Acting under Concern: my own experience - preview
In 12 January, Janette M Denley said Friends no longer tested Concerns enough before acting upon them. Here, Simon Risley recalls the process he went through
For a long time I've had a slight sense of unease about Concerns I'm not entirely sure that everyone quite understands them There seems an increasingly prevalent atmosphere within the Society whereby many think, because they feel strongly about a matter, that it's therefore a Concern
It quite simply isn't For example, were I to feel strongly about the immorality of nuclear weapons and decided to join the protest at Faslane, it would be very easy to ascribe my behaviour to 'Acting under Concern' But it wouldn't be I would merely be acting under a strong sense of personal morality Unless, of course, that planned course of action was first tested – and agreed as being a Concern – by my Monthly Meeting
Simon Risley
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Comments:
Janet Toye, 21 February
At the end of Simon Risley's very interesting article about the Orkney 'Satanic Abuse' affair - I did not know about Friends' action - he questions whether he is right to believe that his action was laid upon him by God. He can easily imagine that people who do things he disagrees with entirely, for instance suicide bombers, also believe they are acting according to God's will.
It doesn't seem enough to say that because he tested his concern within his Monthly Meeting he had some kind of guarantee that it wasn't just a personal concern that was misguided. Suicide bombers are supported in their action by fellow religionists too.
What it comes down to in the end is what set of values one chooses to espouse, what kind of world one wants, and what kind of behaviour one thinks is likely to help sustain that kind of world. Personal experience, the culture we've grown up in, and the ways in which we think about ideas in my opinion all influence the kind of God in which a person believes.
Does this mean that one person's God is as good as another's? I'm prepared to say that the kind of God Simon Risley believes in is highly preferable to the vengeful variety. That is what it seems to me is implied by 'taking heed of love and truth'. But I can't prove it. It's a question of 'here I stand'.
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In this week's
online edition...
Cover
International Edition: Letter from Iran
Emily Johns Country of the Week: South Korea
News round-up
news@thefriend.org Doomsday Clock moves two minutes closer to midnight
news@thefriend.org Acting under Concern: my own experience
Simon Risley Comment
Richard Hilken & Michael Woolliscroft Letters
editorial@thefriend.org Population – two views
Roger Plenty & Volker Heine Learning to live with mental illness
Peter Ells The pulse of truth
Stevie Krayer Quaker mysticism: a bridge to Islam
Reg Naulty Whittier at 200
Simon Webb Putting testimony to the test
Alec Davison International Edition: Quakers enter Korea (1953)
George W Whiteman International Edition: 509 messages from Friends in Korea (1973)
International Edition: Comments on Friends' activities in the Republic of Korea (1960)
Arthur [Red] Mitchell
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