Unitarians stand in solidarity with Quakers
Unitarians have expressed their concern and alarm at the reports from Quakers in Britain that the Westminster Quaker meeting house was violently entered by over twenty police officers this week, and arrests made of six young women who were holding a peaceful meeting relating to concerns about the climate and Gaza.
At its Annual General Meeting today, the London and South East Unitarian District Association passed an emergency motion to express their solidarity with Westminster Quaker Meeting and Quakers in Britain and urged Unitarian members and congregations to write to their MPs to express their disquiet over the violation of the sanctity of the Quaker meeting house.
Unitarians, as well as being a closely aligned faith group to Quakers, have long been committed to religious and civil liberty.
Unitarian Chief Officer, Liz Slade, said “Along with many Unitarians and other people of faith and conscience, I have been increasingly concerned about the erosion of the public’s rights to peaceful protest. The violent entry of armed police into a place of worship that has been committed to peace for hundreds of years seems particularly egregious and disrespectful of the Quaker ethos. The young people were meeting to plan peaceful acts in service of others, and it’s hard to comprehend why armed police would be deployed to stop them.”
Professor Geoff Levermore, the Unitarian General Assembly President, who is a climate scientist and was part of the climate panel that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 said “Although I do not know the full details of this case, it is upsetting that our Quaker colleagues, close in outlook to Unitarians, have their Meeting House broken into and some of the members arrested. It is especially distressing that this was a peaceful meeting discussing important issues with ethical issues that are at the heart of religion.“
Notes:
There are 150 Unitarian congregations in Britain, all committed to a free and inquiring approach to religion. The Unitarian tradition stems back to non-conformist Christians in the 17th and 18th century, and Unitarians today hold beliefs and practices reflecting Christian, humanist, pagan, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu traditions and beyond, and draw on wisdom from all sources, including sacred texts, philosophy, nature, science, and art. Every Unitarian congregation is independent. Unitarian congregations and ministers are members of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.
You can find more information on our website: www.unitarian.org.uk
If you would like to write to your MP about this or any other issue, you can do so easily through the website https://www.writetothem.com/, sponsored by the charity mySociety.