learning the different sorts of insulation: newspapers on the ground work for rough sleepers. Bubble-wrap pillows will lie on asphalt. For the lucky, it may be ewe’s wool in the attic, layer upon layer of lanolin blessing.
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Extinction Rebellion cases dropped
Three protestors summonsed to stand trial for their action in support of the Extinction Rebellion (ER) movement have had their court cases dropped.
Quaker MP brings ‘right to work’ bill
Quaker Catharine West, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, brought a bill to parliament last month seeking to give asylum seekers the right to work. The MP brought the bill after a sustained ‘Lift the Ban’ campaign with cross-party support from Conservatives including Dame Caroline Spelman, Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine,...
International Women’s Day activity
Friends around the country came together to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, with events ranging from film screenings to workshops and discussions. Doncaster Meeting House hosted a ‘Women in Business Day’, while Friargate Quakers held an International Women’s Day Celebration organised by the group Unite the Union...
Women’s historical peace photography
Bradford’s Peace Museum marked International Women’s Day by celebrating women’s contribution to peace photography following world war one.
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
Robert Wright has taught psychology and religion at prestigious universities. His motivation here is to overcome, or at least erode, the psychology of tribalism – the tendency to define ourselves by our opposition to some other group. He writes that now we are on the verge of a global community, we...
Letters - 15 March 2019
Pointing the finger I can understand why concern has been expressed about the protests and boycotts by Friends over the treatment of Palestinians by Israel, harsh and brutal though that treatment may be. Israel does seem to be singled out when scant, if any, concern has been expressed by Quakers...