Saturday, February 6, 2016

Bainton on the role of pacifism

"Peace will not come through pacifiststhere have never been enough of them—but rather through peace-minded nonpacifists.  The role of pacifism is to bestir others to make every effort to resolve conflict without violence and also to bring reconciliation between all the contending groups within and without their own societies."

     Roland H. Bainton, "an affiliated member of the Society of Friends", in Roly:  chronicle of a stubborn non-conformist (New Haven, CT:  Yale University Divinity School, 1988), 117-118, 157.  Cf. "'In international relations you have to be realistic in recognizing that peace will not come through pacifism, which, however much it pricks the public conscience, is never likely to be more than a minority opinion.  Peace can be achieved only through international government'" (citation to Senator Wayne Morse, delivered as President of Enduring Peace, p. 133).

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