HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Twelve Quakers and pacifism
Loading...

Twelve Quakers and pacifism (edition 2005)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
672391,669 (3)None
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

Showing 2 of 2
Do I have to be a pacifist to be a Quaker?' The answer is very simple: no. There is absolutely no requirement for Quakers to be pacifists. Yet the Quakers' Peace Testimony is central to their faith. Some people who are new to Quakerism find that the word 'pacifism' can prove to be a real stumbling block as they try to move forward. We hope this book may be of use to them. The twelve Quakers who have written these pieces are of differing ages and backgrounds, and their views on pacifism differ too. We hope that readers will find the diversity stimulating, and that this book may help them as they form - and perhaps change - their own opinions.
  ExeterQuakers | Aug 10, 2019 |
This is the 3rd pamphlet in a series put out by Britain Yearly Meeting's Quaker Quest team. Twelve Friends wrote a short monograph (is that an oxymoron?) on what it means to them to be a pacifist. Of the twelve, one caught my attention because it is something that I know a few people in my Yearly Meeting wrestle with themselves.

"Pacifism is not for cowards; it demands the courage to give your life, maybe to live with ridicule, even to break the law. Refusing conscription into the armed forces used to mean being court-martialled or shot. Now, part of my taxes--perhaps half--finances military action and arms sales. I remember the Quaker annual meeting, when more than a thousand considered the request of some of our employees to divert that part of their PAYE tax to peaceful means, such as overseas development. Our _Advices & Queries_ remind us: 'If you feel impelled by strong conviction to break the law, search your conscience deeply. Ask your meeting for the prayerful support which will give you strength as a right way becomes clear.' I could not support such an impractical idea, yet I had the extraordinary experience in the Meeting for Worship of realising that, in order to follow God with our vision for a peaceful world, we had to try. Over the next year, Quakers pushed the matter as far as the European Commission on Human Rights, forcing the question to be considered seriously. This was when I understood the power of an ideal--the power of God."

All of Testimonies boil down to this: do we remain faithful to what we believe to be true, even when it is uncomfortable? Even when we know we will not succeed? I can only answer for myself, and that answer is "not often enough." But challenges and reminders such as this do help me live up to at least some small measure to what I know the Divine is leading me. ( )
  kaulsu | Apr 20, 2010 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

No library descriptions found.

Book description
"Quaker Quest is a series of open meetings for people interested in the Quaker way as a spiritual path for today which is simple, radical and contemporary. The project began in London in 2002 and now Quaker Quest events are held throughout Britain" (from the Preface, p 3).

These pamphlets are the expressions of twelve random Friends. They are intended to provoke the readers into thinking more deeply about their own convictions.
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3 1
3.5
4
4.5
5

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,189,905 books! | Top bar: Always visible