Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Official Report 1082KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Mark Bitel, co-clerk of the Central Edinburgh Quaker meeting.

Thank you, Presiding Officer, members of the Parliament and members of the public.

A while back, a young person whom I have been supporting to resettle back into the community asked me whether I could help him with a new tenancy agreement that he was seeking. He wanted my help as he had a dispute with his previous landlord. He asked me whether he could use my name as a referee—as a former landlord. Of course I wanted to help him, but he was asking me to say something that was not true. I explained that I would do all that I could to help him, but that I could not make a false statement, as that would conflict with my integrity. He became upset and could not understand what difference to my life that little untruth would make. However, to have told it would have diminished my spirit.

Wikipedia states:

“Integrity is the quality of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.”

Integrity in all things is one of the five fundamental Quaker testimonies, which have been at the heart of the Quaker movement for almost 400 years. Our world is increasingly being undermined by falling standards in honesty and integrity in many spheres of life, including fake news, which is multiplied many times by social media and is undermining trust in our public institutions.

All of that is set against the backdrop of the climate emergency and increasing inequality and polarisation. Many of those in power seem to act with impunity, disregarding evidence and scientific findings. In response, the Quaker truth and integrity group was set up as a national Quaker body in Britain, in 2022, to address a deeply felt concern about the state of truth and integrity in public life. We seek kinder ground: the ground of tolerance, respect and mutual co-operation.

The Quaker “Advices and Queries” asks us:

“If pressure is brought upon you to lower your standard of integrity, are you prepared to resist it? ... Do not let the desire to be sociable, or the fear of seeming peculiar, determine your decisions.”

We are often faced with situations in which we are asked to discern the path of integrity. May wisdom guide our paths.