"Peace churches" is the term commonly
applied to the three oldest pacifist denominations in the United States —the
Society of Friends or Quakers, the Church of the Brethren, and the Mennonites. None
of these is a united body, embracing different and diverse organizational entities.
Quakers, and Brethren and Mennonites to a lesser extent, run the gamut from fundamentalism
to universalist liberalism.
Quakers
As the least ethnic and most acculturated of the
peace churches, Quakers have been the most visible in peace activism in the United States over
the past four decades. All persuasions of Friends remain formally committed, through
doctrinal statements, to the support of conscientious objection, but their doctrinal
differences otherwise manifest themselves in their attitudes toward war resistance
and groups such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Liberal, unprogrammed
Friends, largely affiliated with Friends General Conference or the small Conservative
yearly meetings, have been most active in peace movements, draft resistance, and
other forms of peace activism. Most American Friends, however, are in pastoral bodies.
The most evangelical of these, Evangelical Friends International (EFI), makes conscientious
objection a matter of individual conscience, and, while generally supportive of
its members who embrace traditional Quaker pacifism, has had leaders who have been
open in repudiating pacifism and supporting U.S. military actions. In the middle
is Friends United Meeting (FUM), which embraces both pastoral and unprogrammed Friends.
In its official statements it has remained committed to pacifism and has supported
various programs to advance disarmament and a peace witness. But many individual
members, including some leading Friends, and many affiliated congregations have
openly broken with pacifism and peace activism.
These fractures, dating back to the Civil War,
were clearly manifested during the Vietnam War. The AFSC was among the earliest
religious groups to call for a halt to bombing and a negotiated peace settlement.
A Baltimore Friend, Norman Morrison, attracted national attention in 1965 when he
burned himself to death in front of the Pentagon as a protest. By 1967 the most
radical Quaker peace activists had formed A Quaker Action Group for radical confrontation
with U.S.
policy. They chartered a ship, the Phoenix ,
and amid massive controversy took a shipment of artificial limbs to North Vietnam . For
the rest of the war, the AFSC, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL),
the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO), and numerous regional
and local Quaker bodies and individuals were active in the antiwar movement. Some
Friends actively resisted the draft, refusing induction and destroying draft cards.
Others refused to pay certain taxes that they saw as supporting the war. The Quaker
peace tradition also attracted antiwar activists who joined the society.
The activism of antiwar Friends, however, was
not shared by all Quakers. President Richard Nixon remained a member in good standing
in his California
meeting group throughout his presidency. Most pastoral Friends of draft age were
not conscientious objectors. And high-profile activism, like that of the Phoenix voyagers and
draft resisters, drew fierce criticism from some Friends, who resented what they
saw as unpatriotic actions.
These divisions have continued since the end of
the Vietnam War. The AFSC and the FCNL have continued to back policies for disarmament,
the end of the draft, and peaceful settlement of international conflicts. The Iranian
crisis of 1979–1980, the Grenada
invasion of 1983, the Gulf War of 1990–1991, and the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia have
brought appeals from both groups, as well as from FUM and other Quaker bodies, against
the use of force. And all of these conflicts saw support of the use of force by
some Friends. The resumption of draft registration in 1980 again brought conflicts
over draft resistance by some Friends.
The increasing commitment of the AFSC to support
groups it perceived as oppressed, such as Nicaraguan and Salvadoran rebels and Palestinians
in Israel ,
has brought charges that it was moving away from traditional Quaker pacifism. Well-known
pacifist Kenneth Boulding engaged in a sit-in at AFSC headquarters in 1977 to protest
what he saw as AFSC indifference to oppression by the Communist Vietnamese government.
Brethren
Like Quakers, the various groups with a German
Baptist or Brethren heritage span the theological spectrum. [Page
526] The largest group is the Church of the Brethren; other Brethren groups include
the Brethren Church , the Dunkard Brethren, the Old Order
German Baptist Brethren, and the Grace Brethren. All trace their roots to Dunkard
pacifists who emigrated from Germany
in the eighteenth century. Their attitudes toward peace issues since 1960 have reflected
their diversity.
The Church of the Brethren has remained officially
committed to pacifism in a number of statements of its governing body, the Annual
Conference. It has advised its membership against not only military service but
also against noncombatant service. During the Vietnam War, many of its members were
active in the antiwar movement. In 1970 the Annual Conference recorded its support
for draft resisters as well as for registered conscientious objectors. The Annual
Conference maintained the Peace Committee, which in 1978 was merged in the Social
Concerns Committee, and has sponsored a series of peace seminars. Peace issues have
been part of Brethren Sunday school curricula, and peace studies are part of the
curricula of colleges affiliated with the church. Manchester College ,
for example, has maintained its Peace Studies Institute since 1948. On the other
hand, acculturation has moved many Brethren away from pacifism. In this century
a majority of members eligible for the draft have served in the armed forces in
American wars, including Vietnam .
The position of the Brethren Church
on peace issues has been similar to that of the larger Church of the Brethren. The
Brethren Church remains officially committed to pacifism,
and urges its members to register as conscientious objectors. Peace issues are promoted
by its Social Concerns Committee and in its publications. Yet many members no longer
support pacifism, and have served in the armed forces. Even some pastors have served
as chaplains.
The positions of the most conservative Brethren
groups, the Old Order German Baptist Brethren and the Dunkard Brethren, are similar.
They enjoin pacifism on their members, most of whom registered as conscientious
objectors during the Vietnam War. Yet these groups have resisted links with antiwar
groups. In 1978, for example, the Old Order German Baptist Brethren officially condemned
civil disobedience and antiwar demonstrations, enjoining instead subjection to civil
powers.
The most fundamentalist of the Brethren groups,
the Grace Brethren, have tended to follow the general course of other fundamentalist
denominations on peace issues since 1960. A few older pastors still embraced pacifism,
but such views were those of a small minority. Most Grace Brethren have more or
less openly supported U.S. use
of armed force in Vietnam ,
the Gulf War, and other conflicts.
Mennonites
Mennonites have seen the greatest change over
the past four decades. In 1960 all of the various Mennonite groups in the United States were
still largely committed to the traditional Anabaptist theology of the Two Kingdoms.
This theology separates the kingdom of the believer, where people live in strict
obedience to New Testament command to "resist not evil," from the world
that is subject to human authorities ordained by God. Thus while a Mennonite could
not bear arms or engage in violence, neither could a Mennonite criticize governments
that did so.
Change has been most apparent in the most acculturated
of Mennonite bodies, the Mennonite Church , the Mennonite Brethren, and the General Conference Mennonite
Church . Many of its members
have moved away from Two Kingdoms theology toward a vision that sees all the world
bound by the commandments of Christ. Thus violence is never in accord with the will
of God. Mennonites also became more open to joining with people of other faiths
in work to promote peace and in political action. Mennonites, for example, were
active participants in the civil rights movement, in the antiwar movement of the
Vietnam
era, in the nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s, and in various groups that
opposed the draft. Peace studies became part of the curriculum of Mennonite colleges.
The Mennonite Central Committee, which coordinates the social witness of the various
Mennonite bodies, includes a Peace Section, which has been active in holding conferences
and publishing peace literature.
Still, sociologists studying Mennonites have found
considerable diversity. The most conservative Mennonites, especially in various
Amish groups, still embrace the Two Kingdoms theology. They see involvement with
"worldly" people as a threat to the separateness of believers, and civil
disobedience and draft resistance as an irreligious violation of the commandment
to accept human authority. Other Mennonites, more comfortable with political action,
have seen the various peace movements as too linked to leftist and pro-Communist
groups.
In 1976 Mennonites, most Quakers, and the Church
of the Brethren joined together in a new organization, New Call to Peacemaking.
The proposal to form the group came from evangelical Friends who feared a loss of
the biblical basis of pacifism. The organization's first national conference was
held in Green Lake , Wisconsin , in 1978. The New Call group sponsored
conferences and publications to attempt to extend [Page 527] the
peace witness within the constituent bodies and in the larger American society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barbour, Hugh, and J. William Frost. The Quakers.
1988.
Brethren Encyclopedia. 1982.
Brock, Peter, and Nigel Young. Pacifism in
the Twentieth Century. 1998.
Bush, Perry. Two Kingdoms, Two Loyalties: Mennonite
Pacifism in Modern America .
1998.
Durnbaugh, Donald F. Fruit of the Vine: A History
of the Brethren, 1908 –1995. 1997.
Durnbaugh, Donald F., ed. On Earth, Peace.
1978.
Dyck, Cornelius J., and Dennis D. Martin. The
Mennonite Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. 1990.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.