QUG 2020 Annual Conference
LIFE, TIME AND ETERNITY
Friday May 8th (6 p.m.) – Sunday May 10th (2 p.m.)
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, 1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham, B29 6LJ
Our committee met early in July and we are looking forward very much to next year’s QUG conference.
We have chosen the title ‘Life, Time and Eternity’. We will consider questions like
· What do we mean by life?
· Do humans differ from other species, and if so how?
· What is the nature of time?
· Can we get ‘outside’ time?
· How do different religions look at life and death?
· What comes after death, if anything?
This conference we are inviting a wide range of outside speakers, all approaching from a different religion or viewpoint. We have already booked four and are actively seeking one more. Already booked are:
· Sharada Sugirtharajah – from a Hindu perspective
· Julian Barbour – from a scientific perspective
· Murray Corke – from a Zen Buddhist perspective
· Shaykh Arif Hussain – from a Muslim perspective
Each one is an expert in his or her field.
Our fifth outside speaker will approach the topic from a Christian perspective.
The cost of the whole residential weekend at Woodbrooke will be £240 (with the offer to give a little more for speakers’ expenses if you wish). We are still charging less than nearly all other equivalent courses at Woodbrooke.
We will be sending out full details of the conference in October – in this newsletter, in our QUG journal to members, Universalist, and on our website. Do book the dates in your diary now!
QUG Conference 2019 – Forgiveness – why forgive?
50 of us attended a very worthwhile, enjoyable and thought-provoking conference in Woodbrooke in May this year. The committee was delighted with the evaluation we received from participants and we will programme the conference in a similar way in 2020. The photograph on our website, which also appeared in the Friend on June 21st shows many smiling faces (though we did give the opportunity to opt out, so there are not 50 in the photo!).
The talks have been put on our website https://qug.org.uk/ so that you can listen in full if you were not there.
Pamphlet No. 42 – Forgiveness – Why Forgive?
As in previous years we are publishing the proceedings of the annual conference on forgiveness as a QUG pamphlet. The five articles, written from religious, psychological and practical perspectives, consider the nature of forgiveness and how it functions in a wide range of practical and cultural situations.
The price is £4.00. This pamphlet is free to all QUG members, but others can obtain it in the usual way, by sending a cheque made out to The Quaker Universalist Group to Tony Philpott at 2 Willow Rise, Haddenham, Aylesbury, HP17 8JR. Postage is free. Please put in your address.
Britain Yearly Meeting
QUG had a good presence at Britain Yearly Meeting this year in London. On May 25th Anne Park and Tony Philpott led our special interest meeting in the depths of Drayton House: Anne looked back to recent conferences and Tony outlined our plans for 2020.
We also had much interest at the Groups Fair – and this year for the first time we were placed right in the centre of the main hall.
On both occasions we explained what QUG stands for and what we do; and we sold many pamphlets and books.
We are already gearing up for BYM in August 2020 at Bath University.