Quakers point the way

I attended Quaker meetings for 8 years but eventually stopped. I seemed to lack the required spirituality and the ability to sit contemplatively in silence through hour-long Sunday worship. As my wife (a Catholic) says, I am always accelerating, I’m in too much of a hurry.  In the end, I opted to spend my Sunday mornings in the fellowship of cyclists.

But the period spent with the Quakers enriched my life, even in the company of cyclists. The Quaker principles of simplicity, equality, truth and peace have become a guiding light for me.

The old-fashioned garb and speech are long gone, but the Quakers remain active and once again are leading the way for other people of faith. They were the first British Church to describe the Israeli action in Gaza as genocide. In a statement issued on May 27th, they demanded that the Government act to end the crimes that Israel was committing and, in particular, that it stop all arms exports, that it press the Israeli government and Hamas to agree an immediate, permanent ceasefire, release the hostages, and allow aid to enter unhindered.

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