@cosmichope
Husband, Quaker, theologian, teacher, Hedge Druid. Woodbrooke Programme Coordinator for Applied Theology and Biblical Studies. @greenparty.org.uk. Lover of dogs, Liberal Socialism, Dutch beer, old musty books, and slow autumn afternoons.
As a Quaker, I find it very difficult to let go of the ancient image of the Harrowing of Hell. This is soft Quaker heresy of course. Friends have tended to reject this idea quite firmly. But I want to retain it, as offering something of a Gospel in brief. Some years ago I wrote the following post.
J.R.R Tolkien
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, love grows perhaps the greater.” (J.R.R. Tolkien).
J.S. Mill
'The future of mankind will be gravely imperilled, if great questions are left to be fought over between ignorant change and ignorant opposition to change' (John Stuart Mill, "Socialism")
He's in the likely column surely.
I predict that the May Election campaign will be overshadowed (from the government's perspective) by at least one Labour MP defecting to the Greens. Let's see.
Try out Michael Wood's history of China (popular/readable).
3/3 An amnesty brings people out of the shadows, allowing them to make a contribution to their community (rights & obligations). Stability for them benefits everyone.
It was the policy of an infamous Mayor of London once upon a time. Now look at the state of the Overton window!
2/3...They have justified (& continue to justify) ethnic cleansing & genocide. But a 'borderless world' is a long-term aim, which shouldn't be lazily twinned with any migrant/asylum amnesty. This policy is surely about reducing destitution, slavery, & trafficking. It makes life safer for everyone.
1/3 I'm a Liberal. I believe in the maximum amount of freedom compatible with social wellbeing. It's my estimation that borders have caused more harms than they've prevented. Policing borders means cruelty, broken families, & desperation. Borders have caused mass starvation & been a gift to tyrants.
The New Testament: The First Nations Version.
I've started reading this translation of the New Testament. The text is framed by the worldviews, ceremonies, & languages ofl a range of First Nation communities in both the U.S. & Canada. Sometimes the stories of Scripture become too familiar. This book restores their gorgeous strangeness.
Nationalise the water industry, re-capitalise it, then turn the water companies into a network of customer-owned mutuals, accountable to Parliament under Royal Charter. Place employees, consumer groups, & ecologists, on the new executive boards. Don't give water to the Treasury to run long-term!
There parts of life which should never be subject to the profit-motive. There are things we do because cruelty is abominable, because neglect is always unconscionable & because compassion is the only means of looking at ourselves squarely in the mirror. I want a market economy, not a market society.
'[The tender-hearted] are not like...barren desert, but rather like the tender herb, sensible of the dews from heaven, & the gentle rain that falls...They can feel the droppings down of divine love, & they sprout forth & sing for joy in the sense thereof' (William Shewen, Meditations & Experiences)
Like the conspiracies we found in the #EpsteinFiles, Watergate began as a 'conspiracy theory' but ended up as conspiracy fact
Thanks for Alexander Butterfield for making that happen
Other whistle-blowers are always welcome to show the same courage
edition.cnn.com/2026/03/09/p...
We’re pleased to confirm that @mattrogan.bsky.social is your Green Party candidate for Beeston and Holbeck at the local elections on 7th May.
leeds.greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/05/m...
Icon of Jesus
A friend's Druid altar
'For a Druid Christian, the Earth and all creation is an expression of the deity as presence, and therefore deeply sacred. While there are Christians who acknowledge this without moving into Druidry, others find that the philosophy significantly strengthens & broaden their faith' (Emma Restall Orr)
Howard Thurman
I spent a lovely session tonight with @markdruss.bsky.social & Friends exploring the mystical spirituality of Howard Thurman.
Just some light reading 📚
“The image—and it is but an image—the image under which this operative growth of God’s nature is best conceived, is that of a tender care that nothing be lost.”
—Alfred North Whitehead
Thanks Ritch. I'll give it a read. 💚
Mary Wollstonecraft, once mocked as a “hyena in a petticoat”, argued in 1792 that women were rational beings who deserved the same education as men.
The idea was considered revolutionary.
Today she is recognised as one of the founders of modern feminism.
The image is an icon representation of Saint Photini.
The Gospel reading yesterday (John 4:5-42) was a fitting one for International Women's Day. What I hadn't realised was that the Samaritan woman at the well is recognised and remembered as Saint Photini, in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
'The elders used to say that the soul is a spring: if you dig, it is purified; if you pile up earth, it disappears' (100: Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers).
R.H. Tawney
'The outer is ordained for the sake of the inner; economic goods are instrumental...Riches, as St. Antonino says, exist for man, not man for riches' (RH Tawney). 💚🪷
George Monbiot
'To seek enlightenment, intellectual or spiritual; to do good; to love and be loved; to create and to teach: these are the highest purposes of humankind. If there is meaning in life, it lies here' (George Monbiot). 🌿🪷
'There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest numbers of noble and happy human beings;' (John Ruskin, "Unto This Last"). 🌿🌳
We've been talking a lot about Margaret Fell this week. In case you're not familiar with her story, @quakeitup.bsky.social has just published a new video.
'Dig inside yourself. Inside there is a spring of goodness ready to gush at any moment if you keep digging' (Marcus Aurelius)
Amida Buddha
'The light emanating from Amida Buddha's features and marks shines everywhere throughout the worlds of the ten quarters, grasping and never abandoning sentient beings of the Nembutsu' (Shinran “Collected Works, p. 47.) 🕯🔥🙏
Appreciate the soft people in your life. ♥️
