Just a quick note to say the BBC are going ahead with The Big Questions TV programme this coming Sunday (10am on BBC 1), asking whether religion needs God, with particular reference to the theist/nontheist dialogue among Quakers, and the decision to revise the Red Book made at YM last weekend.
David and Rhiannon Grant have been asked to participate.
I look forward to it if we can get it in Spain just before we do our local (2 of us) meeting for worship.
You might also be interested in this post from the ‘jolly quaker’ (Mark Russ) brought to my attention by twitter.
‘Is it irresponsible to claim that spoken ministry comes from God?’
A fascinating and subtle post on Rhiannon Grant’s blog with discussion and comments by Rhiannon, David Boulton and others about where ministry in Meeting for worship comes from and perhaps the existence and nature of God/Goddess.
(Extract) At the Nontheist Friends Network conference, in the questions and discussion after my talk, a friend asked about my approach to ministry. Most of the question was about how we understand ministry in meeting for worship, but along the way he raised a very interesting point – he said (and I paraphrase here, but hope that his point is clear and made in terms he would accept) that he wouldn’t want to claim that his spoken ministry came from anywhere but himself, because so much damage is done in the world by other people who claim that their instructions come from God…..
At the AGM on Sunday one topic we discussed was whether we should set up a Facebook group for the Non-theist Friends Network (UK). There were pros and cons discussed.
The cons were that:
Many of our members (and many people interested in the work and ideas of our network) do not use Facebook (for a variety of reasons)
It would be yet another place to have to check for interesting posts or discussions, adding to the sense that we may miss things.
The pros were that:
Many people are used to following groups or pages on Facebook and so regularly check to see if there is anything new, even on their phones through the day
Lots of young people use Facebook. I’m 51 and it is a little alarming that I’m referred to as young at some NFN meetings so it would be good to encourage some actual young people to engage in (or with) the network
Rhiannon sent us a couple of vibrant Quaker Facebook places she is involved with that may illustrate what ours might be like:
Quaker Renewal UK group (here). (You do NOT have to sign up to facebook to read this – just close their pop-up window with ‘Not now’ or cross in top right corner. You WILL have to be signed up to facebook if you wish to join the group and join in the discussion – Trevor)
Reading QF&P page (here) (much the same as comment above)
And the Quaker LGBT Fellowship UK also has a Facebook group (here). (N.B. That’s a closed group so you cannot see the activity there without joining first – and being signed up to facebook.)
It would be great to hear your thoughts – just add a comment below this post. (‘Dumbledad’ who posted this is our Steering Group member Tim Regan)
This talk was given at the Nontheist Friends Network conference at Woodbrooke, 24-26th March 2017.
This is a talk with two halves. In the first half I want to talk about talking about God, and in the second half I want to talk about God. In the first half I’m going to ask: can we say anything about God, and if we can, what are we doing when we say things about God? In the second half I’m going to ask: what kinds of things do Quakers typically say about God, and what should we, as a community, do about talking about God.
Before I start, I want to say two things about the way I’m going to talk. Firstly, I’m going to use the word God a lot. I’m going to use the word God because it’s in the title of my talk, but also because it’s a…
Nontheist Friends Network 