Latest News
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St Paul’s Meeting for Worship
There is now a regular Meeting for Worship at 3pm every Sunday on the steps of St Paul’s in solidarity with the Occupy London Stock Exchange Movement. -
Friends and St Paul’s
A weekly Meeting for Worship is now taking place at the ‘Occupy London’ camp near St Paul’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, several Quaker Meetings are formally considering their response to the ‘Occupy’ movement. ‘There must be measured consideration,’ said Jill Segger, a member of Bury St Edmunds Meeting, who will discern their…
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London Quakers face the future
The concerns of London Quakers took centre stage at Friends House last Saturday when two hundred Friends gathered together to consider a range of issues facing Quakers in the London area. A pressing problem facing London Friends is having too many Meeting houses with too few Quakers to support them.…
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Civil partnership ban to be lifted
The ban on same-sex civil partnerships taking place in religious buildings will be lifted in England and Wales on 5 December. The change in the law will not at this stage extend to allowing same-sex couples to use the word ‘marriage’. Quaker Meetings are therefore expected to host a civil… -
Soup runs will survive
Westminster Council has withdrawn plans to criminalise rough sleeping and soup runs in an area of central London. Their decision follows months of campaigning by charities and faith groups. There was a storm of protest when councillors proposed the by-law in March (see ‘Threat to soup runs’, the Friend, 11… -
Silent witness at St Paul’s
A hundred Quakers came from far and wide to attend a Meeting for Worship on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday. The first part of the worship was accompanied by the deafening noise of the huge bells of St Paul’s. However, neither these sounds nor those of buses…
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Arms trade treaty needs churches to lobby together
Churches have a crucial role to play in the run-up to next year’s negotiations of a global treaty to regulate the conventional arms trade. This was the conclusion of a World Council of Churches (WCC) panel in New York last month. WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit said key human… -
83 year-old Quaker protester faces court
A Quaker great-grandfather is facing court this week following a peaceful protest against the war in Afghanistan. John Lynes, 83, of St Leonards on Sea Meeting, was arrested at the gates of Downing Street on 7 October. In the dock alongside him are: a former SAS soldier, Ben Griffin, a…
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Tackling tax dodging
Quakers have joined other Christian-based groups in urging the chancellor of the exchequer to crack down on tax dodging by the rich. They signed an open letter telling George Osborne that the wide gap between rich and poor is ‘tearing at the fabric of society’. They argue that ‘efficient collection’… -
Bootham old boy new cabinet secretary
Jeremy John Heywood, due to take over the post of cabinet secretary when Gus O’Donnell retires at the end of the year, was educated at Bootham School in York. He was head boy at the school, which has a Quaker background and ethos.
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