Simon Grant

born 1956, living in Liverpool, attending Liverpool Meeting, working as a freelance information systems consultant.

Since being a child I remember sensing truth particularly in the New Testament, and at school at the age of 15 I was baptised and confirmed (against the wishes of parents) into the Church of England. Later, as a student, I experienced the wide range of Anglicanism, but also discovered in a young Quaker group a refreshing freedom from what I felt even then was the burden of leaders dictating what to do and how to think. After a gap out of reach, I came back to Quakers in Glasgow in 1988 and immediately felt at home, though still thinking of myself as a Christian with Quaker leanings. Visiting a friend's Anglican church, I then realised I was no longer comfortable going along with that kind of organised liturgy. I applied for membership then, knowing that the Quaker way was my source, my spring.

The silence of Quaker worship has taught me a lot. It has taught me that right human relationships need that accepting space where no one is trying to tell another what to think, or judge what they have just said, but where everyone looks for something of God in the other's being and words. This allows people to relate well to each other even though they may put emphasis on different things.

My recent work has been around the Internet and e-business. The Web can be a very Quakerly medium - no one else restricts one's ability to write what one believes. In my work I am looking towards a society where values are not dictated by the few to the many, but where everyone is free not only to express their own positive values, but also to be supported in living them. I can see ways of doing this through Internet technology, which I hope will in time bring greater peace and fulfillment to the world.