Liz Slade

Spending even more on defence won’t buy us peace | Letters Letters: Readers respond to the call by Keir Starmer and military chiefs for faster and larger investment in rearmament

"Long-term peace comes from building trust, friendship and mutual dependence between nations, not the constant threat of military retaliation."

Oliver Robertson, our head of witness and worship, in today's Guardian responding to the defence chiefs' recent article www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Climate breakdown isn’t coming - it’s already here.
Join Rupert Read, Karen Jaques & Ed Jarvis from the CMP for a live discussion on how communities can become SAFER, before crisis.

Wed 18 Feb, 7–8pm GMT
Register free: shorturl.at/cRxEq
🔑 ID 898 4968 2415 CODE 808472

These are tremendous

Graphic with a deep purple gradient background and soft circular line accents. At the top, large white text reads: “2026 WARE LECTURER ANNOUNCED.” Centered is a circular portrait of Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde. She is a white woman with short light brown and gray hair, wearing glasses and smiling gently. She is dressed in clerical attire with a white collar and a purple clerical shirt. The circular frame behind her has a marbled purple texture. Along the bottom curve of the circle, white text reads: “RT. REV. MARIANN BUDDE.” Below the portrait, white text reads: “UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY SATURDAY, JUNE 20.” Beneath that: “8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT / 6 p.m. MDT / 5 p.m. PDT.” At the bottom left is the UUA flaming chalice logo with the words “Unitarian Universalist Association.” At the bottom right is the text “http://UUA.ORG .”

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, will deliver the 2026 Ware Lecture at UUA General Assembly on June 20.

Known for calling for mercy for trans children and immigrant families, Budde continues her public witness for justice.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4cdj2yT

#UUAGA

Wow, I knew about JP Jacks as the anti-denominationalist principal of @hmcoxford.bsky.social but I didn’t know he was also a wild rural philosopher or that Mackenzie Crook was a fan

The C of E needs to be managed — but how? More attention needs to be paid to the variety of perspectives in organisational theory, argues Keith Elford

"What is less often recognised is that the Church lacks a grasp of the breadth and possibilities found in organisation theory, and would do well to think more widely and deeply about it. The Church has to be managed; the question is not whether, but how, and by what principles."

#managerialism

I didn’t manage to watch it, but I was holding this question of whether they would show the melting faces before teatime, so thank you for your reportage

Quakers and Creeds: Being a Non-Credal Church - Woodbrooke In this session, we’ll explore key questions such as: • Why are Quakers non-credal? • What is a creed? • Are creeds useful? • What are the strengths and

Tonight Rowena Loverance explores with Friends the often complex & conflicted attitude of our #Quaker #faith towards #creeds. What are such statements good for? Do Friends need one? Do we perhaps already have one? There's still time to sign up.

For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer, and non-violent action are expressions of our worship. When this is criminalised, our religious freedom is under attack.

@quaker.org.uk

Promotional graphic for a webinar titled 'How to use Canva for your church: an introduction,' scheduled for Thursday, 12:00 PM, 25th September, featuring Canva logo and outlines of various editing tools and formats arranged around a central monitor display. Hosted by Digital Labs and The Church of England.

Join our free Digital Labs webinar, for a introduction to Canva’s key features and tips for creating engaging content, with tips on customising our 2025 Advent and Christmas resources.

Register now at cofe.io/IntroToCanva. and join us today at 12pm. A recording will be sent to all who sign up.

A photo of a statue in the middle of a roundabout with a Union Jack hung from her arm; a sign in the foreground is titled ‘Aethelflaed’ and describes the history of her

Nuanced messages about nationhood are on display from the people of Tamworth, with Aethelflaed, Queen of Murcia in the 900s, flying a Union Jack

Photo of the covers of ‘The Quiet Before (the unexpected origins of radical ideas)’ by Gal Beckerman and ‘logistics and power: supply chains from slavery to space’ by Susan Zieger

New books arrived and a) I am happy with the accurate picture they give of my nerdy interests, and b) thanks to whoever here I picked up the recommendations from

Co-Evolving Humanity: Outgrowing Modernity with Vanessa and Giovanna Andreotti – and Tim Logan How do we Outgrow the death cult of Modernity - opening the doors to a future we’d be proud to leave to the generations yet unborn?

How do we Outgrow the death cult of #Modernity – opening the doors to a future we’d be proud to leave to the generations yet unborn?

accidentalgods.life/co-evolving-

#Accidentalgods #Podcast with Tim Logan
#OutgrowingModernity - Vanessa Andreotti's new #book

OUT NOW!

#BooksofBlueSky #Thrutopia

An amazing weekend in Doncaster with ArtBomb festival at the Unitarian churching hosting the debut of Hey! Festival for poetry in the market square and all sorts of unexpected delights

‘Wouldn’t It Be Funny if We Tricked a Bunch of People into Going to Church?’ - Christianity Today Michelle Stephens of Silicon Valley evangelism organization ACTS 17 talks caviar bumps, Peter Thiel, and Christianity.

Trae Stephens “was an early employee at [Peter] Thiel’s software company Palantir & is currently a partner at his venture capital fund.” His wife, Michelle Stephens, is the “cofounder & executive director of ACTS 17,” which stands for “Acknowledging Christ in Technology & Society.” 8/11/25… 1/

Together For Palestine, OVO Arena, Wembley, September 17, 2025

Executive Producer of this evening is Brian Eno with Khaled Ziada, Khalid Abdalla and Tracey Seaward

Pre-sale: togetherforpalestine.org

Final sign-ups: looking forward to being in conversation about ‘the God shaped hole’ tomorrow and being asked some good questions to reflect on my decade or so of leadership in spiritual community

And the nice folk at The Raft are using this essay as a jumping off point to host me in an online session on 31 July exploring my decade or so of church-ish explorations - come along :) www.tickettailor.com/events/risin...

Escaping the Trap of ‘Impact’ Measurement
guerrillafoundation.org/escaping-the...

in complex systems it is impossible to rigorously identify “your” impact
Using data for performance corrupts it
Campbells law

Important message from former diplomat @carneross.bsky.social on the ways in which the UK and other governments’ contravention of the Genocide Convention

Our partners at Faith for the Climate are looking for a new trustee to support their work empowering diverse faith communities to take action and protect our planet.

Find out more and apply here: faithfortheclimate.org.uk/about-us/joi...

And the nice folk at The Raft are using this essay as a jumping off point to host me in an online session on 31 July exploring my decade or so of church-ish explorations - come along :) www.tickettailor.com/events/risin...

The Dark Mountain Project (@darkmountainproject) This week’s archive post is a long read from Dark Mountain’s 12th issue, SANCTUM that revolves around the theme of ‘the sacred’. Elizabeth Slade investigates the space left by the collapse of institu...

Glad to have my 2017 essay on ‘The God-shaped hole’ featured as Dark Mountain’s long read this week - and in a timely way it describes taking part in a workshop based on the work of Joanna Macy, who left us yesterday
substack.com/@darkmountai...

Such slow progress - it really shows how far there is to go… the offensive ‘Issues’ publication has been replaced by one that says clergy should only have sex inside a marriage, when the Church of England won’t marry same sex couples.

(For reference, Unitarians affirmed LGBTQ ministers in 1977)

I recently took my EV on holiday to the rural south west of Ireland and was never more than about a half hour drive from a charging station

Punched in the gut by the news of Andrea Gibson’s death.
I saw them perform in London twice and both were extraordinary and transcendent experiences.
Huge gratitude for their words and their being

Joanna Macy, PhD Eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship…

Beloved elder & teacher, & dear friend of Roshi Joan, Joanna Macy is currently in hospice care at home. She is surrounded by her family, resting, & held in great love.

We invite you to visit this page to view four powerful teachings she has shared with our community.

www.upaya.org/person/joann...

Clearing the way for non-conformists to take our rightful place in the sun 😊

“Freedom isn’t the absence of restraint, it is the presence of love…. We must be both a rallying cry and a refuge” Rev Dr Nicole Kirk in the closing service at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Baltimore

Me and Oliver Robertson, the Quakers’ Head of Witness and Worship smiling with Westminster Abbey in the background as we were in the very long queue to join the Christian Aid anniversary service

Me and Alastair McIntosh in a dark corner of Kairos, London’s ‘alternative members club for the climate crisis’ - where I am flagrantly breaching their strict ‘no phones’ policy to take a selfie

Yesterday was a day of beautiful encounters with Quaker friends in the wild - first with the @quaker.org.uk team at Christian Aid’s 80th anniversary at Westminster Abbey, and then @alastairmci.bsky.social “preaching” at Kairos - perhaps the only bar in town last night to hear the Lord’s Prayer