Conferences, General Quaker interest, Publications

News from Quaker Universalist Group UK

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I thought nontheist Friends might be interested to see the latest news from QUG and reproduce their recent newsletter below with a last opportunity perhaps to book a conference stay at Woodbrooke before it closes in the autumn.

I have not included the QUG conference application form so you will need to go through their website if you did want to book (12th-14th May).

QUAKER  UNIVERSALIST  GROUP  NEWSLETTER MARCH 2023

Dear QUG supporter

Our annual conference in 2023 – Friday May 12th to Sunday May 14th at Woodbrooke and online

Universalism and Creativity – how creativity expresses and enhances spirituality across the world.
We have been writing to you about our forthcoming conference for some months, and we urge you to apply now if you wish to come. Although places may be available nearer the time of the conference, to guarantee your place please apply now.

As you may have heard, Woodbrooke will close to the public by 31 October 2023 (see https://thewoodbrookecentre.co.uk/) so this is your last chance to attend a QUG conference at Woodbrooke. This is an extra reason to come in person to Woodbrooke this year!

Our topic is universalism and creativity. We will explore this through our speakers, through practical work and in small groups. There will also be plenty of time to socialise and (at Woodbrooke) enjoy the house and grounds.

We have six speakers and we expect all or most of them to be at Woodbrooke throughout the conference. Further details of the speakers are on our website, but, in brief, they are (with the title of their talks):

Helen Otter – An Introduction to Creativity and Spirituality: An Artist’s View

Philip Gross – What’s Living in the Space Between Us – Poetry, Collaboration, Listening

Jaana Erkkilä – Creativity and Nature in the Nordic Tradition

Roger Hill – Daoism and Creativity

David Brown – Despacho (prayer bundle) in the context of Shamanism

Charles Monkhouse – The Spirituality of Colour

The conference is from Friday May 12th at 6 p.m. to Sunday May 14th at 2 p.m. We encourage you to attend the whole conference, but rates for those who can’t come to the whole conference are on the application form.

Costs for the weekend are £250 at Woodbrooke. There are a few rooms available for two people sharing and this will cost £425. To join us online (for any part of the conference) the cost is £40.

All are welcome. You do not need to be a Quaker or a member of the Quaker Universalist Group to attend.

Application forms are available on our website https://qug.org.uk under ‘Conferences’ and we have put a form at the end of this newsletter which you can fill in and post, or send as an email attachment. The email address and postal address of our Conference Applications Secretary are on the form.

Monthly meeting for worship and sharing
Our meetings for worship and sharing continue by Zoom on the third Wednesday of each month.
The next two are:

  • Wednesday March 15th – Introduction by Trevor Bending under the title A nontheist’s view of God and …
  • Wednesday April 19th – Introduction by John Tissandier under the title Nonduality.

The meetings start at 7.00 p.m. The Zoom will open at 6.45 p.m. We send out reminders two or three days beforehand to everyone who has registered. If you do not have the joining instructions and would like them please send an email to contact@qug.org.uk

QUG at Britain Yearly Meeting – April 2023
As usual, QUG will be present at Britain Yearly Meeting. Our events are:

  • Saturday 22nd April – Our Special Interest Meeting online. Title – The future of faith and religion.Speaker – Peter Varney. From 9.30 to 10.45 a.m. Programme – talk, breakout groups, plenary.
  • Saturday 22nd April – Groups Fair online – 5.00 to 6.30 p.m.
  • Saturday 29th April – Groups Fair in person at Friends House, London – 1.00 to 2.00 p.m.

We hope to meet many of you online or in person. The Zoom joining codes will be available through the BYM website.

QUG Annual Conference 2024
We are planning our 2024 conference. It will be on the topic of the future of faith and religion (though the exact title is still being discussed). Since Woodbrooke will be unavailable, we are looking at alternative venues. We will inform you of dates and venue when we have more information. In the meantime, if you have experienced conferences at venues to which you would recommend we make enquiries for 2024, please do let us know as soon as possible at  contact@qug.uk.org

Universalist – February 2023

If you are a QUG member you should have received the February Universalist. We have had one or two reports of the package coming without stamps, and members having to pay a sum to the post office to retrieve the package. We are very sorry about this.

We are looking for more articles for the October 2023 Universalist: articles should be sent to contact@qug.org.uk by July 31st 2023.

QUG Membership
We do encourage you to join QUG if you have not already done so. Our journal Universalist is well worth a read, as is the pamphlet we produce in the summer following our conference. E-copies of Universalist cost £12.00 per year and hard copies £18.00 per year. Hard copies of the pamphlet are sent to all members.
Renewals for QUG membership for 2023 are due on the anniversary of when you last paid.

Full details of membership (including our bank details and a standing order form) are on our website https://qug.org.uk

Contacting us, questions and unsubscribing
If you have any questions or wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter please reply directly or send an email to contact@qug.org.uk

General Quaker interest, NFN Events

MfW+Creative Conversation – 2 March – David Boulton – Blessed are the peacemakers

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Dear Friends,
Thank you for registering for our Quaker Meeting and Creative Conversation, organized by the NFN, UK.

2 March’s QM+CC will introduce the concern Blessed are the peacemakers
How should we interpret our Peace Testimony in the light of current world conflicts, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Are we pacifists, passivists or peacemakers? Our commitment to peace was rooted in a theistic understanding of what was required of us. When we have taken leave of God, what is the basis of that commitment? 
David Boulton is a former president of Friends Historical Society, a former editor of the CND journal Sanity and his books include Objection Overruled, described by The Observer as “the classic account of conscientious objection in World War 1”.
Please arrive early, as the Meeting will start promptly at 7PM GMT/2PM EST.  The Zoom Room opens at 6:45PM.
We ask that you please do not share the Zoom link with interested Friends, but encourage them to email the Clerk (clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk) to register. You may unregister/unsubscribe at any time by replying to this email address.
Format:
• Zoom Room opens at 6:45PM (UK time), please arrive early.
• 7PM: Welcome and Quaker Meeting (~20 minutes): Sharing silence with one another for quietly gathering ourselves and connecting.
• Creative Conversation and Discussion (~1 hour): Concern introduced; followed by interactive discussions in break-out rooms and in the plenary with all participants.
• Conclusion: Thoughts and a few moments to share silence.
• After Announcements the Zoom Room will remain open for friendly chats and community.
• Duration:1hr:30m-2hr:00m

You will automatically receive Zoom links to subsequent Meetings, approximately one week beforehand and a reminder the day of.  There is no need to re-register. We ask that you please do not share the Zoom link with interested Friends, but encourage them to email the Clerk (clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk) to register. You may unregister/unsubscribe at any time by replying to this email address.

See you soon.

In Friendship,
The QM+CC Working group (Gisela Creed, John Senior, William Purser, and Kiera Faber)
Nontheist Friends Network

Conferences, General Quaker interest, NFN Events

Meetings of interest to NFN members.

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Our next Meeting + Creative Conversation is due on Thursday 2nd March at 7pm UK time. https://nontheist-quakers.org.uk/events/

Nontheist Friends in America are having their next meeting online: “The next NTF online gathering will be at 4-5:30pm ET on February 26, the last Sunday in February. We will be responding to The Atheist’s Guide to Quaker Process: Spirit-Led Decisions for the Secular by Selden Smith (Pendle Hill Pamphlet #472). Happily, the author will be with us. He is eager to hear what you have to say.”

I think this will be 9-10.30 pm in UK, Ireland and Portugal and 10-11.30 pm in most of Europe but please check with a time converter from Eastern Time (East coast of USA).
You can find details on their google group: https://groups.google.com/g/nontheist-friends  (if you can’t access this you can email Robin Alpern <robin.alpern@gmail.com> with an explanation of your Quaker/nontheist interest to ask to join.) (Their website appears to be down again at present).

The Quaker Universalist Group (QUG) are having their next meeting for worship and sharing  on Wednesday February 15th at 7 p.m. It will be introduced by Hazel Barker under the title The Power of Intention. https://qug.org.uk/february-meeting-for-worship-and-sharing/

We are still looking forward to volunteers coming forward to organise an NFN Conference. In the meantime, QUG’s upcoming conference is at Woodbrooke: Friday May 12th to Sunday May 14th (At Woodbrooke and online) on the topic How creativity expresses and enhances spirituality across the world.
 https://qug.org.uk/conferences/conference-2023/

 

AGM, General Quaker interest, NFN Events

NFN Website Report 2022 (for Jan 2023 AGM)

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Our next Quaker Meeting and Creative Conversation will be on
2 February QM+CC at 7PM GMT/2PM EST by Zoom, and will introduce the concern, How have I reached a non-theist position – or have I?
Before the meeting, registered participants will receive the Zoom link along with a selection of questions and definitions to ponder.
Details have already been sent out by email and will follow here later. (Not the Zoom link, you should email for that if not already registered)

In the meantime, our AGM is  at 7pm UK time this Thursday the 19th of January 2023 and an agenda and the Zoom link to members will follow soon.

Here is my NFN Website Report 2022 (for Jan 2023 AGM) (.doc) (.pdf)

Trevor

AGM, General Quaker interest, NFN Events, Non-theism

Quaker Meeting and Creative Conversation 5th January 7pm

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Our next and last event ahead of the AGM on 19th January
Dear Friends,

Thank you for registering for our Quaker Meeting and Creative Conversation, organized by the NFN, UK.

5 January’s QM+CC will introduce the concern from  Quaker faith & practice: 23.09:
“We are all the poorer for the crushing of one man, since the dimming of the Light anywhere darkens us all.” Michael Sorensen, 1986
Queries to consider: How do we as non-theist Quakers work at repairing the world? What is the source of this inspiration?
Please arrive early, as the Meeting will start promptly at 7PM GMT/2PM EST.  The Zoom Room opens at 6:45PM.
If you have not already registered then email the Clerk (clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk) to register and receive the zoom link.
Format:
• Zoom Room opens at 6:45PM (UK time), please arrive early.
• 7PM: Welcome and Quaker Meeting (~20 minutes): Sharing silence with one another for quietly gathering ourselves and connecting.
• Creative Conversation and Discussion (~1 hour): Concern introduced; followed by interactive discussions in break-out rooms and in the plenary with all participants.
• Conclusion: Thoughts and a few moments to share silence.
• After Announcements the Zoom Room will remain open for friendly chats and community.
• Duration:1hr:30m-2hr:00m

You will automatically receive Zoom links to subsequent Meetings, approximately one week beforehand and a reminder the day of.  There is no need to re-register. We ask that you please do not share the Zoom link with interested Friends, but encourage them to email the Clerk (clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk) to register. You may unregister/unsubscribe at any time by replying to this email address.
See you soon.
In Friendship,
The QM+CC Working group (Gisela Creed, John Senior, William Purser, and Kiera Faber)
Nontheist Friends Network
AGM, General Quaker interest, Non-theism

A nontheist Christmas?

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Quakers don’t famously do Christmas. (Consider the word order and absence of commas).

What more could you expect for Xmas except a Bumper Post? (This is it).
Tim has posted the details of the AGM and I will post the details for the intervening Meeting and Creative Conversation, which have already been sent out by email, soon.
For the AGM I’ll just remind everyone about the Constitution and:
8. Any proposed amendments to this constitution must be sent in writing to the Clerk at least 20 days* before the AGM. The Clerk will circulate them at least 10 days before the AGM. Only the AGM may authorise amendments. (* ie. by 30 December email clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk).

It might be an idea to look at the Constitution now.

I have been reading Rhiannon Grant’s Quaker Quick Hearing the Light, (the metaphors are deliberately mixed).  A 60 page masterpiece (if that’s not incorrectly gendered) which I thoroughly recommend.  It’s I suppose a sort of follow up to Telling the Truth about God of which I’ve lent two copies as soon as bought so haven’t read yet.  Rhiannon’s belief in God is carefully explained and her position does not seem very far from that of ‘nonbelieving’ NFN members.  For more on this topic on this website see here.

This article on the Death of God by a Catholic writer might give more food for thought: https://christogenesis.org/the-death-of-god-and-the-rebirth-of-god/

As does this take on the ‘Divine‘ by Quaker nontheist Sam Barnett-Cormack.

Remembering Os Cresson’s Quaker and Naturalist too, Friends may find this website of interest: https://religious-naturalist-association.org/welcome/

If you want to treat yourself (or a Friend) for Christmas (and into February), this new course from Woodbrooke on the Gospel of Mary may be just the thing.  Meanwhile, the Bishops may have something to say about same-sex relationships.

Bearing in mind the recent poll (or was it a census result?) about declining religious belief in the UK, this latest post from Chuck Fager on the situation in the USA, is worth a read.

Now, please don’t let’s forget the poor billionnaires this Christmas as The Equality Trust (with Quaker connections – think The Spirit Level) write; their report is also written up in the Grauniad. (I’d favour 90-95 pence in the pound myself as used to be the case in the USA and I think the UK in the 60s or 70s). (A testimony to Equality?)

Not quite finally, here is Frank Cranmer’s post ‘What has Religion got to do with “Corporate Purpose”?’ on the Law and Religion blog.

If you fancy something scandalous for Christmas, here’s a book or two in another offering from the Church Times.

And finally, for Christmas, a nice picture of Suella Braverman.

Hope that will do for now.

AGM

AGM Thursday the 19th of January 2023

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A date for your diaries … the next AGM of the Nontheist Friends Network will be at 19:00 UK time on Thursday the 19th of January 2023. We will send out an agenda and the Zoom link to members nearer the time. You can find details of membership on NFN Membership.

General Quaker interest, NFN Events, Non-theism

Something or other?

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Delightful post (today) from Chuck Fager about ‘Something’ (or whatever you call it):
https://afriendlyletter.com/renegade-quaker-theology-my-breaking-point-summer-2011/

‘We’ nontheists don’t agree with Chuck do we? You have to admire his Catholic leaning grim sense of humour (humor?) and fate though.

See you Thursday?

NFN Events, NFN website

Changes to the website November 2022

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I have updated the Events page and the nfn-monthly-meeting-for-worship-and-creative-conversation page to reflect current events. The latter page is substantially redundant, except for holding the recordings of the first 11 talks from March 2021 to April 2022, but does still give the basic information about the meetings and how we got here and does re-direct you to the Events page. You can have some fun following links in circles here.

I have also (after some years) updated the ‘How to?’ (use this website) page so it bears some resemblance to the current situation. Now you can have some more fun following links in circles, especially on a mobile device. Let me know how you get on!

Trevor

General Quaker interest, NFN Events, Non-theism

Next meeting: Thursday 1 December 2022

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(early notice this time!)

Dear Friends,

Many thanks to Rosemary for inspiring a compassionate and keening listening Meeting in November.

1 December’s Quaker Meeting and Creative Conversation will introduce the concern,  “Ideas for Creative Conversation Topics” at 7PM UK time by Zoom.

Summary: What topics would participants like to see covered in future Creative Conversations?  If you have a suggestion or interest that you would enjoy hearing discussed, this is a perfect time to share those thoughts.
General layout: 
• Zoom Room opens at 6:45PM UK time, please arrive early. 
• 7PM UK time: Welcome and Quaker Meeting (~20 minutes): Sharing silence with one another for quietly gathering ourselves and connecting. 
• Creative Conversation and Discussion (~1 hour): Different participants will introduce a thought provoking, occasionally debatable question, brief statement, and/or reading.  This will be followed by an inspired discussion amongst all participants for creative exchanges and opportunities to disagree.
• Conclusion: Thoughts and a few moments to share silence. 
• After Announcements the Zoom Room will remain open for friendly chats and community. 
• Duration:1hr:30m-2hr:00m Additional information about our QM+CC can be found on our website. 

If you are interested in attending and have not registered, please reply to this email or email the clerk as below.

If you previously registered, there is no need to re-register, you are on the list.  You will automatically receive Zoom links to this and subsequent Meetings, approximately one week before each Meeting and a reminder the day of.  We ask that you please do not share the Zoom link with interested Friends, but encourage them to email the Clerk (clerk@nontheist-quakers.org.uk) to register. You may unregister/unsubscribe at any time by replying to this email address.

In Friendship,
The QM+CC Working group (Gisela Creed, John Senior, William Purser, and Kiera Faber)
Nontheist Friends Network 

ALL are welcome to attend Nontheist Friends Network events regardless of Membership, beliefs, and/or religious affiliation. If you would like to support NFN and our endeavours, please consider becoming a Member by filling out our Membership submission form and contributing £10.  Thank you in advance for your generous support!

 

Website and blog of the Nontheist Friends Network