AS members of the Religious Society of Friends we wish to express our concern with regards to the growing crisis within the banking sector in our country, especially Barclays Bank.
Banking should be an honourable profession; however, we are greatly saddened by how banking ethical standards have changed and deteriorated.
Barclays Bank was a Quaker Institution founded in 1690 when Friends saw the need to provide help and assistance for others and to set up their own businesses.
The Bank was run on Quaker principles and guided by the Quaker Testimony of Integrity. David Barclay (son of Robert Barclay) founded the bank, he was born into a Christian Quaker family where the testimonies of integrity, equality, peace and simplicity were respected as the foundations for living life.
Quakers are no longer involved with the running of Barclays Bank.
We would appear to now live in a ‘culture of greed’ and our children grow up believing that true happiness can only be found in having lots and lots of money almost regardless from where it comes.
Money is important but how it is created and used is all important. Within our country the rich are becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.
The ethic of sharing with others must never be forgotten or overlooked. We, as 21st Century Friends, still uphold the same Quaker principles as in the 17th Century and endeavour to practise them in our daily lives.
Are you honest in your daily work and in all your personal relationships? Do you maintain integrity in your dealings with government authorities and other outward concerns? Do you guard against covetousness, remembering that the quality of life does not depend on the abundance of possessions? Do you seek to discern how much of your time, talents and resources you should devote to the service of others?
What does the Lord require of you? ‘To do justly (fairness), to love mercy (kindness) and to walk humbly with your God.’ Micah Chapter 6, Verse 8.
Rosemary A Calvert
Lisburn
Comments