Latest News
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Quaker recording clerk leaves office
The recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, Gillian Ashmore, will be stepping down in September, after three years in the role, The Friend has learned. Gillian took over from Elsa Dicks in the summer of 2007. -
Guided by conscience
Jeremy Hinzman, who sought refuge in Canada from the US as a war resister in 2004, has won a review of his application for permanent residence in Canada. However, the Canadian government has since published new operational guidance suggesting that the applications from war resistors for protection from the US…
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Wigton Meeting House: shedding light
Every Meeting house is a place of many precious memories. It is also a landmark and a symbol. So the decision to lay down a Meeting, and sell a Meeting house, is not one taken lightly. It is done with a heavy heart. There are Quaker ways of laying down… -
Scottish parlimentarians urged to ‘lift the ban on same-sex marriage’
Politicians and faith groups in Scotland are urging the Scottish Parliament to take the lead on equality by ‘lifting the ban on same-sex marriage’. Quakers are among the supporters of the Equal Marriage Campaign, which is backed by Amnesty International and a cross-party group of Members of the Scottish Parliament… -
Independence from America at Menwith Hill
The Fourth of July, traditionally the day for the USA’s celebration of Independence from Britain, is also the opportunity for a quite different annual celebration by Quakers from the North of England supported by many others: the Independence from America Demonstration held at the gates of Menwith Hill air base…
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After the bomb dropped
Friends House, London, is to host a major exhibition to mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of two Japanese cities with nuclear weapons during the second world war. The exhibition, which marks the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be available from 2 to 12 August. All events, which… -
Image and reality
Last week’s Farnborough Air Show was labelled ‘a shop window for deadly weapons’ by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
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The Spirit Level under attack
At a packed lecture room on 22 July at the Royal Society of Arts lunchtime event, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett gave a spirited defence of their recent book The Spirit Level. -
Are theology and religious studies important?
Theology and religious studies departments at British universities could be facing the axe following the government’s decision to slash higher education spending. Bangor University has announced it will phase out theology entirely, while the Student Christian Movement (SCM) say they are ‘very concerned’ that other universities may follow suit. Funding… -
The dilemmas of being a Quaker prison chaplain
I have been a Quaker prison chaplain for over seven years. It is immensely rewarding to experience the deeply gathered silences in Meetings for Worship in prisons. Increasingly I am aware of dilemmas we face in our work. Apart from everyday dilemmas, there are those that require great thought and…
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