Norwegian Nobel Committee says award made in recognition of work to draw attention to catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons
Read the stream and watch the video clip at The Guardian website.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to condemn countries who use the death penalty on gay people.
Although the resolution passed with 27 countries voting for the measure – 13 countries including the United States voted against.
In the vote on Friday 27 September, seven countries also abstained.
‘We invited a Muslim group to Meeting for Worship yesterday and ten members came from the Ahmadiyya Jama’at group in East Rondebosch. They are an unusual Muslim group and have experienced persecution by other Muslims in Pakistan where they originated over one hundred years ago. They are also banned from visiting Mecca. They also believe that Jesus did not die on the cross but survived and went to live in Kashmir where he got married. They still have the house where he lived.
They have a very large worldwide membership and do a lot of charitable work with people of all different faiths. They are very peace orientated and believe in “Love for all, Hatred for none”.’
— Graham Thomas
Heather Kirk has a way of bringing history to life and anchoring it to present day. If possible, she also brings it home to the neighbourhood. In this case, just down the road from Barrie in the Yonge street area of Newmarket.
Her latest book, Seeking Peace: The Quakers, delves into one of the longest non-violent resistance movements and tells the story of some of key people involved in the group.
Their accomplishments range from a 1947 Nobel Peace Prize for their relief work in Europe during the war to fighting for religious tolerance, the abolition of slavery, improvements to prison and mental hospitals and more, all of it in a non-violent way.
September 21 marks the International Day of Peace, which was established in 1981 by a unanimous resolution in the UN’s General Assembly. To mark the day, QUNO and 131 peacebuilding organizations from throughout the world issued a statement to United Nations Member States that brings attention to peace concerns.
A historic Treaty, which could rid the world of nuclear weapons, is being signed today at the United Nations. Quakers in Britain are urging the UK Government to sign.
Read the article on the Quakers in Britain website.
Britain surely cannot promote peace and democracy, and London cannot be a city of peace, if it is where repression and torture begin and if it is where the seeds of war are sown.
– Sam Walton, Quakers in Britain
Police van full of arrested Quakers. Photo: Ellis Brooks for Quakers in Britain
Visit the Quakers in Britain website to read the article.
The internet is filled with pockets of loveliness and brief totems to the wondrous bounty of the human spirit, plus a few good dogs — largely corgis. There are also dark corners of nastiness such as the thread on Reddit called “r/race_realism,” a place where racists once could sling debunked Charles Murray junk science, post thudding and unfunny racist memes, and unironically declare fealty to white nationalism without fear of condemnation from any human with a lick of decency.
Thankfully, per a report from Gizmodo, the subreddit has been destroyed from within, transformed from a teeming hive of anonymous, vile bigots into a forum for talking about — wait for it — racing.
Read more on the Good Sports site.
What’s happening to the number of Quakers in the world? Is there growth, and where is it coming from? Answers arrived today, as the World Office of the Friends World Committee for Consultation released a new survey of worldwide Quaker membership figures, its first official release since 2012. The figures released show an overall flat Quaker population worldwide, at just under 380,000.
Read more in the Friends Journal post. Click below to download the associated map. We are listed under the Africa section.
