History

A History of the Concern of Truth and Integrity within Meeting of Friends in Wales

This brief history does not try to be exhaustive, but tries to set out, in broad strokes, how we arrived at the current situation.  

The concern arose within Southern Marches Area Meeting, following a letter to the Friend from a member. (This AM straddles the border, with Local Meetings in both Wales and England)

Following the June meeting in 2020, MFW established a number of Special Interest Groups, including one for Truth and Integrity.

Following a report to the  June 2021 MFW a supportive Minute for this work in particular was passed.

‘The work’ consisted initially of fact finding/soliciting considered opinion by undertaking interviews with politicians/academics viz.  

  • Geoffrey Hosking: historian, author of Trust: a History
  • Julian Baggini: philosopher, author of A Short History of Truth
  • Catherine West: Quaker, Labour MP, Swarthmore Lecturer Faith in Politics? (here) (passcode .S!.W1zx)
  • Ruth Cadbury: Quaker, Labour MP 
  • Tania Mathias: Quaker, ex-Conservative MP (here) (passcode *5HUeW16)
  • Molly Scott Cato: Economics Professor; ex-Green MEP  

What did we learn?

  • All of the speakers, bar one,  expressed varying degrees of alarm at our current state
  • Geoffrey Hosking showed us that truth and trust are intimately related, and that where truth is distorted, as in Stalinist Russia, trust is eroded and society fractures. 
  • Catherine West alerted us to Peter Oborne’s book The Assault on Truth.  (‘There is a moral emergency in British public life.’). She also drew attention to the influence of Russian interference on election processes, and Russian money on British democracy (see subsequent revelations in the Pandora papers).
  • Ruth Cadbury spoke of the power of numbers, and the influence of combined faith groups on politicians.
  • Molly Scott Cato showed us that Peter Oborne’s ‘moral emergency’ is a threat to democracy as we know it. 

For some of us this is a salient, crucial point.  Just as we wish our grandchildren to inherit the beautiful planet we have experienced in our lives, so we want them to enjoy the benefits of a mature democracy where truth prospers and the rule of law applies.  

  • Molly Scott Cato also gave us the idea of a conference which could produce a decisive declaration drawing Quakers together.
  • All of the speakers thought that with our history, Quakers occupied a special place in relation to Truth and Integrity, and we were well placed to work with other faith groups. 

The core workers at this project were very conscious that:

  • The Concern we felt was for the UK as a whole, with only limited application to Wales
  • Wales, and issues emanating from Wales, were sometimes met with an a sense of privileged English superiority
  • Consequently we wanted to draw in Friends from across BYM

In consultation with staff at Friends House, the decision was taken in December 2021 to seek accreditation as a Quaker Recognised Body.

We then held a conference from 25-30 April 2022, and this is the statement that emerged from it:

Living Truth – A Rallying Call for Quakers - Final Conference Statement

see:   https://files.quaker.app/c6s3wh

 

Principles Underpinning QTIG

There are eight principles that underpin the work we do.  (These are set out more fully in https://files.quaker.app/kh2ex8.)

i.      We are a religious community, not a pressure group.  

ii.     As a religious community  we seek a world transformed.  

iii.    We ourselves need to be patterns and examples 

iv.    Everyone we meet is an precious child of God.  

v.     We can be confident in our prophetic role. 

vi.    Fear not.  

vii.   Thy will be done

viii.  We can see ourselves as building a path into the future.