21.10.10

John Nurser speaks to us, Tuesday 2 November

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 2nd November 2010 at 7.30 pm in Chelsworth. John Nurser, who is an Anglican Priest retired in Sudbury, and who has written on conscience, human rights and the EU, is going to speak to us. His subject is : "Divine rights/ Droits de Seigneur" This is an invitation to a special evening. The December meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 14th December. We have yet to fix a place. At our last meeting we discussed the Conference topic of "Religion and Social Justice" Exclusion and discrimination seem to be part and parcel of declaring a belief. The world religions all declare an ethic of loving one's neighbour or treating the stranger as a brother. Still we seem to close into our goups and view the outsider with suspicion. Seeing the wider view, trying to even out the inequalities, it is clear that we feel fairly helpless in the face of climate change, population growth, financial chicanery. We function better as individuals, caring for each other, trying to do our best for the environment. And then we looked nearer to home and considered the small ways we can change things, sharing journeys, recycling, the charities we support. An idea: That those of us who receive the winter fuel allowance and do not need it could pass it on. And that became our resolution, in a nicely Sea of Faith way, that, individually and privately we would find a charitable use for that sum if we could. We hope this idea will appeal to those not at the meeting. The Suffolk Inter Faith Resource topic for this year is "belonging" and a forum on 12th October discussed discrimination, particularly in relation to Gypsies and Travellers, but also looking at our behaviousr in other areas, disability, religion, colour, sexuality. How difficult it is to be without prejudice in some direction.