Letters - 20 October 2017
From the Quaker way to charitable status
The Quaker way
I enjoyed the piece by Harvey Gillman in the Quaker Week edition of the Friend (29 September) and took courage and strength from it. His writing in this article and in so many of his pieces speak to my condition perfectly.
For me Quakerism is an unquantifiable approach and an indescribable way of life more than it is a philosophy, or even a religion, but long-ingrained habits often pressure me to find words to describe that condition and, for me, no one speaks more clearly than Harvey.
All of the contributions on Quaker life, not least the editorial, are magnificent. My cup runneth over – for which many thanks.
Padraic Murray
Animal cruelty
I feel very sad after reading the letter by Edmund Dunstan (8 September). Calves and chicks are God’s creations. They may or may not be intended for human use. The reason why most of them would not exist without humans’ wish to use them is that they are no longer ‘natural’, in the same way that dogs are no longer wolves.
For centuries we have enslaved them to satisfy our needs. Their self-interest and wellbeing are largely ignored. They have now evolved into helpless, dependent, miserable creatures entirely for our pleasure. It is all our doing.
We often treat the calves and chicks indecently, and always have done. Rather than insulting them by saying that they should exist for human use or not at all, we should be ashamed and apologise to them.
Wan-Hing Tonothy
The money tree
Sue Newsom’s article on the common good (6 October) invites us to think about how money can be used for the benefit of all. So much is said about the economy, it can be difficult to know what to think. Yet it affects us all and her invitation is important.
One simple way to explore the issue is to ‘follow the money’. Who creates it? Where does it go? Who benefits? Despite arguments to the contrary, there is a ‘money tree’. Countries need to create money otherwise there will be no movement; the whole thing would grind to a halt.
Governments can adopt Keynesian policies of spending on services and infrastructure to create jobs that are then taxed. This means they have money to spend and so on. Banks, too, create money. They don’t have vaults of notes waiting to be borrowed; each time we take out a loan, new money is made.
The rise of personal debt, homelessness and food banks in one of the richest countries in the world shows that this money is not distributed fairly. Government, on the other hand, is elected to look after the country and the welfare of its people. Tax is an essential part of its contract with them. If we are to create a country where everyone is able to flourish, we desperately need reform of both taxation and banking. How money is raised is as important as how it is spent.
Ruth Tod
God and Christianity
I fear Jacqui Poole (22 September) is unwittingly misleading us. The ‘standard’ definition of God that she gives is, in fact, the dictionary definition of ‘god’. It is certainly not the God that I, as a Christian, am driven to respect, which has a quite different dictionary definition.
I believe that a mind greater than mine created this incredible universe and that it sustains this universe in being. It is both immanent – one in whom we live and move and have our being – and transcendent – because our minds cannot encompass it.
Likewise John Gwatkin (15 September) might unwittingly be portraying Jesus’ ethical teaching and action as very good humanism when he says that we should ‘follow justice, faith, love and peace’. The word that is missing is ‘unconditionally follow’. That is Christianity; that is what Jesus’ public life and crucifixion is all about; that differentiates Christianity from humanism; that is what seems to be missing in much contemporary Christianity.
Gerald Drewett
Sustainability
Earlier this year Heswall Meeting had a study session led by a local sustainability enthusiast. He asked us if we had considered becoming an ‘A Rocha Eco Church’, which involves registering and completing a questionnaire which covers the areas of worship, building, land, community and lifestyle. (A Rocha UK is a Christian charity working for the protection and restoration of the natural world.)
We agreed to register and are in the process of looking at the questions, which are wide-ranging and thought-provoking. At present three members of our Meeting are involved with this, but we plan to share thoughts with more members during the autumn.
Not all the questions are relevant to a Quaker Meeting, but most of them are. The Eco Church website is very user-friendly and there is no cost involved.
It is interesting to see other places of worship in our area that are Eco Churches.
When the questionnaire is completed, A Rocha will award a certificate at gold, silver or bronze level that will be sent by electronic mail. At Heswall we think that we are somewhere between bronze and silver! This will be shared with our local Churches Together group. I feel that Eco Churches are very much in the spirit of the Canterbury Commitment. It is a gentle step in the right direction.
Alan Vernon
First Quaker wedding at Woodbrooke?
In 1952 my sister Candida (from New Zealand) was married with Vail Palmer (from the Philadelphia area in the United States) at Woodbrooke towards the end of the autumn term of that year. Both were at the 1952 Friends World Conference at Oxford and also at the Young Friends International Gathering at Reading that same summer. They then both spent the autumn term at Woodbrooke, and people noticed something was up when they were seen walking together under one umbrella long after the rain shower had ceased!
With their parents and other relatives thousands of miles away, Woodbrooke gathered the couple up in its arms to make the wedding a happy occasion, including some pots of cyclamen to decorate the room. Vail was an ‘absolutist’ conscientious objector, and someone produced a ditty including: ‘Passive resistance needs active assistance, and heirs that will follow the trail.’ A link with New Zealand Friends was provided by Daphne Hines, who was present at the same two conferences and at Woodbrooke for the same term.
Friends are really very good at ‘doing’ weddings. Daphne and I had already been writing to each other since 1952 and were married in Cambridge in March 1955 after I had come here as a graduate student; again, with our families far away in New Zealand, the Meeting embraced us and provided an afternoon tea with Howard Diamond taking some snapshots.
Volker Heine
New members
Amongst many other things, the Friend is a channel for news of major life events, such as births, deaths, and marriages. I appreciate that the ‘Friends and Meetings’ page keeps me in touch with this element of our community, particularly concerning more casual ‘ac-Q-uaintances’ from whom I might not hear directly.
However, I’d like to suggest an additional heading on the page: ‘New members’. Quaker faith & practice 11.12 reminds us that: ‘The acceptance of a new member should be a joyful occasion’. Area Meetings will, of course, have their own ways of welcoming new members locally. A small advert in the Friend could be an additional way of marking the occasion, where Area Meetings and the Friend were willing. It would be lovely to share and to hear this news of Friends.
Nick Perks
Moving experiences
On holiday I happened to read Vera Brittain’s England’s Hour, about her experiences during the London Blitz in the second world war, and was struck by the passage below:
‘But I who so dearly love my country, and so deeply admire its brave imperturbable people, refuse to admit that I am joining defeatists when I inquire what would have happened if all the energy, courage, and resourcefulness which is now dedicated to the work of destruction had been given to seeking a solution for Europe’s problems while time still remained.’
Martin Hartog
Charitable status
I see that there is rising concern regarding the status of the Religious Society of Friends as a registered charitable organisation (30 June and 8 September). Just how did Britain Yearly Meeting get into this? What would George Fox and his contemporaries have thought of it? And, even more so, Thomas Kelly?
We have sold our freedom of action to a government for what? A nice little tax avoidance scheme.
Gordon Slaymaker
