Yearly Meeting: Quakers consider political processes

Quakers have a long tradition of challenging power and advocating reform. Their Yearly Meeting next week takes a fresh look at ways to engage in the political process at a key moment when the new coalition government challenges old ways of working.

Other business at Yearly Meeting (28 to 31 May) in London, includes an update on the radical decision Quakers made last summer to treat same sex and opposite sex marriages equally. The recession has prompted a session on the ministry of giving, recognising the need for different forms of giving, praying, paying and acting.

Gillian Ashmore, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain said: “Our legacy is the love we create and the work we achieve together. This is an opportune moment to look at how our commitment to simplicity, truth, equality and peace drives Quakers to speak truth to power in love.

During the four-day Meeting there are two lectures open to the public:

• Salter Lecture, 4.00pm Friday 28 May, Friends House. Roy Hattersley, former deputy leader of the Labour Party, will speak on “In Praise of Equality” about political and social priorities against the background of a changing political landscape. This lecture is under the auspices of Quaker Socialist Society.
• Swarthmore Lecture, 7.00pm Saturday 29 May, Friends House. “The Unequal World We Inhabit”, will be given by Paul Lacey, until recently Presiding Clerk of the American Friends Service Committee. He will address the roots and fruits of terrorism and fundamentalism and reflect how Quakers can live their commitment to peace in the face of them. The Swarthmore Lecture, established in 1907, is under the care of Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre trustees.

Ends
 

Notes to editor:

• Journalists wishing to attend the Salter Lecture and the Swarthmore Lecture should contact Anne van Staveren on 020 7663 1048. Yearly Meeting business sessions are not open to the general media, though interviews and photographs can be arranged.
• Review copies of the Swarthmore Lecture are available from annev@quaker.org.uk, contents embargoed to 7.00pm 29 May.
• Some 23,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings. For the first time since 1992, the numbers of Quakers rose slightly in 2009.
• Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.
• Friends House is at 173 Euston Road London NW1 2BJ.
   

Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703
annev@quaker.org.uk