Christian pacifism

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(Redirected from
Christian nonviolence
)

Blessed are the Peacemakers (1917) by George Bellows

Christian pacifism is the

non-violence have both a scriptural and rational basis for Christians, and affirms that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith.[1] Christian pacifists state that Jesus himself was a pacifist who taught and practiced pacifism and that his followers must do likewise. Notable Christian pacifists include Martin Luther King Jr., Leo Tolstoy,[2] Adin Ballou, and Ammon Hennacy
.

Christian Peacemaker Teams, and individuals like John Howard Yoder
, make no claim to be anarchists.

Origins

Old Testament

A Levite reading the Law to the Israelites. The Rambam famously rules that members of the tribe of Levi do not fight in the army.[3]

Roots of Christian pacifism can be found in the scriptures of the Old Testament according to Baylor University professor of religion, John A. Wood.[4] Millard C. Lind explains the theology of warfare in ancient Israel as God directing the people of Israel to trust in Him, not in the warring way of the nations, and to seek peace not coercive power. Stephen B. Chapman expresses the Old Testament describes God's divine intervention, not human power politics, or the warring king, as key to the preservation of Israel.[5] Lind asserts the Old Testament reflects that God occasionally sanctions, even commands wars to the point of God actually fighting utilizing the forces of nature, miraculous acts or other nations.[6] Lind further argues God fights so that Israel does not have to fight wars like other nations because God delivers them.[6] God promised to fight for Israel, to be an enemy to their enemies and oppose all that oppose them (Exodus 23:22).[7] Pacifist God, John Howard Yoder explains, sustained and directed his community not by power politics but by the creative power of God's word, of speaking through the law and the prophets.[8] The scriptures in the Old Testament provide background of God's great victory over evil, sin and death. Stephen Vantassel contends the Old Testament exists to put the issue of war and killing in historical and situational context.[9]

Throughout the Old Testament, there is a movement in the role of war. Stephen B. Chapman, associate professor of Old Testament at Duke University asserts God used war to conquer and provide the Promised Land to Israel, and then to defend that land. The Old Testament explains that Israel does not have to fight wars like other nations because God delivers them.[5] Starting with the Exodus out of Egypt, God fights for Israel as a warrior rescuing His people from the oppressive Egyptians (Exodus 15:3).[10] In Exodus 14:13,[11] Moses instructs the Israelites, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." The miraculous parting of the Red Sea is God being a warrior for Israel through acts of nature and not human armies.[6] God's promise to fight on behalf of his chosen people is affirmed in the scriptures of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 1:30).[12][13]

According to Old Testament scholar Peter C. Craige, during the military conquests of the Promised Land, the Israelites fought in real wars against real human enemies; however, it was God who granted them victory in their battles.[13] Craige further contends God determined the outcome of human events with his participation through those humans and their activity; essentially, that God fought through the fighting of his people.[13] Once the Promised Land was secured, and the nation of Israel progressed, God used war to protect or punish the nation of Israel with his sovereign control of the nations to achieve his purposes (2 Kings 18:9–12, Jeremiah 25:8–9, Habakkuk 1:5–11).[14] Yoder affirms as long as Israel trusted and followed God, God would work his power through Israel to drive occupants from lands God willed them to occupy (Exodus 23:27–33).[15][8] The future of Israel was dependent solely on its faith and obedience to God as mediated through the Law and prophets, and not on military strength.[4]

Jacob Enz explains God made a covenant with his people of Israel, placing conditions on them that they were to worship only him, and be obedient to the laws of life in the Ten Commandments.[16] When Israel trusted and obeyed God, the nation prospered; when they rebelled, God spoke through prophets such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, telling Israel that God would wage war against Israel to punish her (Isaiah 59:15-19).[17][18] War was used in God's ultimate purpose of restoring peace and harmony for the whole earth with the intention towards salvation of all the nations with the coming of the Messiah and a new covenant. Jacob Enz describes God's plan was to use the nation of Israel for a higher purpose, and that purpose was to be the mediator between all the peoples and God.[16] The Old Testament reflects how God helped his people of Israel, even after Israel's repeated lapses of faith, demonstrating God's grace, not violence.[16]

The Old Testament explains God is the only giver of life and God is sovereign over human life. Man's role is to be a steward who should take care of all of God's creation, and that includes protecting human life. Craige explains God's self-revelation through his participating in human history is referred to as "

Salvation History."[13] The main objective of God's participation is man's salvation. God participates in human history by acting through people and in the world that is both in need of salvation, and is thus imperfect. God participates in the human activity of war through sinful human beings for His purpose of bringing salvation to the world.[13]

Studies conducted by scholars Friedrich Schwally, Johannes Pedersen, Patrick D. Miller, Rudolf Smend and Gerhard von Rad maintain the wars of Israel in the Old Testament were by God's divine command.[6] This divine activity took place in a world of sinful men and activities, such as war. God's participation through evil human activity such as war was for the sole purposes of both redemption and judgment.[13] God's presence in these Old Testament wars does not justify or deem them holy, and instead is interpreted as serving to provide hope in a situation of hopelessness.[13] The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13) and the fundamental principle it holds true is that reverence for human life must be given the highest importance. The Old Testament points to a time when weapons of war shall be transformed into the instruments of peace, and the hope for the consummation of the Kingdom of God when there will be no more war.[13] Wood points to the scriptures of Isaiah and Micah (Isaiah 2:2–4; 9:5; 11:1–9; and Micah 4:1–7) that express the pacifist view of God's plan to bring peace without violence.[4]

Ministry of Jesus

Ecce Homo (c. 1880) by Antonio Ciseri

Jesus appeared to teach pacifism during his ministry when he told his disciples:[19]

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

— Matthew 5:38–39[20]

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

— Matthew 5:43–48, Luke 6:27–28[21]

Put your sword back in its place… for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

— Matthew 26:52[22]

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

— Matthew 5:9[23]

Early Church

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Martírio de Santo Hipólito (Martyrdom of Saint Hippolytus) by Cristóvão de Figueiredo

Several

Cyprian of Carthage, "The whole world is wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, is called a virtue when it is committed wholesale";[34] and Lactantius, "For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare";[35] while Gregory of Nyssa conveys the spirit of anarchism, "How can a man be master of another's life, if he is not even master of his own? Hence he ought to be poor in spirit, and look at Him who for our sake became poor of His own will; let him consider that we are all equal by nature, and not exalt himself impertinently against his own race."[36]

Constantine, and the presence of large numbers of Christians in his army may have been a factor in the conversion of Constantine to Christianity.[40] Marcus Aurelius allegedly reported to the Roman Senate that his Christian soldiers fought with prayers instead of conventional weapons,[41] which resulted in the Rain Miracle[42] of the Marcomannic Wars
.

Conversion of the Roman Empire

La Charité de Saint-Martin (The Charity of Saint Martin) by Louis-Anselme Longa
See also:
Constantine I and Christianity

After the Roman Emperor Constantine converted in AD 312 and began to conquer "in Christ's name", Christianity became entangled with the state, and warfare and violence were increasingly justified by influential Christians. For example,

Athanasius, "it is not right to kill, yet in war it is lawful and praiseworthy to destroy the enemy; accordingly not only are they who have distinguished themselves in the field held worthy of great honours, but monuments are put up proclaiming their achievements."[44] Some scholars believe that "the accession of Constantine terminated the pacifist period in church history."[45] Nevertheless, the tradition of Christian pacifism was carried on by a few dedicated Christians throughout the ages, such as Martin of Tours, who converted during the early days of Christianity in Europe. Martin, who was then a young soldier, declared in AD 336, "I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight."[46] He was jailed for this action, but later released, eventually becoming just the third Bishop of Tours.[46] Jerome also writes, "To die is the lot of all, to commit homicide only of the weak man."[47]

Middle Ages

martyred
(bottom)

According to the Bonifacian

Groningen. Instead of his converts, however, a group of armed robbers appeared who slew the aged archbishop. The hagiography mention that Boniface persuaded his (armed) comrades to lay down their arms: "Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in scripture not to render evil for evil but to overcome evil by good."[48]

Having killed Boniface and his company, the Frisian bandits ransacked their possessions but found that the company's luggage did not contain the riches they had hoped for: "they broke open the chests containing the books and found, to their dismay, that they held manuscripts instead of gold vessels, pages of sacred texts instead of silver plates."[49]

The

9th century – using the threat of spiritual sanctions.[51] The eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire did not experience the same collapse of central authority, and neither did England.[52]

The Peace of God was first proclaimed in 989, at the Council of Charroux. It sought to protect ecclesiastical property, agricultural resources and unarmed clerics.[53] The Truce of God, first proclaimed in 1027 at the Council of Toulouges, attempted to limit the days of the week and times of year that the nobility engaged in violence.

An altarpiece of Thomas Aquinas in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, by Carlo Crivelli (15th century)

By the

heretics, "I answer that […] it is lawful to kill dumb animals, in so far as they are naturally directed to man's use, as the imperfect is directed to the perfect."[54]

Cathars

Painting by Pedro Berruguete portraying the story of a disputation between Saint Dominic and the Cathars (Albigensians), in which the books of both were thrown on a fire and Dominic's books were miraculously preserved from the flames.

ascetics, abjuring war, killing, lying, swearing, and carnal relations in accordance with their understanding of the Gospel. Allegedly rejecting the Old Testament, Cathars despised dogmatic elements of Christianity, while their Priests (Perfects) subsisted on a diet of little more than vegetables cooked in oil, or fish not a product of sexual union.[56][57] "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." is a phrase reportedly spoken by the commander of the Albigensian Crusade, prior to the massacre at Béziers on 22 July 1209.[58] A direct translation of the Medieval Latin
phrase is "Kill them. The Lord knows those that are his own."

Lollardy

In this 19th-century illustration, John Wycliffe is shown giving the Bible translation that bore his name to his Lollard followers.

The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, a 1395 document of Lollardy
, asserts that Christians should refrain from warfare, and in particular that wars given religious justifications, such as crusades, are blasphemous because Christ taught men to love and forgive their enemies.

Post-Reformation

Petr Chelčický's statue in Chelčice

As early as 1420,

parable of the wheat and the tares[60] (Matthew 13:24–30)[61] to show that both the sinners and the saints should be allowed to live together until the harvest. He thought that it is wrong to kill even the sinful and that Christians should refuse military service. He argued that if the poor refused, the lords would have no one to go to war for them. Since then, many other Christians have made similar stands for pacifism
as the following quotes show:

The Scriptures teach that there are two opposing princes and two opposing kingdoms: the one is the Prince of peace; the other the prince of strife. Each of these princes has his particular kingdom and as the prince is so is also the kingdom. The Prince of peace is Christ Jesus; His kingdom is the kingdom of peace, which is His church; His messengers are the messengers of peace; His Word is the word of peace; His body is the body of peace; His children are the seed of peace.

— Menno Simons (1494–1561), Reply to False Accusations, III[62]

To our most bitter opponents we say: 'We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.'

— Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), "Loving your Enemies" in Strength to Love[63]

Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. Therefore one who has love, courage, and wisdom is the one in a million who moves the world, as with Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi.

— Ammon Hennacy (1893–1970)[64]

"What do you mean by

anarchist-pacifist?" First, I would say that the two words should go together, especially […] when more and more people, even priests, are turning to violence, and are finding their heroes in Camillo Torres among the priests, and Che Guevara among laymen. The attraction is strong, because both men literally laid down their lives for their brothers. "Greater love hath no man than this." "Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." Che Guevara wrote this, and he is quoted by Chicano youth in El Grito Del Norte.

— Dorothy Day (1897–1980), "On Pilgrimage — Our Spring Appeal", Catholic Worker[65]

The Kingdom of God is Within You as the text to have the most influence in his life.[68]

Gandhi
is in the middle, second row fifth from the right

Christian pacifist denominations

Main article: Peace churches

The first

Mennonites.[70]

The Deserter (1916) by Boardman Robinson

The term "historical peace churches" refers to three churches—the Church of the Brethren, the Mennonites and the Quakers—who took part in the first peace church conference, in Kansas in 1935, and who have worked together to represent the view of Christian pacifism. Of these, both Mennonites and the Schwarzenau Brethren are Anabaptist Churches.

Anabaptist churches

Anabaptist martyr Ursula, Maastricht, 1570; engraving by Jan Luyken from Martyrs Mirror[71]

Traditionally,

Brethren in Christ), the Apostolic Christian Church,[73] and the Bruderhof Communities.[74]

Christadelphians

Although the group had already separated from the Campbellites, a part of the Restoration Movement, after 1848 for theological reasons as the "Royal Assembly of Believers", among other names, the "Christadelphians" formed as a church formally in 1863 in response to conscription in the American Civil War. They are one of the few churches to have been legally formed over the issue of Christian pacifism.[75] The British and Canadian arms of the group adopted the name "Christadelphian" in the following year, 1864, and also maintained objection to military service during the First and Second World Wars. Unlike Quakers, Christadelphians generally refused all forms of military service, including stretcher bearers and medics, preferring non-uniformed civil hospital service.[76]

Churches of God (7th day)

The different groups evolving under the name

Church of God (7th day) stand opposed to carnal warfare, based on Matthew 26:52; Revelation 13:10; Romans 12:19–21. They believe the weapons of their warfare to not be carnal but spiritual (II Corinthians 10:3–5; Ephesians 6:11–18).[77][78]

Doukhobors

The

Spiritual Christian denomination that advocate pacifism.[79] On June 29, 1895, the Doukhobors, in what is known as the "Burning of the Arms", "piled up their swords, guns, and other weapons and burned them in large bonfires while they sang psalms".[80]

Holiness pacifists

The Wesleyan Methodist Church, one of the first Methodist denominations of the holiness movement, opposed war as documented in their 1844 Book of Discipline, that noted that the Gospel is in "every way opposed to the practice of War in all its forms; and those customs which tend to foster and perpetuate war spirit, [are] inconsistent with the benevolent designs of the Christian religion."[81]

The

Emmanuel Association, Immanuel Missionary Church, Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma), First Bible Holiness Church, and Christ's Sanctified Holy Church are denominations in the holiness movement known for their opposition to war today; they are known as "holiness pacifists".[82][83][84][85][81] The Emmanuel Association teaches:[81][86]

We feel bound explicitly to avow our unshaken persuasion that War is utterly incompatible with the plain precepts of our divine Lord and Law-giver, and with the whole spirit of the Gospel; and that no plea of necessity or policy, however urgent or peculiar, can avail to release either individuals or nations for the paramount allegiance which they owe to Him who hath said, "Love your enemies." Therefore, we cannot participate in war (Rom. 12:19), war activities, or compulsory training.[81]

Jehovah's Witnesses

concentration camp badge used by the Nazis
to identify Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany.
See also:
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The beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses have engendered controversy throughout their history. Consequently, the denomination has been opposed by local governments, communities, and religious groups. Many Christian denominations consider the interpretations and doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses heretical, and some professors of religion have classified the denomination as a cult.[87][88]

According to

mob action and governmental repression in various countries including the United States, Canada and Nazi Germany
.

During World War II, Jehovah's Witnesses were targeted in the United States, Canada, and many other countries because they refused to serve in the military or contribute to the war effort due to their doctrine of political neutrality. In Canada, Jehovah's Witnesses were interned in camps[90] along with political dissidents and people of Japanese and Chinese descent.

Molokans

The Molokans are a Spiritual Christian denomination that advocate pacifism.[91] They have historically been persecuted for failing to bear arms.[92]

Moravian Church

Engraving of the Gnadenhutten massacre from 1852

The Moravian Church historically adheres to the position of Christian pacifism, evidenced in atrocities such as the Gnadenhutten massacre, where the Lenape Moravian martyrs practiced nonresistance with their murderers, singing hymns until their execution by American revolutionaries.[93][94][95][96]

Quakers and Shakers

Mary Dyer being led to the gallows in Boston in 1660, painted c. 1905 (Painting by Howard Pyle)
Further information:
Peace Testimony

Most Quakers, also known as Friends (members of the Religious Society of Friends), hold peace as a core value, including the refusal to participate in war[97] going as far as forming the Friends' Ambulance Unit with the aim of "co-operating with others to build up a new world rather than fighting to destroy the old", and the American Friends Service Committee during the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts.[98] Shakers, who emerged in part from Quakerism in 1747, do not believe that it is acceptable to kill or harm others, even in times of war.[99]

Seventh-day Adventists

During the American Civil War in 1864, shortly after the formation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Seventh-day Adventists declared, "The denomination of Christians calling themselves Seventh-day Adventists, taking the Bible as their rule of faith and practice, are unanimous in their views that its teaching are contrary to the spirit and practice of war; hence, they have ever been conscientiously opposed to bearing arms."[100]

The general Adventist movement from 1867 followed a policy of

conscientious objection. This was confirmed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1914. The official policy allows for military service in non-combative roles such as medical corps[101] much like Seventh-day Adventist Desmond Doss who was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored, and other supportive roles which do not require to kill or carry a weapon.[102] In practice today, as a pastor from the Seventh-day Adventist church comments in an online magazine runs by members of the Seventh-day Adventist church: "Today in a volunteer army a lot of Adventist young men and women join the military in combat positions, and there are many Adventist pastors electing for military chaplaincy positions, supporting combatants and non-combatants alike. On Veteran's Day, American churches across the country take time to give honor and respect to those who 'served their country,' without any attempt to differentiate how they served, whether as bomber pilots, Navy Seals, or Operation Whitecoat guinea pigs. I have yet to see a service honoring those who ran away to Canada to avoid participation in the senseless carnage of Vietnam in their Biblical pacifism."[103]

Other denominations

Anglicanism

Lambeth Conference 1930 Resolution 25 declares that, "The Conference affirms that war as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ."[104] The 1948, 1958 and 1968 conferences re-ratified this position.[105]

The Anglican Pacifist Fellowship lobbies the various dioceses of the church to uphold this resolution and work constructively for peace.

Baptist

Some 400 Baptists refused combatant duty during World War II.[106]

African American church leader and the son of early civil rights activist and minister Martin Luther King Sr., King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi
.

Many modern Calvinists, such as André Trocmé, have been pacifists.

Lutheranism

The Lutheran Church of Australia recognises conscientious objection to war as Biblically legitimate.[107]

Since the Second World War, many notable Lutherans have been pacifists.

Secular interpretations

According to the acclaimed 20th century

socialist writer Upton Sinclair
,

…the subtle worm assumed the guise of no less a person than the Emperor himself, suggesting that he should become a convert to the new faith, so that the Church and he might work together for the greater glory of God. The bishops and fathers of the Church, ambitious for their organization, fell for this scheme, and Satan went off laughing to himself. He had got everything he had asked from Jesus three hundred years before; he had got the world's greatest religion.[108]

libertarian socialist Noam Chomsky
writes,

The Gospels are radical pacifist material, if you take a look at them. When the Roman emperor Constantine adopted Christianity he shifted it from a radical pacifist religion to the religion of the Roman Empire. So the cross, which was symbol of the suffering of the poor, was put on the shield of Roman soldiers. Since that time the Church has been pretty much the church of the rich and the powerful—the opposite of the message of the Gospels. Liberation theology, in Brazil particularly, brought the actual Gospels to peasants.[109]

Christian pacifism in action

Arrest This Man (c. 1921) by Art Young

19th-century Christian abolitionists and

Henry C. Wright,[110] founded the New England Non-Resistance Society in 1838 in Boston. The society condemned the use of force in resisting evil, in war, for the death penalty, or in self-defense, renounced allegiance to human government, and called for the immediate abolition of slavery without compensation. Garrison's weekly abolitionist newspaper The Liberator (1831–1865) and Ballou's Christian utopian commune the Hopedale Community (established in 1843 in Milford, Massachusetts) were also some of their key efforts in propagating Christian pacifism in the United States. Their writings on Christian nonresistance also influenced Leo Tolstoy's theo-political ideology and his non-fiction texts like The Kingdom of God is Within You
.

From the beginning of the

Roman Catholic, established in 1945), and so forth. The Network of Christian Peace Organisations (NCPO) is a UK-based ecumenical peace network of 28 organizations.[111]
Some of these organizations do not take strictly pacifist positions, describing themselves instead as advocating nonviolence, and some either have members who would not consider themselves Christians or are explicitly interfaith. However, they share historical and philosophical roots in Christian pacifism.

In some cases Christian churches, even if not necessarily committed to Christian pacifism, have supported particular campaigns of

Pinochet's Chile in the 1980s; and the Polish Catholic Church's support for the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s.[112]

Walter Wink writes that "There are three general responses to evil: (1) passivity, (2) violent opposition, and (3) the third way of militant nonviolence articulated by Jesus. Human evolution has conditioned us for only the first two of these responses: fight or flight."[113] This understanding typifies Walter Wink's book, Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way.[114]

First World War

Ben Salmon was an American Catholic pacifist and outspoken critic of just war theory, as he believed all war to be unjust.[115] During the First World War, Salmon was arrested for refusing to complete a Selective Service and report for induction. He was court-martialed at Camp Dodge, Iowa on July 24, 1918, and sentenced to death. This was later revised to 25 years hard labor.[116] Salmon's steadfast pacifism has since been cited as an inspiration for other Catholics, such as Fathers Daniel Berrigan and John Dear.[117][118]

The Episcopal bishop Paul Jones, who had associated himself with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and had been quite outspoken in his opposition to the war, was forced to resign his Utah see in April 1918.

In 1918, four Hutterite brothers from

Plough Publishing House, and the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust.[120]

Second World War

Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (Hail Caesar) (1941)

In the winter of 1935–36, before the onset of

Nazis to identify Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany, a few members of other small pacifist religious groups were also included.[122][123][124]

The French Christian pacifists André and Magda Trocmé helped conceal hundreds of Jews fleeing the Nazis in the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.[125][126] After the war, the Trocmés were declared Righteous Among the Nations.[125]

The radical Christian

Holocaust. In his early years as a writer of The Necessity of Pacifism (1937) and as editor of the weekly London newspaper, Peace News, he argued that Nazi Germany, should be allowed retain control of mainland Europe, arguing Nazism was a lesser evil compared to the horrors of a total war.[128][129] Later, he recanted his pacifism in 1948 and promoted a preventative war against the Soviet Union.[130]

During

Labour Corps until September 1944.[139][140][138][137] The events that prevented the deportation to extermination camps of about 48,000[141] Jews in spring 1943 are termed the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews. Although most Jews who were deported were murdered, the survival rate of the Jewish population in Bulgaria was one of the highest in Axis
Europe.

Vera Brittain was another British Christian pacifist. She worked as a fire warden and by travelling around the country raising funds for the Peace Pledge Union's food relief campaign. She was vilified for speaking out against the saturation bombing of German cities through her 1944 booklet Massacre by Bombing. Her principled pacifist position was vindicated somewhat when, in 1945, the Nazi's Black Book of 2000 people to be immediately arrested in Britain after a German invasion was shown to include her name.[142] After the war, Brittain worked for Peace News magazine, "writing articles against apartheid and colonialism and in favour of nuclear disarmament" from a Christian perspective.[143]

Post-Second World War

Having been inspired by the

Plowshares Movement.[145]

Jehovah's Witness members have been imprisoned in many countries for their refusal of conscription or compulsory military service. Their religious activities are banned or restricted in some countries, including Singapore, China, Vietnam, Russia and many Muslim-majority countries.[146]

In 2017, the

Hawk fighter jet in 1996.[147] They appeared in court facing charges of criminal damage in October 2017 and were both found not guilty.[148][149]

War tax resistance

magistrates of this world: they bear the fasces.

— Tertullian[150]

Opposition to war has led some, like Ammon Hennacy, to a form of tax resistance in which they reduce their income below the tax threshold by taking up a simple living lifestyle.[151][152] These individuals believe that their government is engaged in immoral, unethical or destructive activities such as war, and paying taxes inevitably funds these activities.[153]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9781138194663
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  2. ISBN 1-60497-634-9
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  3. ^ Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Shemitah 13:12
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  5. ^
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  7. ^ Exodus 23:22
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  9. ^ Vantassel, Stephen. "Pacifism and the Bible". Evangelical Review of Society and Politics. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  10. ^ Exodus 15:3
  11. ^ Exodus 14:13
  12. ^ Deuteronomy 1:30
  13. ^
    ISBN 1-57910-883-0
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  14. ^ 2 Kings 18:9–12, Jeremiah 25:8–9, Habakkuk 1:5–11
  15. ^ Exodus 23:27–33
  16. ^
    ISBN 1-57910-706-0
    .
  17. ^ Isaiah 59:15–19
  18. ISBN 978-1498232654
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  19. ^ Orr, Edgar W. (1958). Christian pacifism. C.W. Daniel Co. p. 33.
  20. ^ Matthew 6:38–39
  21. ^ Matthew 5:43–48, Luke 6:27–48
  22. ^ Matthew 26:52
  23. ^ Matthew 5:9
  24. ISBN 0-664-22810-0
    , p. 125: "There is no doubt that the early church was pacifist, teaching that Christians could not be soldiers."
  25. ^ First Apology, Chapter 39.
  26. ^ Dialogue of Trypho, Chapter 110.
  27. ^ "Tatian's Address to the Greeks". Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  28. ^ "The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher". Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  29. ^ "The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
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External links
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