Christian pacifism
Christian pacifism is the theological and ethical position that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith. 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, and Ammon Hennacy. Hennacy believed that adherence to Christianity required not just pacifism but, because governments inevitably threatened or used force to resolve conflicts, anarchism. However, most Christian pacifists, including the peace churches, Christian Peacemaker Teams and individuals such as John Howard Yoder, make no claim to be anarchists.
Origins
Old Testament
Roots of Christian pacifism can be found in the scriptures of the Old Testament according to Baylor University professor of religion, John A. Wood. 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. 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. Lind further argues God fights so that Israel doesn't have to fight wars like other nations because God delivers them. God promised to fight for Israel, to be an enemy to their enemies and oppose all that oppose them. Pacifist, John Howard Yoder explains God 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. 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.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. Starting with the Exodus out of Egypt, God fights for Israel as a warrior rescuing His people from the oppressive Egyptians. In Exodus 14:13 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. God's promise to fight on behalf of His chosen people is affirmed in the scriptures of the Old Testament. 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. Craige further contends God determined the outcome of human events with His participation through those humans and their activity; essentially God fought through the fighting of His people. 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. 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. 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. 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. When Israel trusts and obeys 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. 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. 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.
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. Peter Craige explains God's self-revelation through His participating in human history is referred to as "Salvation History." 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. 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. This divine activity took place in a world of sinful men and activities, such as war. War is considered evil. God's participation through evil human activity such as war, was for the sole purposes of both redemption and judgment. God's presence in these Old Testament wars does not justify or deem them holy, it serves to provide hope in a situation of hopelessness. The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" 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. Wood points to the scriptures of Isaiah and Micah that express the pacifist view of God's plan to bring peace without violence.
Ministry of Jesus
Jesus appeared to teach pacifism during his ministry when he told his disciples:Early Church
Several Church Fathers interpreted Jesus' teachings as advocating nonviolence. For example:However, many early Christians also served in the army, and the presence of large numbers of Christians in his army may have been a factor in the conversion of Constantine to Christianity.
Conversion of the Roman Empire
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. Some scholars believe that "the accession of Constantine terminated the pacifist period in church history." Nevertheless, the tradition of Christian pacifism was carried on by a few dedicated Christians throughout the ages, such as Martin of Tours. Martin, who was serving as a soldier, declared in 336 "I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight." He was jailed for this action, but later released.Lollardy
, 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
Since then, many other Christians have made similar stands for pacifism as the following quotes show:Charles Spurgeon did not explicitly identify as a pacifist but expressed very strongly worded anti-war sentiment.
Christian pacifist denominations
The first conscientious objector in the modern sense was a Quaker in 1815. The Quakers had originally served in Cromwell's New Model Army but from the 1800s increasingly became pacifists. A number of Christian denominations have taken pacifist positions institutionally, including the Quakers and Mennonites.Peace churches
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.Anabaptist churches
Traditionally, Anabaptists hold firmly to their beliefs in nonviolence. Many of these churches continue to advocate nonviolence, some of which are Mennonites, the Amish, the Hutterites, Old Order River Brethren, Brethren in Christ and the Bruderhof Communities.Quakers and Shakers
All denominations of Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, hold peace as a core value, including the refusal to participate in war 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. Shakers, who emerged in part from Quakerism in 1747, did not believe that it was acceptable to kill or harm others, even in time of war.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. 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.Churches of God (7th day)
The different groups evolving under the name Church of God 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.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, inconsistent with the benevolent designs of the Christian religion."The Emmanuel Association, the Brethren in Christ 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". The Emmanuel Association teaches:
Doukhobors
The Doukhobors are a Spiritual Christian denomination that advocate pacifism. On 29 June 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".Molokans
The Molokans are a Spiritual Christian denomination that advocate pacifism. They have historically been persecuted for failing to bear arms.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."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 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. 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."
Other denominations
Calvinism
Today, the orthodox position of conservative Calvinists is Christian pacifism.Many modern Calvinists, such as André Trocmé, :Category:Calvinist pacifists|have been pacifists.
Lutheranism
The Lutheran Church of Australia recognises conscientious objection to war as Biblically legitimate.Since the Second World War, :Category:Lutheran pacifists|many notable Lutherans have been pacifists.
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." The 1948, 1958 and 1968 conferences re-ratified this position.The Anglican Pacifist Fellowship lobbies the various dioceses of the church to uphold this resolution and work constructively for peace.
Christian pacifism in action
From the beginning of the First World War, Christian pacifist organizations emerged to support Christians in denominations other than the historic peace churches. The first was the interdenominational Fellowship of Reconciliation, founded in Britain in 1915 but soon joined by sister organizations in the U.S. and other countries. Today pacifist organizations serving specific denominations are more or less closely allied with the FoR: they include the Methodist Peace Fellowship, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Pax Christi, and so forth. The Network of Christian Peace Organisations is a UK-based ecumenical peace network of 28 organizations. 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 nonviolent resistance, also often called civil resistance. Examples include the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in supporting the Civil Rights Movement; the Chilean Catholic Church's support for the civic action against authoritarian rule in Pinochet's Chile in the 1980s; and the Polish Catholic Church's support for the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s.
Walter Wink writes that "There are three general responses to evil: passivity, violent opposition, and 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." This understanding typifies Walter Wink's book, Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way.
First World War
was an American Catholic pacifist and outspoken critic of just war theory, as he believed all war to be unjust. 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. Salmon's steadfast pacifism has since been cited as an inspiration for other Catholics, such as Fathers Daniel Berrigan and John Dear.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 South Dakota, Jacob Wipf and David, Joseph and Michael Hofer were imprisoned at Alcatraz for refusing to fight in military or put on a military uniform; Joseph and Michael Hofer died in late 1918 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, due to the harsh conditions of the imprisonment In the Remembering Muted Voices symposium in October 2017, the lives and witness of World War I peace activists, including the four Hutterite brothers, were remembered. The symposium was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, Peace History Society, Plough Publishing House, and the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust.
Second World War
The French Christian pacifists André and Magda Trocmé helped conceal hundreds of Jews fleeing the Nazis in the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. After the war, the Trocmés were declared Righteous Among the Nations.The radical Christian pacifist John Middleton Murry, changed his opinions on Christian pacifism in light of the Holocaust. In his early years as a writer of The Necessity of Pacifism 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. Later, he recanted his pacifism in 1948 and promoted a preventative war against the Soviet Union.
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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. 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.
Post–Second World War
Having been inspired by the Sermon on the Mount, Thomas launched the White House Peace Vigil in 1981; the longest running peace vigil in US history. Over the years, he was joined by numerous anti-war activists including those from the Catholic Worker Movement and Plowshares Movement.In 2017, the Methodist minister Dan Woodhouse and the Quaker Sam Walton entered the British Aerospace Warton Aerodrome site to try to disarm Typhoon fighter jets bound for Saudi Arabia. They targeted these jets because they would be used in Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign of Yemen. They were arrested before they were able to do any damage. This was the same BAE systems site in which the Seeds of Hope group of the Plowshares movement damaged a Hawk fighter jet in 1996. They appeared in court facing charges of criminal damage in October 2017 and were both found not guilty.