Heron begins by suggesting that "very many, perhaps most, Friends who are members of yearly meetings in the unprogrammed tradition are uncertian and confused about their personal faith. The reasons for this are many and complex, and it is all too easy to oversimplify in the interests of brevity. It can however be recognized that we have a well-founded fear of what can seem like too-great certainty in matters of faith, and that many Friends today are 'refugees' from other parts of the Church, in search of freedom from dogma, liturgy and ritual. Despite our long-standing practice of 'visiting' applicants for membership, to ensure that they and we are reasonably clear what it is they are wishing to join, the criteria we have offered them have become progressively less clear during the 40 years since my own application for membership. One result has been that there are many Quaker meetings in which the members value the silence, but perceive its purpose very differently; enjoy one another's company, but do not form a community of faith; practise consensus democracy rather than seeking God's will and guidance together; and display a heartwarming readiness to be tolerant, both of this diversity and of the meeting's inability to meet their deepest spiritual needs." Heron is describing a situation that exists today as surely as it did in 1989 when he wrote. This is a very useful discussion of the ongoing concern over what part of the Quaker heritage is to be lived and what part is to be cherished as an outgrown memory.