13 20 2500 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d1a24bf4a8490cb05e506ebe19eeb68a.jpg 15f66557281dc30b1044aac8b70193bc https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/48b3ca672ae097f8881d18716957282a.jpg 575983015c93945bed5ba2614e69c609 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Upstairs Lounge Fire Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Darwen Finlayson Limited Publishers 7 John Street London, W.C.1 Directors Lord Darwen T. Barry Davies A.G. Wilson 12th January 1962 Keith Wedmore, Esq. Stoneleigh, Sheerwater Avenue West Byfleet, Surrey. Dear Mr. Wedmore, I have read your letter with great interest. Many of the contributors, or rather should I say, co-authors, of the book which you describe, are well know to me. It was I who put up the idea to Kenneth Barnes of writing HE AND SHE, which I published, and which we have re-printed three times, and recently sold the paperback rights to Penguins. I also know Dr. Torrie and Alasdair Heron very well, and many of the other people you mention, are at any rate, known to me by name. As you will see from the enclosed List, one of our specialties is the publication of sex education books, and thus the book on 'homosexuality' would seem very appropriate for our List. I gather from your letter that all you want from me at this stage is an expression of my interest in the possibility of our publishing this book. I can say, without committing myself before I see the manuscript, that I am quite excited by the idea. Both within the trade and among the general public who are knowledgeable about these matters, I believe I would be considered a particularly suitable publisher. We have in fact, built up a very considerable reputation for the publication of first class books about sex. Yours sincerely Lord Darwen ________________________________ 12th February, 1962 Dear Mr. Wedmore, You wrote to me on the 7th January about the possibility of my publishing a book which is being prepared "by a number of prominent Quakers" on homosexuality and other problems of sex. I wrote telling you of my interest in this book on the 12th January and I am wondering whether it is your intention to send me the manuscript when it is ready. I should be very glad to hear from you. Yours sincerely, Lord Darwen handwritten note: 17/2/62 You will have 1st refusal Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letters from Darwen Finlayson, 12 Jan & 12 Feb 1962 Description An account of the resource Lord Darwen replied to Wedmore's letter (above) on 12 January 1962 and expressed interest in seeing the manuscript and possibly publishing the book. Darwen followed up that letter one month later. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/655643ca1e5c8ae495636fdf8d0633fc.jpg 1338a14eb3fd469a539ab1ad067dc3d2 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/517e669cfcfe855c86e3ef8e5f433ca6.jpg dd5cac84d15dca112f96d952a709c7b6 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Wennington School, Wetherby, YORKS 13th October, 1962. George H. Gorman Friends' Home Service Committee, Friends' House, Euston Road, London, N.W. 1 Dear George, In the course of a letter from Anna Bidder I note that you are going to allow until the middle of November for the final preparation of our report, but I wonder whether you can fix the publication date? The reason for this is that the people in charge of B.B.C. television religious broadcasting have been waiting for about a twelve-month with great eagerness for this report and want to arrange a Sunday evening television broadcast for three or four members of our committee the moment the report is published. Oliver Hunkin (Assistant Head of the Department, whom I know very well) has been prodding me for a long time and now he asks whether he could be reasonably certain of using for this purpose the Meeting Point programme on Sunday, February 17th. The 3rd March is also a possibility but much less convenient. I gather from Anna Bidder also that publication by the Home Service Committee would depend upon the approval of two Readers; I wonder to what extend this makes the project uncertain? The report will quite as controversial as my articles in "The Friend" earlier this year and will follow much the same line in general; indeed it was the feeling that I was largely supported by the committee that made it possible for me to write as I did. It is a bit of a nuisance that the B.B.C. should want us to be definite in this way, but on the other hand if the Meeting Point programme that the B.B.C. arranges for us is well conducted--and I think Oliver Hunkin and I can see to it that it is--it should be good publicity for the Society of Friends in the eyes of people who are looking for a courageous and constructive lead in sexual matters, and personal relationships generally, from a section of the Christian church. /Continued... We have had broadcasts of Quaker Meetings occasionally but this broadcast would be a really vigorous and concentrated discussion on the Quaker approach to human problems. We should have to make it clear, of course, that it hadn't yet secured the official approval of the Society, but it was the work of people starting definitely with Quaker pre-suppositions. Yours ever, Kenneth Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from Barnes to Gorman, 13 October 1962 Description An account of the resource Barnes sent letter to George Gorman, dated 13 October 1962, seeking to coordinate the publication of the report with an appearance of Committee members on the BBC programme, Meeting Point. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/ed8959596f5f108b28aff64f7256aa21.jpg dcb98a09c5c5c8e74b9254a39ede59f9 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/70277627c00495b10dc43f1fa92dd7f8.pdf 8b49ed5861c89e9ce9ded74afbc8dc17 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Friends' School, Saffron Walden 2.2.63 Dear George: With reference to the document "Towards a Quaker View of Sex." I received it. I did some work on it. Suddenly I realised that time had gone even faster than I thought and that my comments would surely be too late to be any use. I believe it is being published this week. I hope it is all right. After very slow progress the last stages seem to have been rushed and I hope the document won't suffer as a result. I must say it reads well on the whole. Anyway I won't at this stage trouble you with a few comments which might arrive too late to be of any use to anyone. All best wishes. What do you think of it? Yours Kenneth 4th February, 1963 Kenneth Nicholson, Headmaster, Friends' School, Saffron Walden, Essex. Dear Kenneth, Many thanks for your letter. I agree with you that the last stages of "Towards a Quaker View of Sex" have proceeded with great speed, but this was necessary because of the Meeting Point Programme the B.C. hope to do on the February 17th. In fact I had asked for the final text to be in my hands by the middle of November and I got it in the middle of January. The printer has done a wonderful job in getting the type sete, and in fact I have already had Alastair's corrections this morning. Like you, I think that it reads well and I think the group has done extremely well. What (a) Friends will think of it, and (b) the general public will think of it--not to mention the Sunday Pictorial!--heaven only knows! If, as a result of censure, I get the sack, I shall look to Saffron Walden for a job as classroom cleaner! With warmest greetings to you both, Yours ever, George H. Gorman Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nicholson & Gorman letters February 1963 Description An account of the resource Kenneth Nicholson wrote to George Gorman that the final stage of publication seemed hurried and Gorman replied.. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/7e0dbbb848bcc54c0aa57b9084d3fb48.jpg 7e982b4847c1cbe1ee8905f26cf721f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Recollection of Mervyn Parry from Jane Wheatley, Jesus Lane Meeting, Cambridge: "Mum knew both Mervyn and Dorothy in their youth when they lived in Birmingham. Mervyn taught the piano and Dorothy taught shorthand and typing and they both taught from home, rushing out for a quick kiss and cuddle between students! Dorothy was completely deaf, lip read so well no one realised unless they tried to talk to her without looking at her and founded CAMTAD. Mervyn taught at Impington Village College--learning disabled children and was skilled at Calligraphy, doing all the Quaker Wedding certificates for Cambridgeshire Friends, mine was the last certificate he did as Parkinson's Disease took over and prevented him from continuing. He humbly asked me if it he could do it as his accuracy was no longer perfect, what a wonderful present, of course I said yes! A lovely, lovely man with a wicked sense of humour. He smoked a pipe and used to make us children little dogs made out of pipe cleaners." 20 June 2014 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Recollection of Mervyn Parry Description An account of the resource Jane Wheatley recorded her memories of Mervyn Parry and his wife Dorothy. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Jane Wheatley of Jesus Lane Meeting, Cambridge https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d85f508d74453a09131d6f7d9f00f5ba.pdf 6596d2537c40369bd704a08838627e85 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/5edfb499c61c770eff7cc87da7f30bb4.pdf c7085bbce73fe2c64eebd87b2d0ee44a Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 8th February, 1963. To the Editor ADVANCE NOTICE Dear Sir, TOWARDS A QUAKER VIEW OF SEX An essay by a group of Friends 74 Pages, Price 3s.6d. On Monday, 18th February, 1963, we are publishing the above pamphlet by an unofficial group of Friends setting out their views on sexual morality. On Sunday, 17th February, two of the contributors will discuss this pamphlet in the B.B.C.s MEETING POINT programme. Due to unforeseen delays in the final completion of the text we shall not be able to send you a review copy until the middle of next week. In the meantime we are enclosing a note on the origin and scope of the essay. Please note that the views expressed in the essay of those of the individual Friends who contributed to it: the pamphlet is not a policy statement by the Society of Friends. Yours faithfully, George H. Gorman General Secretary _________________________________________ TOWARDS QUAKER VIEW OF SEX An essay by a group of Friends to be published by the Friends Home Service Committee, Friends House, Euston Road, N.W.1. 74 Pages, Price 3s.6d. PUBLICATION DATE MONDAY 18th FEBRUARY 1963, Please note that the views expressed in this essay are those of the individual Friends who contributed to it. The pamphlet is not an official policy statement by the Religious Society of Friends. This essay has been written by a group of 11 members of the Society of Friends, of whom all except one are married and parents, three of them being grandparents. Professionally their training ranges from psychiatry to the law and two of them are headmasters. This unofficial group came together first in 1957 as a result of being confronted by the problems of young Quaker students who were facing homosexual difficulties. They wanted to help but found themselves ill-equipped in knowledge and doubtful whether the Christian church's traditional view, in Quaker phrase, spoke to the condition of those in sexual trouble. What is written here is the fruit of many discussions over the past five years within the group and by consultation with others. Every meeting of the group, without exception, began with a long period of silent worship, after the manner of the Society of Friends. The essay is written by a group of Quakers for Quakers but it is hoped that it may be of service far outside the bounds of the Society of Friends. It is an attempt to find what the Quaker faith has to say to those in distress, some of whom are the victims of blackmail, and to the young who find themselves in a world where ethical and religious codes are being questioned all the time. The group soon found that the study of homosexuality and its moral problems could not be divorced from a survey of the whole field of sexual activity, so that after an account of the basic assumptions on which the exercise of the group was founded, the essay describes normal sexual development before proceeding in Chapter III to deal with the specific problem of homosexuality which brought the group together. Sources of professional help, the origins of sexual behavior, and some sexual deviations are considered in three appendices, which are followed by a book list and a glossary of technical terms. After setting out the facts as carefully as they know how, the group in Chapter IV examines the need for a new morality. There are certain historical characteristics of the Society of Friends that out to lead to a clear understanding of the significance of the sex relationship,, especially its testimony to the quality of the sexes. Not less important is the attitude towards authority. For Friends, God's will for man can never be circumscribed by any statement, however inspired; the last word has never yet been spoken on the implications of Christianity, and every religious expression is open to critical examination. Quakerism involves a continuous search for truth. Lastly, it is equally important to remember that Quakerism has never accepted a distinction between sacred and secular. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Publication Press Release Description An account of the resource George Gorman sent out this Advance Notice along with a Summary statement about TQVOS to the public media ten days before publication. This Summary succinctly portrays the group's understanding of its history and its intentions. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/a168e176a8e03a89aac5eacea87fe6ac.jpg 03b973dd78f7a6ebcedb0cc9d1ab9fd6 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document News of the World 17 February 1963 Shock Sex Report From Quakers One of the frankest-ever public discussions on sex and morals will be put out by BBC television during family viewing time tonight. It is based on a shock report by a group of Quakers who accept that the loss of virginity before marriage is no longer a stigma. Two of the 11 authors of the report, which will shake many religious leaders, will appear in the religious programme "Meeting Point" at 6:15 p.m. They are Dr. Anna Bidder, research worked in zoology at Cambridge University, and Mr. Kenneth Barnes, headmaster of a co-educational school at Wetherby, Yorks. LIVE The programme will be live, and the two Quakers will be cross-examined by a consultant psychiatrist. Said Mr. Barnes yesterday: "As far as I know the whole report will be discussed in the programme." The report which was compiled by doctors, psychiatrists, and schoolmaster, is published this weekend. One of the assumptions on which the group started their inquiries was that "the majority of young people of all classes, when they intend to marry, have sexual intercourse before they marry." PROBLEMS Here are some comments from the report: On marriage: "Sexual difficulties are many, arising from lack of knowledge and immaturity. "Sex, in addition to being a mystery, is also an appetite. People can talk quite freely about the foods they like and dislike. Similar frankness in the physical relationships could promote mutual understanding." On sexual intercourse: For many a man the experience, once finished, is complete, and leaves him with a sense of release and freedom with which he can easily turn to other things. "For a woman there is also release, but the experience remains with her and she does on dwelling on it." On virginity: "Its loss is not now...by the girl or her future husband as a stigma. "Restraint is exercised as often from choice and principle as from fear. With modern contraceptives reducing the fear of pregnancy, man and maid are on equal terms." On homosexuality: "An act which expresses true affection between two individuals, and gives pleasure to both does not seem to us to be sinful by reason alone that it is homosexual. "But we have been depressed by the utter abandon of many homosexuals, especially those who live in homosexual circles." The report does not condemn sexual relationships outside marriage but says it must be based on deep feelings between two people, each of whom cares what happens to the other. It adds: "Those of low sexual drive are often pillars of respectability who find it easy to enjoin upon others the sexual abstinence which comes naturally to them." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource News of the World article 17 February 1963 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Keith Wedmore Papers. Description An account of the resource This <em>News of the World</em> article, published on the morning before publication, announced Bidder &amp; Barnes upcoming appearance on BBC programme, and sensationalizes the contents of the report. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/68206a063088f7148a9dd11b7d6d456c.jpg c546fd669fa7569bed70f4f98b7b8dde https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/f17de9feac851847d937e4cf3f4ebb80.jpg 4169793802e53477a9ece2dcd646b61f Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Daily Mirror February 18, 1963 THE PROBLEM..discussed on TV last night One of the most forthright reports on sex and morals ever published by a religious body was discussed on the BBC-TV programme "Meeting Point" last night. The controversial and outspoken report was written by eleven Quakers--an unofficial group including doctors and headmasters. Two of them--Yorkshire headmaster Kenneth Barnes and Cambridge teacher, Dr. Anna Bidder--discussed the report with a psychiatrist on TV. The 75-page booklet rejects "almost completely" the traditional approach of the organised Christian Church to morality. "We have to reason to say that sexuality, looked at dispassionately, is neither good nor evil--it is a fact of nature." These were the factors facing the Quakers when they began their inquiry: A great increase in sexual intimacy among adolescents. An increase in pre-marital sexual intimacies generally. It is fairly common in young people with high standards of general conduct and integrity to have one or two love affairs, involving intercourse, before marrying, say the authors. The high incidence of extramarital intercourse. "There must be very many instances which do not lead to divorce or obvious harm and which are kept secret," says the report. ANSWERS By Headmaster Kenneth Barnes I agree that pre-marital intercourse isn't necessarily the disaster that some people regard it as. But sex isn't a trivial thing. There should be no physical contact of any kind until there is a friendship in t he genuine sense of the word. If people neck and pet with people they don't really know it only takes them down the sexual slope. In our report we not advocating free love...it should be approached on a proper level. By Teacher Dr. Anna Bidder I don't think pre-marital intercourse is necessarily an unmitigated disaster. Young people can learn something from it in terms of relationships. I am a spinster, so it is not for me to say to young people: 'You mustn't." But my advice to them would be to look at it carefully before anticipating marriage. If they leap into petting and then into bed they are missing much that can be gained from having developed a sincere and genuine friendship. Interviewed by Mirror report John Smith after their appearance in "Meeting Point" on BBC-TV to discuss the Quaker Report. And Marjorie Proops says... Were you sitting like me around the fire with the family watching "Meeting Point" on TV last night? Did you, when you heard that word SEX being bandied about on the screen, rush to switch off, thinking it wasn't really the thing for the youngsters? I hope not. It was like a breath of fresh, clean spring air listening to sensible people talking sense about sex and morality as set out in the report by eleven Quakers. Two of the three TV speakers were Quakers, those tolerant Christians who look at the facts of life squarely, forsaking mealy-mouthed attitudes. The third man was a psychiatrist, a practical man with practical views. Sex, they said, must be valued highly. It shouldn't be treated trivially. But just the same, sex and love cannot be continued to a pattern. Young people sleep together before marriage, or even without marriage in mind at all. Is this disaster? Not necessarily, said the Quakers and the psychiatrist. Dr. Anna Bidder said: "You should never say to young people you may or may not have sexual relations." I take a realistic view of life, too. I, too, know that young unmarried people have sex. As the psychiatrist remarked in a rather casual, endearing kind of way, sex experience before marriage tends to make people better adjusted partners when they do marry. Nods of confirmation from the Quakers. A nod of confirmation from me. CODE But they stressed (all three of them) that they are against the idea of young people sleeping together for the sheer fun of the thing. The two Quakers and the psychiatrist all said that the Christian code of moral behaviour must be rejected. Why? Because, they claimed, it doesn't work anyway. It is a case of what things are like, they pointed out, not what they ought to be like. Sex, said the three--dropping their bombshell into countless quiet family get-togethers after tea on Sunday--is NOT sin. Not is it is part of a whole, good worthwhile relationship. VITAL They can say that again. And again. And drop as many bombshells like that on a quiet Sunday afternoon into a million parlours. I'd be very sorry if the youngsters weren't allowed to listen to that fireside broadside on sex. Or that parents missed one of the most vital statements of all: That children brought up in the warmth and love of a tender relationships between parents will themselves one day understand how to bring warmth and love into adult relationships of their own. While code is a child most likely to respond to?--this commonsense approach, or the rigid, unreasoning code of Thou Shalt Not. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daily Mirror, 18 February 1963 Description An account of the resource This <em>Daily Mirror</em> article reported Bidder &amp; Barnes' appearance on BBC-TV and included a sympathetic and pragmatic commentary by Marjorie Proops, one of the leading social commentators in the UK in that day. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/7520c40d47f7f2886c25914e2a62fc73.pdf 10cd69bff096c6924a38b3e94d3255d7 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/fcd7c0569853469c4ed0990b9a663701.pdf 06ccd3628290340aead997179144440d Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 6th March 1963 Miss Jocelyn Fergusson, The British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcasting House, London, W.1. Dear Miss Ferguson, Your telephone call has been reported to me and I understand that you have asked whether I could come to London for a discussion with Professor Carstairs on April 3rd. It is not clear whether this is for sound radio or television. I think I can say yes, but conditionally. Since the television broadcast of February 17th I have become more and more aware of the great danger of misunderstanding that arises when one's statements have to be responses to what one might call "journalistic poking"; when one has made and statement and is about to develop or qualify it in a necessary way another question is pushed in and the statement remains open to misunderstanding. The emotional condition created in the listener is that he simply cannot hear--if he has been shocked--anything positive that one says subsequently. I should be prepared to be involved in another broadcast only if this danger could be avoided. If there were sufficient time for us to give a lot of time to the fundamentals and make it very clear indeed that one is not being permissive. I would want an opportunity to put forward some fundamental moral principles and to show how it is the hypocrisy and irresponsibility of society (the way society does nothing effective to counter the corruptive influences at work on the teen-ager) that constitute the real enemy to creative sex relationships. What this amounts to is that the discussion would have to be far deeper than the subject "Charity or Chastity Before Marriage" would imply. I know a good deal about what young people go through when they leave school and I want to suggest that the alternative to a superficial insistence on chastity cannot be summarised under the word "charity" but is a new kind of moral education. Does this come within the scope of what you envisage? If you ant to ring me to discuss the matter, any time tomorrow morning (Thursday) would do, but I should be less likely to be in during the afternoon. Yours sincerely, Kenneth Barnes 15th March 1963 Canon R. Mackay, Religious Broadcasting Department, Broadcasting House, London, W.1. Dear Canon Mackay, I was very grateful for your letter about the broadcast. On the whole the correspondence that I received here was encouraging, there being rather more approval than disapproval. One thing that worries me is that I tend to get an reputation for being an "authority on sex"--almost on that only, and the fact that I'm to give a further broadcast--with Professor Carstairs--will tend further to establish this idea. In fact my interests are primarily and broadly education--especially in the area where Christianity impinges on education. I'm wondering whether the B.B.C. would consider the idea of a broadcast--perhaps more than one--to put a point of view about education and the future of Britain considerably different from what is usually said. (I haven't much to time to listen to broadcasts, so I may be wrong about this). One get's sick of the continual harping on education as a means of "survival"--of continual pushing forward in the technological and business sense as though our future as people really depended on this, as though this were the only way to retain or regain our greatness, the only way we can continue to be a "power" in the world. What I would like to say--in terms that both the Christian and humanist would accept--would be to encourage an entirely different idea of national significance and power: education away from the rat-race and a yet, more affluent society, towards quality of life and relationship, towards depth and imagination in thinking--an education that might make possible the beginning of a break-through to the new world that every intelligent person seems to want yet is obstinately unwilling to prepare for. Perhaps this is a proposition that should be directed to a different department, but I'm sure it is one that is near to your heart--and that's why I am first putting it to you. A lecture that I gave to the Leeds Institute of Education has some of the ideas that I would want to present and develop, so I'm sending it with this letter--with apologies for landing you with such a massive-looking document. Yours sincerely, Kenneth Barnes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Barnes Letters to BBC, March 1963 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Kenneth Barnes Collection, PETT Archive & Study Centre, Cheltenham Description An account of the resource Barnes was invited to appear in another BBC broadcast soon thereafter and--in this response--raised concerns about misunderstandings from the appearance of him and Bidder on the February 17th Meeting Point programme. In another letter a few days later Barnes indicates that he has received from positive than negative response to the broadcast. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0bd2dcba8dc8db9bab6f37dc7b073432.pdf 06ccd3628290340aead997179144440d Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 15th March 1963 Canon R. Mackay, Religious Broadcasting Department, Broadcasting House, London, W.1. Dear Canon Mackay, I was very grateful for your letter about the broadcast. On the whole the correspondence that I received here was encouraging, there being rather more approval than disapproval. One thing that worries me is that I tend to get an reputation for being an "authority on sex"--almost on that only, and the fact that I'm to give a further broadcast--with Professor Carstairs--will tend further to establish this idea. In fact my interests are primarily and broadly education--especially in the area where Christianity impinges on education. I'm wondering whether the B.B.C. would consider the idea of a broadcast--perhaps more than one--to put a point of view about education and the future of Britain considerably different from what is usually said. (I haven't much to time to listen to broadcasts, so I may be wrong about this). One get's sick of the continual harping on education as a means of "survival"--of continual pushing forward in the technological and business sense as though our future as people really depended on this, as though this were the only way to retain or regain our greatness, the only way we can continue to be a "power" in the world. What I would like to say--in terms that both the Christian and humanist would accept--would be to encourage an entirely different idea of national significance and power: education away from the rat-race and a yet, more affluent society, towards quality of life and relationship, towards depth and imagination in thinking--an education that might make possible the beginning of a break-through to the new world that every intelligent person seems to want yet is obstinately unwilling to prepare for. Perhaps this is a proposition that should be directed to a different department, but I'm sure it is one that is near to your heart--and that's why I am first putting it to you. A lecture that I gave to the Leeds Institute of Education has some of the ideas that I would want to present and develop, so I'm sending it with this letter--with apologies for landing you with such a massive-looking document. Yours sincerely, Kenneth Barnes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Barnes Letter to BBC, 15 March 1963 Description An account of the resource Barnes wrote to Canon Mackay in the BBC Religion Department a few days later and mentioned that he has received more positive than negative responses to the February 17 Meeting Point programme. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Kenneth Barnes Collection, PETT Archive & Study Centre, Cheltenham https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/95160140d8967a8006b41c7b42589474.jpg ada72b641746f3a595f75eb2b2f52ce6 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/008db06e3655a41416d337dbba53e745.jpg af90da2aa63d0e09c7ded0a8119790c2 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Sunday Times February 17, 1963 11 Quakers Attack Moral 'Hypocrisy' 'Glory and tragedy in waywardness of love' The conviction that "love cannot bee confined to a rigid pattern" is the theme of some devastatingly frank comments on sex in a report by a committee of 11 influential Quakers. The report ("Towards a Quaker View of Sex," to be published tomorrow by the Society of Friends) urges he need for a new, more creative morality to govern sexual relationships. It deplores the widespread distress suffered by young and old who "do not know where they are" in such matters. "The waywardness of love is part of its nature and this is both its glory and its tragedy," the report states. "So we are concerned with the homosexuals who say to each other 'I love you' in the hopeless and bitter awareness of a hostile criminal code and hypocritical public opinion, and also with the anguish of men and women who know they love each other when marriage is impossible and only suffering can be envisaged." The 76-page report it the result of frequent meetings since 1957 of the eleven Quakers, who included two headmasters, two consultant psychiatrists, a barrister and a Marriage Guidance counsellor. "In subscribing to a moral code, some of which is no longer accepts, society merits the charge of hypocrisy and its authority is weakened," they declare. "The insincerity of the sexual moral code may well be a cause of the widespread contempt of the younger generation for society's rules and prohibitions." The committee, who make it clear that their views do not necessarily represent the view of the Society of Friends as a whole, put some blame for the sexual disorders of society on "a distorted Christianity." The report goes on: "Christianity with us is concerned primarily with what is true, not with approved patterns of conduct. We have no hesitation in taking every now and then an empirical approach--to ask, for instance, whether homosexual contacts are really 'unnatural' or repulsive, whether pre-marital intercourse is necessarily a bad preparation for marriage, whether to have a variety of sexual partners does, in fact, weaken intimate relations and destroy a community. "To many such questions there is as yet no answer, or only a tentative one. A much wider research is necessary on the part of those concerned with modern sexual conduct, and a more open willingness on the part of men and women to assess their own experiences honestly." The main problems investigated in the report may be summarised under three headings: ADOLESCENCE: The three sexual anxieties are masturbation, homosexuality and casual intercourse. On masturbation it says: "It is difficult to exaggerate the suffering caused by the sense of guilt and disgrace, the mental conflict and remorse, that so commonly invest this intimate matter. Much could be saved even by the simple acknowledgement that masturbation is the common experience of the great majority of men at some time, if not of so large a proportion of women." The views expressed that most boys in their early teens tend to be homosexual. "It may be and commonly is extremely promiscuous, even in the most respectable boarding schools. These 'affairs' usually seem to leave little behind them--often a mere sharing of physical experience--and they may have little real connection with real homosexuality." Referring to the great increase in adolescent sexual intimacy between boys and gifts in recent years, the report states: "It has to be accepted that loss of virginity before marriage is not now necessarily regarded, either by a girl or by her future husband, as a stigma. "With this major change, restraint when it is exercised is as often from choice and principle as from fear....It must be accepted that lighthearted and loving casual contacts can be known without profound damage or 'moral degeneracy' being the result in either partner." MARRIAGE: On the "eternal triangle" as usually portrayed in fiction and drama, the Committee declares: "We recognise that, while most examples are produced by boredom and primitive misconduct, others may arise from the fact that the very experience of loving one person with depth and perception may sensitise a man or women to the lovable quality in others...A triangular situation can and often does arise in which all three persons behave responsibly, are deeply conscious of the difficulties and equally anxious to avoid injury to others. Since this kind of situation attracts no publicity and does not end in the divorce court it is assumed not to exist." HOMOSEXUALITY: "One should no more deplore homosexuality than left-handedness--though one can condemn and prohibit specific acts," says the Committee, which devotes the longest section of its report to this problem and generally endorses the findings of the Wolfenden Report. "Homosexual affection may be an emotion which some find aesthetically disgusting, but one cannot base Christian morality on a capacity for such disgust. We are not saying that all homosexual acts or relationships are to be encouraged. One must disapprove the promiscuity and selfishness, the utter lack of any real affection, which the stamp of so many adult relationships, heterosexual as well as homosexual. We see nothing in them often but thinly disguised lust." On the whole question or the "rights" and "wrongs" of sexual intercourse, the Committee concludes: "Where there is genuine tenderness, an openness to responsibility, and the seed of commitment, God is sure nor shut out." ________________________________ RELIGION page 6 The two voices of the Quakers Rank-and-file Quakers are expected to raise a "hullabaloo," according to Home Service secretary, Mr. George Gorman, over the uncompromisingly modern attitude of 11 of Britain's most influential Quakers to sex. Their beliefs are to be published tomorrow in a report, "Towards a Quaker View of Sex." Their conclusions, particularly about homosexuality and extramarital love affairs, are probably the most broadminded ever arrived at by a specifically religious group. In May the report will be put to the Yearly Meeting of all British Quakers to decide--silently, as they do not believe in the voting process, feeling it creates discontent among the minority--whether it expresses the views of Quakerdom. There is likely to be considerable dissatisfaction. Within the Quaker movement liberalisation is a downward process, seeping from the intellectual top rank of Elders (of whom there are five among the report's 11 authors) through to the puritanical base. Reformists According to Mr. Gorman, this process began at the end of the 19th century when Quakers began to emerge form seclusion into public life. Since then there have been two main paths available for Quakers who become dissatisfied as they reach the top of secular society. Many, including some members of the most famous Quaker families like Fry, Barclay, Rowntree and Cadbury, leave the movement altogether, often for Anglicanism. (There is a sad Quaker saying that "The coach and pair do not pass the church door for more than two generations.") Businessmen, particularly, tend to lapse. Professional people, like the authors of this report (Kenneth Barnes, the sex-education expert, and Lotte Rosenberg, the child psychiatrist, are among them), stay in and organise reformist movements. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sunday Times, 17 February 1963 Description An account of the resource The <em>Sunday Times</em> reviewed the report on the front page the day before it was released. A religion commentary inside the paper predicted that the report would stir up a "hullabaloo" among rank-and-file Quakers. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clippings in Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/c4fc98c63ede5b991babaff7bf43d37d.jpg dfa0864cc50249dea511185d58c0cac9 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/a6d1449d157f751c8023401b39913acb.jpg 5b7b54bbf702ba716ea5bc5d82898a1d Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Observer February 17, 1963 Sympathy and sex, by eleven Quakers by John Silverlight In one of the frankest reports on sex ever produced as a religious undertaking, a group of Quakers calls for a radically new approach towards morality. The report, Towards a Quaker View of Sex, to be published tomorrow by the Friends' Home Service Committee, reviews modern developments in people's attitude to sex, discusses normal sexual development, and urges reform of the homosexuality laws. Then, in a chapter called "A New Morality Is Needed," it refers critically to the Church's attitude to sexuality throughout the centuries. This historical survey, it says, "supports us in rejecting almost completely the traditional approach of the organised Christian Church to morality, with its suppositions that it knows precisely what is right and what is wrong, that this distinction can be made in terms of an external pattern of behaviour, and that the greatest good will come only through universal adherence to that pattern." Love affairs The tone of the pamphlet is set in the first few pages. While disclaiming authoritativeness--"our answers are tentative and incomplete"--it says forthrightly: "We shall have reason to say that sexuality, looked at dispassionately, is neither good nor evil--it is a fact of nature." The modern developments discussed include:-- "An increase in transient premarital sexual intimacies generally. It is fairly common in both young men and women with high standards of general conduct and integrity to have one or two love affairs, involving intercourse, before they find the person they will ultimately marry. "It is even more common for those who marry to have sexual intercourse before the ceremony. This is true, probably, of the majority of young people in all classes of society, including those who often have a deep sense of responsibility." The report says some people already recognise that a morality which condemns homosexuals is not Christian since it lacks compassion. It goes on: Is it equally recognised (continued on page 6. col. 4) that heterosexual morality may be defensive and insensitive? "Among the married, faithfulness may be achieved by 'working to rule,' but at the cost of depth and understanding: among the unmarried, chastity may be upheld at the cost of charity towards those in different circumstances." In the chapter calling for reform of the homosexual laws in accordance with the 1957 Wolfenden Report (its chief recommendation was that acts between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence) a note of sheet indignation appears: "When people hear that a particular lavatory is a meeting place for homosexuals, they shudder, and wonder at the lack of taste. But who has sent them there? If homosexuals could meet more openly and with less persecution, they would no doubt choose more aesthetic surroundings." 'Absolute ballyhoo' The group has 11 members, six of them Elders of the Society of Friends, and included teachers, psychiatrists, a barrister, and a housewife. All except one are married. The exception--59-year-old Dr. Anna Bidder, research worker and teacher in Zoology at Cambridge University--is the person who initiated the group after meeting some young men who were practising homosexuals and who were distressed about it. "I found that my fellow Quakers were less horrified than other Christians," she told me, but at the same time they found themselves ill-equipped to help. Dr. Bidder (who will discuss the pamphlet on B.B.C. television tonight with Paul Ferrus of THE OBSERVER) said: "There are those who say that if young people have done to bed together they are spoiled for ever. That is absolute ballyhoo, in my opinion." The report has provoked varied reactions among churchmen of other denominations. The Rev. John Hustable, Principal of New College, whose main object is to train ministers for the Congregational Church said yesterday that the thought it "too muddle-headed to do any real good." For one thing, it expressly stated that it was not an official document of the Society of Friends, but its title would inevitably give this impression. "Most Quakers I know," he said, "are likely to be pretty scandalised by it." He criticised the group for "making no real attempt to discover the scriptural teaching on the matter. When it does quote the Bible, it does so somewhat tendentiously." Father Maurice O'Leary, Chairman of the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council, said that the report was rightly critical of the negative expression of traditional morality. But in its search for a new morality the group had over-emphasised the importance of the personal relationships at the expense of the overall purpose of sex, which was procreation. According to Catholic teaching, he said, the sexual appetite and instinct were good, but they must be controlled in a loving and permanent relationship, since in no other way could the overall procreative purpose of sex be achieved. The report was welcomed by the Archdeacon of London, the Ven. George Appleton, a member of an increasingly vocal group of Anglican clergymen who take a liberal, non-legaliistic approach to morality. (He is the author of an article also calling for a new approach to "Charity, Faith and Chastity" in the spring issue of Frontier. A possibility He did, however, feel the one section in the Quaker report was ambiguous. This dealt with the "triangular situation," which, it said, "is too often thought of as a wholly destructive and irresponsible relationship." Mr. Appleton thought that some readers might think the authors did not condemn the possibility of the relationship with the third party involving sexual intercourse. Mr. Appleton wished this had been made clearer. He thought that, in general, intercourse with the third party would be wrong since it would not do what the friendship was set out to achieve, i.e., do good rather than harm to the people involved. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Observer, 17 February 1963 Description An account of the resource <em>The Observer</em> ran this front-page review  on Sunday, February 17, and also reported on the responses of leaders from other Christian traditions. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clippings in Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/1e94e78331ab5a2121802a135c33a3e2.jpg 656e6e707a91e174bcf19da0afd49263 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Daily Mail 18 February 1963 A lesson in love on Sex Sunday by Monica Furlong Yesterday seemed to be Sex Sunday, what with the Archbishop of Canterbury writing in the subject in a Sunday newspaper. and the Quakers discussing their new report on sexual morality with Paul Ferris in Meeting Point. This seems a good moment to say how vastly improved Meeting Point has recently become--yet another feather in the B.B.C. cap--discussing people's relationships to one another with great sensitivity and intelligence; not always coming down on the side of orthodox Christianity, but always coming down on the side of love. Last night was no exception. Kenneth Barnes and Dr. Anna Bidder had all the courage and transparent goodness we have learned to expect from the Society of Friends. No doubt they will be attacked for undermining traditional standards of morality. My guess is, however, that the charity and wisdom with which they discussed human triangles and marital fidelity, pre-marital affairs and the situation of the homosexual, must have been a lesson in love to many who would neither understand or obey the conventional Christian ethic. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Monica Furlong in Daily Mail 18 Feb 1963 Description An account of the resource Prominent religious journalist Monica Furlong wrote a positive view of Bidder &amp; Barnes' appearance on Meeting Point in the <em>Daily Mail</em>, 18 February 1963. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in the Personal Papers of Anna Bidder, Lucy Cavendish College Archive https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/54ce8bdfdfaaae1a7ffed93e0bd20c36.jpg 1d8cec17bc559de1d0a23d9cfc01c1b6 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0d7d2e4e1a334fc33cba130e55913944.jpg 6b0eb464aa15ddbe3b703ae45696bfb0 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Daily Mail February 18, 1963 Comment A Question of Morality A group of Quakers have published their views on sexual morality. They will be gratefully received by many people, but will startle and outrage many more. These Friends accept that "loss of virginity before marriage is not now necessarily regarded...as a stigma." They say "an 'eternal triangle' can, and often does arise in which all three persons behave responsibly. It depends, no doubt, upon whether those who accept the disciplines of a Christian society, including its marriage vows, can feel that they are acting responsibly in breaking them. Morality is not one of the eternal verities. It is merely a rule of society, and what is moral in one country or century is regarded as immoral in others. But we are, after all, talking about a Christian country in 1963. Society The Quakers say "the social code changes...not because society changes it deliberately, but because an increasing number of people break away from it." They break away because the code itself becomes weakened--and one wonders how far the arguments used by the Quakers, and others, encourage the conduict they seek to excuse. Taken to its logical conclusion it comes to this: If a sufficient number of people defy the code, the code itself must be changed. This does not happen in evolving societies. But the question is: "Where do you stop?" Unless some limit is imposed the community will disintegrate and the persons within it obey only a law unto themselves. Humanity The Quakers say that "sexuality, looked at dispassionately, is neither good nor evil--it is a fact of nature." But facts of nature have to be employed with restraint unless we are all to return to the wild. Civilisation is a taming process. The struggle for survival is another fact of nature and humanity, but strict bounds must be set to this instinct if ordered living is to continue. It is permissible for any man to advance his position, but only within well-defined limits. He must not knock his neighbour on the head or steal his goods. In all these matters third parties are usually involved and the pattern of other lives and be materially changed. If the individual has rights for himself he also have duties to others. Morality Nor is morality a question of sex alone. It broadens out into the whole of human existence and the way it is managed and conducted. Mr. MacMillan had something of this in mind when he spoke to the Young Conservatives on "moral responsibility"--appropriately enough at the Friends' Meeting House in London. As he rightly said, our success from now onwards depends on the restoration of a sense of personal responsibility. The responsibility of the employer to the worked and of the worker to his work. The responsibility of turning out honest products and pulling together for the good of all. This is the sense of purpose which we are said to lack but which we are certain will be revived as it has been so often before. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daily Mail 18 February 1963 Description An account of the resource The conservative <em>Daily Mail</em> printed a critical commentary on the front page of its 18 February edition. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/620c07689cd30af8da8a01eba3c29e6d.jpg d64788bf41398ebb402e4d8b2871e085 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/3da9f04055d406d0421ff688c6a13675.jpg 563f8d1a023828b62893e6c4ddfd68ed Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Daily Mail PROPOSITION: Inside every man and woman there's a rebel trying to break out PROOF: The Quaker bombshell on SEX by Cyril Aynsley There are only 21,000 Quakers in Britain. In terms of religious membership this is infinitesimal. Their real strength in the mind of the public at large rested in an image. Now that has been demolished. They have unleashed a furious national controversy by publishing a 73-page booklet challenging many of the accepted ideas about sex in Christian countries. And bang goes that image of a pious, diffident community shut off from the world outside. An image stretching over three centuries, but develop in recent times by a picture on a packet of porridge. By the cinema. By novels. False It is a picture of people dressed in long cloaks and a hat with a curious brim. Addressing each other as thee and thou. Meek people. In fact, it is a false image. For the Quakers are the very people to challenge the status quo. They have been rebels in the past--and their current sex bombshell carries on the tradition. It is rebellion against what they consider hypocritical, falsely traditional, oppressive and out of date. Concern When they addressed themselves as thee and thou it was rebellion against the fact that in those days men addressed servants and lower castes as thee and thou and talked with equals as you. "Concern is our great by-word," a spokesman at Friends House, just opposite Euston Station, told me yesterday. "This is the basis of the heart of Quaker understanding of life." The very fact that they have no hierarchy made it possible yesterday for Miss Anna Bidder, zoology lecturer at Cambridge University and one of the signatories of the pamphlet, to say to me: "Please make it clear that this is not an official publication of the Society of Friends." Yet it is signed by 11 eminent Quakers and published by the Friends Home Service Committee at the society's headquarters. But whatever the wrongs or rights of this controversy there is no doubting the compassion or sincerity which prompted it. Miss Bidder, a 59-year-old spinster, and her 10 other Friends spent six years investigating the complexities of pre-marital chastity, the eternal triangle in marriage, homosexuality, and sex in every aspect. I suggested to her that their condonation of infidelity in some circumstances might mean a revision of the Church of England marriage promises. Solution Miss Bidder said there was no condonation. Only an understanding that it could happen. If it did happen there could be a reunion which would enrich the experience of all three in the eternal triangle. And if you read this book carefully you quickly realise it is not a licence for loose living or, as Miss Bidder bluntly put it, "an excuse for men and women jumping in and out of bed with each other." It is a searching for the most rounded and wholesome solution of a not uncommon and perplexing situation. This is the way they work in their worship. Go into a Friends Meeting House and you may find long periods of silence. Then someone will speak. "Each meeting," I was told yesterday, "is an adventure. Our attitude is always experimental. The two words are concern and experiment." Content I feel if this present sex-pamphlet, which has become something of a storm centre, is read in the context of the two words--concern and experiment--it will be better understood. If, through its bluntness, it has demolished the old porridge-packet image of the Quaker, that might be a good thing for the Friends. For they are gentle. But they are no fuddy-duddies. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cyril Aynsley in Daily Express undated Description An account of the resource <em>Daily Express</em> columnist Cyril Aynsley portrayed the report as a thoughtful presentation that was consistent with the true nature of Quakers. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clippings in Keith Wedmore Papers https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0dbc9df460e3d9195334d0ab735aebda.jpg 00c729d74ae8efb705e9d40ab12b4c9d Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Guardian February 18, 1963 Quaker Group Rejects Church View of Sex Changing pattern of morals by our own reporter A report on sexual practice and morals, published today by a group of Quakers, "rejects almost completely the traditional approach of the organised Christian Church to morality, with its supposition that it knows precisely what it right and what is wrong, that this distinction can be made in terms of an external pattern of behaviour, and that the greatest good will come only through universal adherence to that pattern." "Towards a Quaker view of sex," does not represent the official view of the Society of Friends--although it appears under the imprint of the Friends' Home Service Committee. But its tone is frank, professional, and authoritative. The report was compiled by a group of 11 which include teachers in schools and universities, three psychiatrists, a marriage guidance counsellor and a barrister. It is edited by Dr Alastair Heron, the director of the Medical Research Council's unit on occupational aspects of ageing. Six members of the group are elders of the Society of Friends. Changing assumptions The group saw itself confronted by a great increase in adolescent sexual intimacy, transient pre-marital intimacies generally, intercourse between people ("often with a deep sense of responsibility") intending to get married and possibly also in extramarital intercourse. "It seemed to us that morals, like the Sabbath, were made for man, not man for morals, and that as society changes and modes of conduct with it, we must always be searching below the surface of human behaviour, to discover what is in fact happening to people, what they are seeking to express, what motives and intentions they are satisfying, what fruits, good or bad, they are harvesting." Some members of the group found themselves to surrender assumptions that they had long accepted as good and right, because the emphasis on morality had so often gone with a cold and inhibitive attitude. There had, however, to be a morality of some sort to govern sexual relationships. "An experience so profound in its effect upon people and upon the community cannot be left wholly to private judgment." But a distinction needed to be drawn between a social code, changing with the structure of society and community life, and a religious or ethical code, changeless and eternal. Homosexuals Homosexual affection, says the group, is not morally worse than heterosexual affection, and should be judged bu the same standards. It is the quality of the relationships, rather than the acts that it may involve, that matters. The group traces the history of legislation affecting homosexuals, and observes that although the Victorian legislation did not trouble to define "gross indecency," lawyers had apparently never allowed their clients to admit the acts as charged but instead denied their indecency. "Lord Curzon thought eating soup before lunch was grossly indecent; it would have startled him if two men doing it together violated the Sexual Offences Act." The report surveys the sources of professional help for those with sexual difficulties, and contains appendices on the origins of sexual behaviour, and on sexual deviations. "Towards a Quaker view of sex," Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1: 3s 6d. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Guardian, 18 Feb 1963 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Keith Wedmore Papers Description An account of the resource <em>The Guardian</em> published this prudent review of the report, its background and rationale on 18 February, 1963. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/877fc5f2790d7e3c8d55aa8855cd187f.jpg e87ddd0c829f5cd63ba5b66c8f824c62 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/1ab0460bbda7f4dcc93369cb55270366.jpg 7c350e99639b891a2827efe080925f83 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/c6550f29e30ee82883eccb756a567075.jpg 67c3ca1e3aebedf2595fd524e11661f5 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/7a10d9a3825534b260e054e4f1ae0120.jpg 5db859b59d52044c627024ab766b8036 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Friend February 15, 1963 "Towards a Quaker View of Sex" The unofficial group of Friends who since 1957 have been examining sexual problems and morals have now completed an essay, TOWARDS A QUAKER VIEW OF SEX, which is to be published in a few days' time by the Home Service Committee. "The origins of this pamphlet", as the Introduction states, "lie in problems brought by young Quaker students, faced with homosexual difficulties who came to older Friends for help and guidance. It appears that the Society of Friends as such had little to say to people troubled sexually, and that at the same time many friends were in serious doubt whether the Church's traditional view spoke to this condition. The need was clear for research into sexual problems and morals: and for Friends to ask themselves where their responsibility lay. A group of concerned members of the Society accordingly gathered in 1957 to re-examine through thought and prayer this most difficult of problems. It has met regularly ever since and includes those with experience in teaching, penology, marriage guidance, psychiatry, biology, psychology and the law." The members of the group are: KENNETH C. BARNES, Headmaster of Wennington School; ANNA M. BIDDER, research worker and teacher in zoology, Cambridge University; RICHARD FOX, Senior Registrar, Bethlem Royal, Maudsley Hospital; ALASTAIR HERON, Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Direct of the Medical Research Council's Unit on Occupational Aspects of Ageing; G. JOYCE JAMES, housewife, one-time marriage guidance counsellor (who was unable to attend during the last year); KENNETH NICHOLSON, Headmaster of the Friends' School, Saffron Walden; MERVYN PARRY, teacher of educational subnormal children; LOTTE ROSENBERG, consultant psychiatrist and child psychiatrist; ALFRED TORRIE, consultant psychiatrist; KEITH B. WEDMORE, barrister-at-law; and one member who for professional reasons must remain anonymous. The essay, not having been discussed by the Society, does not of course purport to be an "official" statement. It is reviewed by John Ounsted, Headmaster of Leighton Park School, in the article below. __________________________ "Oh dear--not sex again!" a Young Friend was heard to remark recently. It is a comment with which many of us must sympathise, knowing how many other good things ought to claim our time and attention; and after the very full discussion which took place in these columns and in Friends' circles generally a year ago one cannot perhaps reopen the subject without some good excuse. The excuse is that the comment on our sexual situation made by this new pamphlet is "different from all the rest." What is our sexual situation? It is a situation of every increasing "knowledge" in the sense that more and more people know and openly discuss more and more "facts" about sex in its widest sense; and yet of more and more confusion as the welter of information and of rival dogmatic statements becomes more than our minds can deal with. We rejoice to see many old misconceptions (like those about masturbation) abandoned; but find equally numerous new ones in their place. It is impossible to know how much sexual unhappiness there used to be, but we know for certain that (and I mean among the most modern and enlightened of people) there exists and enormous amount of it today. Into this situation two classes of serious doctrines are propounded (quite apart from the influence of fiction, entertainment and advertising whose actual effect on people's actions is, no doubt, much greater than either). One, now quite respectable enough to be published in Pelicans and broadcast on the BBC advocates far greater permissiveness in every direction, and in particular recommends that there should be more or less extensive heterosexual experience, including coitus, in the period between puberty and marriage; but that after marriage there should, on the whole, be faithfulness between the partners until death (or divorce). The other, while advocating (what has a\often not been displayed in the past) the utmost charity towards those who disagreed with it, or who agree with it but fall short of their own ideals, expounds the "traditional Christian belief" part of which contradicts the former doctrine in stating that love relations outside marriage must never extend to coitus. The previous publications of the Home Sevice Committee (including Harold Loukes's admirable pamphlet Christians and Sex: A Quaker Comment) have fallen in the latter group. Now comes TOWARDS A QUAKER VIEW OF SEX which, as indicated above, is radically new in its approach. It has been produced by a group of eleven Friends (rather than a specialist group, as the list at the head of this article shows), who have met monthly over a period of five years. Their starting point was the need to discover how to advise Quaker undergraduates facing homosexual difficulties, and although they have moved on to cover the whole field this origin is significant for its influence on their thinking throughout. Three chapters chiefly describe the facts about contemporary behaviour; the fourth is entitled "A New Morality Needed". The fifth gives practical guidance to any Friend who may have to give advice on sexual problems. There follows a practical appendix listing sources of professional help for more serious cases, and an admirable book list. Two more appendices giving some scientific theories about sex and descriptions of the less common abnormalities might well have been omitted except that they include the important and far too little publicised fact that apparent sexual compatibility in premarital intercourse may be associated with impotence or frigidity after marriage--one of the many compelling reasons for advising an engaged couple against "trial marriage". The first way in which this pamphlet is "different" lies in its insistence on our facing the reality (Friends might be expected to lead other Christians in doing this) that there occurs an enormous quantity and variety of socially unacceptable sexual behaviour, not simply among don't-cards or delinquents but among good and sincere people of the sort who may be or become the pillars of society and indeed the Society of Friends; and that the consequences of this for the individuals involved may or may not be disastrous, depending on how the situation is handled. It reminds us that shoe considered socially acceptable may well, nevertheless, be leading lives which fail to create sexual happiness for themselves and their marriage partners. It tells us that the Friend asked for advice must be unshockable and free from emotional prejudice if he is to be of help. (I wonder if this is wholly true? Does not experiencing the fact that he has given a severe emotional shock to the person he respects enough to have turned to counsel often awaken someone for the first time to knowledge of the truth about himself?) All the same, it usefully emphasises (in relation to being "shocked") that fear of masturbation and of homosexuality tends to make the practice of them more frequent, and that both sorts of adolescent homosexuality flow naturally into heterosexuality and marriage. Secondly, it emphasises the wrongness of the current tendency to take sexual relationships casually and superficially or in isolation from other aspects of life; and the need for what would be my definition of charity, namely, that all relationships should be warm, deep, and personal. There is a good section explaining where Friends come into all this: that their historic insistence on full equality of the sexes should lead to their being especially awake to sexual problems; that their attitude of search for new light should free them from old formulas when those prove ineffective; that their refusal to divide the sacred from the secular should enable them to study God's purpose even in places where some Christian prejudice might make it seems that he was not present at all; that the wide sharing of pastoral duties consequent on the "priesthood of all believers" makes readiness to give sexual counsel a widely shared responsibility (and has the incidental advantage of making it more easy to accept that those who give such counsel are also normal men and women with sexual problems of their own). All Friends who expect to be giving sexual advice are recommended to read this pamphlet and think about it with great care. It will make them think, and it needs intensive thought. It was easy to find much praise; it is very much harder to explain what one has against the pamphlet without quoting it as a whole. But, when it comes to the main point, I found it disappointing. The Devil could cite it to his purpose, as the writers indeed frankly recognise in talking of "the permissiveness we appear to support". Looking at my notes I find I could provide plenty of texts from it to support my own beliefs about sex (which cannot be fully expounded in this review): The social codes changes...the truly religious (code) is changeless and eternal. There must be a morality of some sort to govern sexual relationships. We believe that there is indeed a place for discipline. In the power of the Holy Spirit there are no dangers from which strength cannot be gained, no apparent disaster which cannot be transformed into spiritual opportunities. Most people...would agree that the family as a social unit should be safeguarded and sexual practices that threaten its stability vigorously discouraged. [Friends recognised this by having a "Marriage and Parenthood Committee". The tendency to look at sex in isolation from parenthood is one of the chief faults of modern sexual thinking, and one from which this pamphlet is by no means free. Does laying down this Committee imply a change of belief about this?]* But I think the authors do not share my beliefs. And if they do, they certainly don't make it clear that they do. Indeed, a lack of clear statement both in detail and of the overall implications of the work is its principal weakness. As an illustration of the style of expression throughout: "Neither are we happy with the thought that all homosexual behaviour is sinful." I do not suppose there is anyone who would be "happy with the ought": the question is whether the authors are or are not stating their believe that not all homosexual behaviour is sinful. More important than such details is the overall confusion produced in the reader by balancing any statement that seems clearly weighted on one side with another (sometimes quite separate) giving the opposite emphasis. The idea which could be put: "This is a very complicated matter; almost anything might be true" is sound enough as a starting point for most issues, but not positively helpful as a conclusion. Confusion is produced, too, by attaching (as is common) extreme wide meanings to the words love and sex. For example, "any personal relationship between two people carries a sexual element"; and commending "love" in eternal triangle situations in such terms as to make it uncertain whether they believe (my tentative conclusion is that they do believe) that in some cases this should involve being on coitus terms with two different partners at the same time. Love is not merely, confusingly, almost identified with sex and sex with coitus; it is also (which is a logical enough consequence) set in antithesis to duty. But is it not the experience of most Christians that love by all Christian definitions is something which both produces duty and grows by duty, that the two are inextricably bound and mutually nourishing, like the symbiotic partners in a lichen? When Professor Carstairs was believed to have stated in his BBC Reith Lectures that it would be beneficial to our society if premarital coitus took place more freely and frequently, Free Church, Anglican and Catholic leaders took the opportunity to reiterate publicly the traditional Christian view that coitus should take place only within marriage. Supposing a Friend were to lay before Yearly Meeting a concern that Friends should state the same, and that this pamphlet were a "document in advance", what would happen? One might have expected the Quaker Committee to agree with one view of the other, or to propound a new one. It does none of these things. Instead of being called TOWARDS A QUAKER VIEW OF SEX the pamphlet might have been called AWAY FROM A TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN VIEW OF SEX; for it seems to reject the latter, chiefly by reference to the many abuses which have arisen from the traditional view (for example, ill-treatment of illegitimate children, imprisonment of homosexuals, unloving marriages), abuses that many Christian-traditionalists clearly recognise are only abuses and not part of their code. It equally seems to reject the Carstairs view; but instead of producing a third way simply nails its colours firmly to the fence: "...how difficult it has been for us to come to definite conclusions as to what people ought or ought not to do." Is there not a contradiction between this reason for rejecting a moral absolute, "We think it is our duty not to stand on a peak of perfectionism", and the following fine and inspiring passage which perhaps presents the final positive message of the pamphlet?-- The challenge to each one of us is clear: accustom yourself to seeking God's will and the experience of his love and power, become used in your daily life to the simple but tremendous spiritual fact that what God asks he enables, provided only and always that we will to do his will. In other words: "All you've got to do is to be a saint and you'll find your sexual actions are not sinful, as neither are your others". For us poor sinners, so given to blinding ourselves with self-centred desire, isn't the traditional Christian code of chastity, taking in its total Christian context of charity as defined above, more likely to clear the mists and give us a glimpse of God and his will? John Ounsted ___________________________ *The passage in brackets is, of course, John Ounsted's comment, not a quotation from the report. Discussion on BBC Television The report will be the subject of a discussion in "Meeting Point" on BBC Television on Sunday (February 17) at 6:15 p.m. Kenneth Barnes and Anna Bidder will be questioned by Paul Ferris, of The Observer, and a psychiatrist. The report, price 3s. 6d., is obtainable from the Home Service Committee or the Friends Book Centre, both at Friends House, Euston Road, London, NW1. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Review in The Friend, 15 Feb 1963 Description An account of the resource <em>The Friend</em>, the weekly communications vehicle of the London Yearly Meeting, published a pre-release review by John Ounsted that was respectful but critical. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Reproduced by permission of<em> The Friend</em>, February 15, 1963, pp. 180-183. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/7d85fc8d821a2aab01f8e4850c8a5a9b.jpg 05c20a05bdc795449c6cd86fd85445e3 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/ece8f6611b391a4eaa4e5c763be89c85.jpg 8c58e67d66f0cd5540b71c52af6a69d3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource France-observateur, 7 March 1963 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Keith Wedmore Papers Description An account of the resource The report was reviewed in the French weekly newsmagazine, <em>France-observateur,</em> on March 7, 1963. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/5c05682e845ab51b6b975538a2cf5478.jpg c697d8c16e70be217420f45b89f2671d https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/506efc85944f9efd5d396ba49d291e08.jpg 4fa3d36d669f16d4709d26a5fdc774be Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Washington Post February 18, 1963 Quaker Group Urges Sex Enlightenment LONDON, Feb. 18 (Monday) A group of Quakers today called for a more enlightened approach to sexual relationships, including homosexuality. The 11-member group, including two psychiatrists and two school headmasters, said there was yet not definite answer to such questions as "whether homosexual contacts are really 'unnatural' or repulsive, whether pre-marital intercourse is necessarily a bad preparation for marriage, whether to have a variety of sexual partners does, in fact, weaken intimate relations and destroy a community." Their report, "Towards a Quaker View of Sex," was not representative of the views of all Quakers, they said. The report said that sexual relationships have such profound effect on the community that they cannot be left wholly to private judgment. There must be a governing morality of some sort, the report declared. But, in noting a great increase in adolescent sex relations and in pre-marital sex generally, the report said: "It must be accepted that light-hearted and loving casual contacts can be known without profound damage or 'moral degeneracy' being the result in either partner." On homosexuality it said: "One should no more deplore homosexuality than left-handedness, though one can condemn and prohibit specific acts." The authors reject "almost completely" the traditional Christian approach to morality with its rigid definitions of right and wrong. "Where there is genuine tenderness, an openness to responsibility and the seed of commitment, God is surely not shut out," the said. Washington Daily News February 18, 1963 'Where There's Genuine Tenderness' Quakers O.K. Casual Sex London, Feb. 18--An 11-member Quaker study group, including two psychiatrists and two school headmasters, today declared there are no definite answers to such questions as 'whether homosexual contacts are really 'unnatural' or repulsive, whether pre-marital intercourse is necessarily a bad preparation for marriage, and whether having a variety of sexual partners does, in fact, weaken intimate relations and destroy a community." The group, in a report entitled "Towards a Quaker View of Sex," called for a more enlightened approach to sexual relationships, altho members admitted their findings were not representative titled "Towards a Quaker in Britain or elsewhere. Noting a great increase in adolescent and pre-marital sexual relations, the report said: "It must be accepted that light-hearted and loving casual contacts can be known without profound damage or 'moral degernacy' bring the result in either partner. "One should no more deplore homosexuality than lefthandedness," the report went on, "tho one can condemn and prohibit specific acts. Where there is genuine tendernesss, an openness to responsibility and the seend of the commitment, God is surely not shut out." The report rejected "almost completely" the traditional approach to Christian morality "with its rigid definitions of right and wrong." But it also declared sex relationships have so profound an effect on the community they cannot be left to private judgments, asserting there must be "a governing morality of some sort." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Washington papers, February 18, 1963 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clippings in the Personal Papers of Anna Bidder, Lucy Cavendish College Archive Description An account of the resource <em>The Washington Post</em> and <em>The Washington Daily New</em>s (afternoon paper) printed similar accounts on the day the report was released; although the <em>Daily News</em> used a provocative headline. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/f4370cc2bc15b95fa917a6ac97893aa5.jpg 5cd3ba5cfee3ac8ec8a68207fb22f398 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Daily Mail February 18, 1963 Quaker's views on love and marriage by Daily Mail Reporter Two Quakers who helped to prepare the most outspoken Church report on sex ever published said on TV last night that the fact that a husband or wife had a love affair should not mean the end of their marriage. The triangle situation would end with the "enrichment" of the marriage, said one--Dr. Anna Bidder, a spinster, who teaches zoology at Cambridge University. The two Quakers--the other was Mr. Kenneth Barnes, head of Wennington co-education school at Wetherby, Yorkshire--were appearing in the B.B.C. religious series, Meeting Point. They were questioned by Mr. Paul Ferris about a report called Towards a Quaker View of Sex--published today--drawn up by an investigation team of 11 Quakers. The report says there has been a great increased in sexual relations among adolescents, and that relations before marriage have become common even among people with high standards of conduct. It urges a completely new Christian approach to the problem--and says the investigation team rejected "almost completely" the traditional Church approach, with its supposition that it knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. Mr. Ferris said of the report: "It is very controversial, very outspoken and no doubt it will shock some people." Enriched He questioned them about their attitude to an "affair" during marriage. Dr. Bidder said: "People tend to think it is the end. We say that if people approach the situation in sincerity and confidence and determination the marriage can be strengthened and enriched--and the third party can be enriched by having come through a difficult situation." She emphasised: "Whatever happens, we are 100 p.c. concerned with the sanctity and wonder of marriage." Mr. Ferris asked: How far should young people go before marriage? Should they sleep together? Dr. Bidder said she did not think the question should be put that way. "I should want them to think in terms of neighbourliness not only to the person concerned, but to the other people round them." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daily Mail, 18 Feb 1963 Description An account of the resource The <em>Daily Mail</em> published this account of Bidder and Barnes on the Meeting Point programme. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in Personal Papers of Anna Bidder, Lucy Cavendish College Archive https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d1f3d5b7611e4640a2e64b38349bce8d.pdf e1fad98e1bd00ef08133782350ca0af8 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Tablet February 23, 1963 Compassion Is Not Enough The fact that all too often detestation of the sin (which is entirely justified and laudable) leads Christians into undue harshness towards the sinner seems to have led the Quakers authors of Towards a Quaker View of Sex (Friends Home Service Committee, 3s. 6d.) into a blurring of moral categories which can only be deplored in our present post-Christian society where young people, particularly, are left to work out their sexual morals for themselves. There are already sufficient forces at work to persuade people that traditional Christian sexual morality represents at best an ideal impossible of attainment, and it is to be feared that this pamphlet, contrary to its authors' intentions, may serve to reinforce these forces, particularly among those who learn of it at second hand. With much that is said by the contributors to this pamphlet many Christians can agree. Their starting point would seem to be an intense and entirely praiseworthy compassion for the acute suffering caused by tragic sexual experience and for the unnecessary misery that can arise from too rigid an adherence to the letter, rather than the spirit, of the Christian moral law. They recognise that human love-making is good in itself and is meant to be enjoyed and are concerned to banish the kind of Manichaean attitude that would regard human sexuality are irretrievably evil in itself and marriage as essentially an outlet for an evil urge which cannot be totally suppressed. They feel great sympathy for homosexuals, from whom our present society demands, in a purely secular context, a level of heroic virtue which it in no way asks of the heterosexual majority, although the Church, of course, does demand some degree of heroic virtue in this respect from all its members, whether heterosexual or homosexual. What above all concerns authors of this report (which, of course, is not in any way a policy statement of the Religious Society of Friends but merely one particular Quaker view of sex as seen by one particular group of Friends) is how the Christian should act when faced with his neighbour's sexual difficulties, rather than how the Christian himself should act when faced with his own sexual difficulties; and this is where the pamphlet may give a wrong impression, in that it is concerned with the objective judging of other people's actions (when charity demands that they should be given the benefit of the doubt) rather than arriving at an objective judgment of one's own behaviour. The compassion with which the authors handle pre-marital and extra-marital love-affairs may give rise, in the minds of hasty readers of their pamphlet, to the conclusion that they are condoning such behaviour, when what they are trying to do is to ask their fellow-men not to usurp the place of God in judging it. Above all they give the impression not so much of tempering justice with mercy as of leaving justice out of account altogether; and it is here that three factors arise which they seem largely to have ignored and which give rise to doubts about the validity of some of their conclusions. One factor is the basis of the defence of traditional Christian morality on sex in the natural law: the fact that human love-making normally results in the birth of a child. In these days, when artificial methods of birth-control are so much taken for granted, this point is apt to be obscured; but it is for this reason that love-making, by implying the family, implies also marriage and the stability and sanctity of marriage, since there is nothing worse for the children than the spectacle of their parents not united by that bond of love which ought to be the basis of every marriage, let alone their parents' divorce and remarriage. While the fact remains that love-making outside marriage need not (and should not) affect the stability of marriage (in the same way as, for example, St. Peters' triple denial of Our Lord did not affect his devotion to Him), it does involved a depreciation of this unique expression of human love. Human love-making involves (or should involve) the total giving of one self to another in a way that necessarily excludes all others, and the uniqueness of this relationship is protected by the institution of the sacrament of marriage, life-long and indissoluble. The second factor of the importance of the vocation of chastity, in which the uniqueness and value of human love is recognised by voluntarily making over and sacrificing this gift to God. The authors of the pamphlet give the impression--we hope it is unintended--of regarding life-long chastity as an impossible ideal; and, of course, regarded from a purely human point of view, it is. But, like the achievement of Christian marriage, its fulfilment depends upon grace and upon a humble recognition of one's need for grace to achieve something that would be impossible for human nature unaided. Chastity and marriage need to be regarded as the twin channels into which the powerful drive of human sexuality must be directed if it is to be truly creative and not leave a trail of destruction in its wake. Where the difficulties arise is not so much with those--mainly priests and religious--who embrace the vocation of chastity of their own free will, but with those for whom the discovery that chastity is, after all, their vocation is a painful process of learning: the men and women who, however eligible they may seem, somehow fail to get married, and above all the homosexuals who, by their very nature, are shut out from the vocation of marriage. And this brings us to the third factor: compassion for the plight of homosexuals in our present society seems to have led the authors of this pamphlet into a condonation of the physical expression of homosexual love, given circumstances analogous to those which make the physical expression of heterosexual love good for the Christian. Their attitude here would seem to depend partly on the first factor, that of ignoring the procreative element in human love, which is the basis for the condemnation of homosexual behaviour in the natural law. Even those who share their compassion for the homosexual and who share (as we do not) their feeling that the present legal position only adds to the homosexual's difficulties without making it any easier for him to come to terms with his situation, while at the same time encouraging blackmail, must see that here is a radical departure from traditional Christian morality. In general, we can agree with this group of Quakers when they condemn the doing of the right thing for the wrong reasons, when they point out that a situation which, form the outside, appears to be blameless may in fact be more blameworthy than another situation which, objectively speaking, is gravely sinful. The disagreement arises when it comes to a question of drawing lines between what is right and what is wrong, when we have to point out that a certain kind of behaviour is sinful, however understandable and excusable it may be in particular circumstances, and however undeserving of censure may be the people actually involved in it. Where a reading of this pamphlet, whatever its deficiencies of judgment, can be salutary for us is in reminding us of the dangers of a legalistic approach and of the letter that killeth rather than the spirit than (sic) quickeneth. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tablet Review, 23 February 1963 Description An account of the resource The Tablet, an independent Catholic weekly news journal, lauds the group's intentions but criticizes its conclusions in its review. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London