by Sam Walton We didn’t think we’d get in. The UKTI DSO Symposium is the biggest event of the year for Britain’s exporters of “defence & security” gear – so you’d think they’d have better security. We wandered into the hotel past the police and made our way towards the entrance to the Symposium. Not…
“For us it is about creating heaven here… not about an insurance policy to make it better in the next life”, says Marigold Bentley, speaking about being a Quaker on 4thought.tv. Being a Quaker “give me access to be surrounded by radical thinkers and radical activists.” Many years ago Marigold Bentley went to work in…
By Sophie Bowman Two months ago I went to North Korea. Well, as much as is physically possible for a foreign person in South Korea. I went and visited the demilitarised zone and Panmunjom, crossing into North Korea within the confines of one of the blue meeting rooms that straddles the border in the Joint…
by Hannah Brock ‘Good luck in that godforsaken place’ Those were the words a colleague of mine was left with by a friend as she left her office in the UK for the last time before joining the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). I too am serving in the West Bank as…
by Stuart Masters Advices and Queries no.35 – Respect the laws of the state but let your first loyalty be to God’s purposes. In the authorised version of Quaker history it is received wisdom that James Nayler, although a man of deep spirituality with a significant gift for preaching and writing, was an unstable and…
By Hannah Brock Greetings from Bethlehem! I write from a flat which stands about 100m away from the checkpoint through which everyone wishing to travel to Bethlehem from Jerusalem must pass. This house will be my home for the next three months as I serve with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI),…
by A Friend On a sunny Sunday in November some of our friends and family came to a Quaker meeting for the first time. They came to a half hour meeting for welcome, arranged in response to the births of our two daughters. Having grown up attending an Anglican Church it seemed neglectful not to…
by Steve Hynd When you awake at 3:00am everything is a blur. The edges of your vision slip away to nothingness, your eyelids drop with every slip of the mind and your senses are numbed. Unless that is, you are stood at Qalqiliya checkpoint in the West Bank. Here your senses are heightened from the…
By Simon Best If my article in Friends Quarterly and my George Gorman lecture could have one outcome it is that we talk more as Friends, in our meetings and in other Quaker groups. I believe that all Quakers need to talk about the issues I have raised, but most importantly we need to talk…
by Stephen Cox An elder gives ministry, saying that in their opinion, a Quaker cannot be an atheist. A recent enquirer says in notices that they are an atheist and are they welcome? Established attenders suggest not using the words God or prayer in an outreach leaflet, because they will be misunderstood. What is my…