Society of Friends Meeting Place, Winchmore HillEven belief in God is not a necessary part of attending worship. At one meeting I recently attended a woman spoke about how she felt that, after reading Richard Dawkins book, "The God Delusion" and in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting she felt unsure about how a benevolent God could exist. Read more here
Going around the country to promote the Green Party I run into local party activists who are Quakers, the Green Party is of course a secular party and within it their are lots of us who are tolerant socially active Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists.
I am as you may have picked up someone who practicises Zen, although to be honest, with all the Principal Speaker running around, it has been a month or two. The Quakers I guess must be the biggest spiritual affliation in the Party, Julian Edmonds late of Slough and now in Hungary is one example of Green Quaker I have worked with. And during Sedgefiend I stayed with Jo Smith in Durham another Quaker, the crash accomodation for conference always used to be the Quaker Hall!
If I remember rightly the great Robin and Heather Tanner were Quakers, when you look they are everywhere in the Green Party here, wonder whether this is the case elsewhere
Here is the wiki oracle on the Society of Friends (their official title)
Mark Barrett has posted a really fascininating account of how the Quakers fit with green politics, anti-authoritarianism, a spirituality akin to that of may be the more familiar territory (at least for me of) Sufis and Zen.
Mark is writing lots of stuff of a very provactive and interesting nature about religion and radical political struggle from the grassroots.
Mark writes:
Like Buddhists, Sufis and other contemplative traditions, Qs cultivate equanimity, compassion and wisdom through the practice of silence, stillness and an emphasis on God's presence, insight and revelation. Qs believe that God's presence is everywhere, and that it can be felt through Christ who is simply the 'inner light' common to all.
Although slight correction there is no god in Buddhism....but silent practice is part of the practice,
Qs were leading activists in the fight to end the slave trade. This is much less well known than it should be, because Q's were then disbarred from political office, so had to campaign outside the system. They helped to spearhead Wilberforce's successful campaign (Wilberforce was Church of England, so was entitled to be an MP). And also, on the interesting question of the link between George Fox and Gerrard Winstanley (leader of the Diggers),
There is a non party political Quaker Green Action they seem to have less profile publically than the various Islamic eco bodies but obviously do good work.
There most recent newsletter on the website promotes the camp for climate action.
Here is their general blurb
Quaker Green Action is a network exploring and promoting awareness of the need for a green lifestyle.
It was formed in 1986 to provide a gathering point for Quaker members, attenders and others concerned with finding Quaker responses to the global ecological crisis.
Our activities
supporting learning and discernment to develop a Quaker witness for the Earth and its people
bringing Friends together at workshops and other events around Britain and at Yearly Meeting
providing news, information and resources through the newsletter earthQuaker, other publications and a Website
communicating the views, positions and insights of the membership to Quaker and other organisations and individuals
providing practical support to Friends in developing a witness to sustainable living in their lives and meetings
working with other Quaker and non-Quaker groups on areas of common interest
To join Quaker Green Action:
Send £5 (£3 if aged 18-25 or free if under 18) & your contact details to Quaker Green Action, 4 Holway Hill, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 2HB.
For more information, contact laurie @ livingwitness.org.uk.
The website is here.
1 comment:
Interesting post. These days, I'm something of a non-religious guy who meditates and the like but a few years back, I attended a few Quaker meetings. They were fascinating experiences. At one, an elder was kind enough to take the time to explain his view of what being a practicing Quaker meant to help introduce this curious attendee. At another, a big group of us sat in a circle (the circle is preferred to create a sense of equality at the meeting) in silence for about an hour. If anyone was moved to speak, they spoke. Just to sit in silence with a group of people is enjoyable to me (I am a meditator afterall). Then, at the end of the hour a woman read some calendar events for the week (Thursday there is an anti-imperialist demonstration on the corner of such and such street, Friday there will be a gathering to call for troop withdrawal from Iraq at such and such address, things like that). Very positive experiences both.
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