Rekindling Our Radical Faith: Penn, Mead and Justice Today

The 1670 trial of William Penn and William Mead established the right of a jury to convict or acquit according to their consciences. This case, known as 'Bushel's Case' after one of the jurors, was a legal landmark vastly improving our legal system. A re-enactment was held by friends at Gracechurch street on April 7th 2024.

Recent decisions by judges not to allow defendants to explain the reasons for their actions in their defence has severely eroded this right, as they are not being given sufficient, relevant evidence.

Embracing our heritage as a radical spiritual community, friends asked themselves what the relevance was for us today, and were creatively inspired to act and stand by these values.

Session outline:

This session will begin with an overview of the Penn and Mead case from Benjamin Wood, covering the theological underpinnings for these actions.

We will then move into the contemporary resonance of these historical events. We will be joined by Trudi Warner, a climate and justice campaigner whose widely publicised arrest in 2023 has helped to raise awareness of jury equity and the Defend Our Juries campaign https://defendourjuries.org/

Phil Laurie will also share a summary of the recent Penn and Mead re-enactment.

Throughout the session, we will hear directly from friends who have been/are going through the legal system, and the spiritual conflict and tough decisions to be made when they wish to speak truth to power in court, but have been prevented from doing so.

This session will be enlightening and motivating if you are concerned about climate, peace and social justice issues, and wish to uphold the right to peaceful protest – whether or not you can act yourself.