Quaker Week 2025: 'Love Your Neighbour'- a call for compassion in a divided world

As tensions rise and divisions deepen across the UK and beyond, Quakers are inviting everyone to pause, reflect, and act on one simple but radical idea: Love Your Neighbour.

During Quaker Week 2025, Quaker Meeting Houses across the UK will open their doors to the public, offering events, discussions, and spaces for quiet reflection.

This year's theme, Love Your Neighbour, speaks directly to the urgent need for compassion and solidarity in the face of growing racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and nationalism.

This need was underlined in a recent statement from churches across England, including Quakers in Britain.

In the statement the Churches Together England (CTE) Presidents expressed deep concern that Christian words and symbols were being used at far-right rallies to support views opposed to their message.

"Christian words and symbols must never be co-opted to support the messages that breed hostility towards others," the Presidents of CTE said.

"Its message never legitimises rejection, hatred or superiority towards people of other cultures."

Love is an active principle

Quakers believe that love is not a passive feeling, but an active principle.

Across the country, Quaker communities are working with interfaith partners, campaigning for peace and justice, and challenging the idea that fear and hatred are inevitable.

This year's Quaker Week runs from 27 September and culminates on World Quaker Day, 5 October, a global celebration of the Quaker faith in action.

Quakers have been encouraged to share the message publicly or to find other ways to actively resist prejudice in their communities.

Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: "Racism, xenophobia, war, and genocide are all tragic failures to love our neighbours. If we are serious about our values, we must live them.

"In a time when religious values are often distorted or repurposed for division, Quakers offer a different message: that the principle of Love is written in every human heart.

"And it calls us to action - not just once a year, but every day."

Tim Gee, general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation which represents Quakers around the world, said; "Imagine if every Quaker Meeting, every church, every place of worship spoke up in a way that couldn't be misunderstood.

"That they used every opportunity to share the Golden Rule: Do to others as you would have them do to you - or more succinctly - Love Your Neighbour as Yourself"

LINKS

For a list of events, visit: www.worldquakerday.org

God's overwhelming and unconditional love for every single human being: https://cte.org.uk/unconditional-love-cte-presidents-statement/