Pacifism - History, Religious Society Of Friends, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. And The Civil Rights Movement
nonviolence violence peace pacifists
A belief or policy in opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. Pacifists maintain that unswerving nonviolence can bestow upon people a power greater than that achieved through the use of violent aggression.
Over the years, pacifism has acquired different meanings. As a consequence, it is practiced in a variety of ways. For example, pacifists may make an individual vow of nonviolence. They may also organize and actively pursue nonviolence and peace between nations. They may even assert that some form of support for selective violence is sometimes necessary to achieve worldwide peace.
Additional Topics
The teachings of Jesus Christ continued the attachment of nonviolence to organized religion.
Though better known for challenging injustices in British-ruled India, Gandhi also spent many years working for the rights of Indian residents of South Africa. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS
Christ taught, in part, that an appropriate response to violence is to "turn the other cheek" and offer …
In 1652, George Fox founded the Religious Society of Friends in England. Initially, Friends were known as Children of the Light, Publishers of Truth, or Friends of Truth. They held fast to the belief that there exists in all persons a light, which can be understood as the presence of God. With this reverence for other people, nonviolence came naturally. And, since God exists in all people, violenc…
Mohandas K. Gandhi was the first great modern pacifist. Born October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India, Gandhi led a high-profile life dedicated to political and social reform through nonviolence. During the 1900s, Gandhi experimented with various means of resolving conflict. Passive resistance, according to Gandhi, had to be supplemented by an active effort to understand and respect adversaries. In an…
Martin Luther King Jr. at the August 1963 March on Washington. Gandhi's campaigns became the inspiration and models used by King and other civil rights leaders during the 1950s and 1960s. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS
During an early 1970s anti-war rally in New York City, members of the Religious Society of Friends (aka Quakers) read the names of people killed in the Vietnam War. HULTON…
In Reiser, Dr. Lynda Dianne Reiser sought discharge from military service on the grounds of a conscientious objection to war. Reiser had entered the Army in 1983 in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at Washington and Jefferson College. After graduating in 1986, she sought and received a deferment of military service in order to attend Temple University Medical School. Upon…
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User Comments
3 months ago
aaron
i need to know the date this was posted and harvard reference details for an essey im doing...plzz someone get back to me a.s.a.p
10 months ago
Thanks for this article.
But is there any other people who have also contributed to the History of Pacifism?
And does it have anything to do with Albert Einstein?
What about the WatchTower Bible and Tract Society, Can they also be Categorized as Pacifists for conscientious objection and refusal to take up arms during Hitler's Regime?
10 months ago
Thanks for this article.
But is there any other people who have also contributed to the History of Pacifism?
And does it have anything to do with Albert Einstein?
What about the WatchTower Bible and Tract Society, Can they also be Categorized as Pacifists for conscientious objection and refusal to take up arms during Hitlers Regime?