Latest News
Interfaith at YMG
Friends have received a challenge to live out their testimonies from an unexpected source – a panel consisting entirely of non-Quakers. Around 120 Quakers squeezed into a small room for an event at Yearly Meeting Gathering looking at other faiths’ approach to sustainability. As the room became packed, other Friends were...
Changes to Meeting for Sufferings
The decision to change the composition and size of Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) was one of the more significant ones made at Yearly Meeting Gathering. The session, on Tuesday afternoon, included the Review of Meeting for Sufferings and Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees, which revealed the deliberations of a group...
Economic justice
British Quakers have committed themselves to a statement describing the world’s economic system as unjust. The description appeared in a minute of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) last week. ‘The global economic system is posited on continued economic growth and, in its pursuit of growth, it is often violent,...
Peace 350
Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) have rededicated themselves to active nonviolence with a new declaration based on comments from Meetings across Britain. While the word ‘pacifism’ does not appear, the statement declares: ‘We are convinced that no end can justify the means of killing another human being’. It...
Quaker marriage procedure
British Friends have affirmed their commitment to same-sex marriage with the approval of a revised chapter in Quaker faith & practice. But uncertainty over changes to the law means that it is likely to be rewritten again next year. The new chapter sixteen, entitled ‘Quaker marriage’, allows couples of...
Welcome to Canterbury
More than a thousand Friends streamed into the large blue big top and, as the evening cooled, the earlier sweltering heat could be forgotten. All was busyness and the sound of bustle and chat when, suddenly, the atmosphere changed and the noise disappeared as if by magic. The clerks had...
Proposed ‘green’ refurbishment at Friends House
A green agenda will be at the heart of major changes to the fabric of Friends’ House, the London headquarters of British Quakers. That’s the promise made by the trustees of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), the formal organisation of Quakers in England, Scotland and Wales. The trustees will...
Military influence in schools challenged
A US Quaker activist has used a speaking tour of Britain to back a new campaign challenging military influence in British schools. Oskar Castro, who previously worked for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), spoke at events in London, Edinburgh and Coventry to launch the ‘Military Out of Schools’...
Quaker Social Action wins award
A Quaker charity has received an award from a national thinktank for its work tackling poverty. Quaker Social Action (QSA), which works in east London, won the prize for their ‘Made of Money’ scheme, which aims to help people to manage financial problems.
Tony Benn to give Salter Lecture
Veteran left-wing politician Tony Benn has agreed to speak on socialism to British Quakers during Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) in Canterbury next month. He will give the Salter Lecture, an annual event of the Quaker Socialist Society (QSS), on 2 August.