Conscience Bay Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Calendar

April Infoshare

What's happening  in New York Yearly Meeting this spring.
Download April InfoShare

Give Peace a Chance!

This month marks the 6th anniversary of the War in Iraq.
Click here for a list of
LOCAL ACTIONS TO MARK THE SIXTH YEAR OF OCCUPATION OF IRAQ AND TO OPPOSE U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN:

You won't want to miss this event:

Saturday, March 21^st, 10:30 AM – Join the North Country Peace Group to mark the 6th anniversary of the start of war in Iraq. Gather on Rt. 25A, a mile or two east of the Nichols Road/25A intersection, near the Chase Bank on the south side of 25A (across from the St. James Catholic Church) in Setauket.  From there, those who wish can join us as we process east along the storefronts in the King Kullen, Wild by Nature and Stop and Shop shopping centers.  We will be carrying signs about Iraq and Afghanistan, and the NCPG banner.  Also, we will have handouts for passersby explaining why we are processing and inviting them to come to the bottom of the hill (our usual protest spot at Rt. 25A and Bennetts Road in Setauket) for the rest of our event, which will include a reading of the names of fallen Long Islanders from both wars.

Three years ago,  a similar event was held and several members of Conscience Bay Meeting attended.

Their photos appeared in Newsday: 

The Golden Thread

 by Rob and Pat Sisler

 

Concerned with the continuing turmoil in our world, members of Conscience Bay Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) decided to hold a symposium of religious bodies on the North Shore of Long Island to consider the problem. We had representatives of a variety of Protestant denominations, Catholic, Muslim and Buddhist congregations. Our effort was to set aside ritual and dogma, which separates us, and concentrate on moral ethical principles in an effort to find common ground. We called our effort “The Golden Thread” as taken from Thessius’ effort to enter the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur and come out of the maze following a golden thread, which had been given to him to bring with him by his girlfriend Ariadne. We would love to find our way out of our mess by means of such a golden thread.

The purpose of religion down through the millennia seems to have been two fold – to purportedly explain the inexplicable as well as to propose ethical standards which are supportive of life on our planet. The former holds sway in most religions today, while the latter seems to have become secondary. Churches spend much time on the speculative aspect of things as well as a considerable amount of time helping the disadvantaged, but little time on ethical comportment.

Realizing that all thought did not stagnate with what was codified two millennia ago, and following the Quaker concept of continuing revelation, an examination was made to the Ten Commandments (governing the teachings of all three Abrahamic religions) contrasting this with the Buddhist teachings of the Eight Fold Path. The five ethical commandments were deemed more relevant to today’s problems than the other five. Besides, not many people can recite the Ten Commandments let alone live them! Also, no commandment can be designed that is all inclusive. Exceptions to each can be readily seen. We came up with just four guiding principles that religious bodies could find acceptable to teach and live by.

Our hope was that an interfaith council might be formed that could consider actions taken by countries or the world body and comment on their ethical overtones. Perhaps in this way religious bodies could once again recapture the relevance they once had in the world. Let each religious group continue to teach their dogma and practice their rituals, but put the moral ethic on the front burner.

The four guiding principles that we came up with represent our best effort, and might be improved upon as other minds consider the question. We seek a UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED MORAL ETHIC. 

Those interested might order a copy of The Golden Thread from Xlibris.com

Friends in the News

Barbara Ransome was pictured and quoted in a recent edition of Newsday. As President of Brookhaven Coalition of Chambers of Commerce, Barbara was interviewed about local business strategy in surviving these tough times. Read about it here.