At our spiritual roots, and from the earliest of times, we of\nthe Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have chosen nonviolent\nmeans of resolving conflict and achieving peace. We see that of\nGod in every person, and so cannot kill or support the killing of\nothers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We believe that every conflict can be resolved nonviolently,\nwhen we gear our creative energies and resources towards finding\npeaceful solutions. We know from our own experience of worship\nthat even the most divisive issues can be resolved when we listen\nfor divine guidance. In the silence, new ways open before us that\nmay not have been visible previously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have no enemies. We believe that every person has the\npotential for transformation. Peacemaking entails risking\nourselves, overcoming our fears and crossing borders. In an era\nof an announced “war on terror,” and so-called\n“pre-emptive war,” we are not at war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonviolence is an active process, which might take the form of\ndialogue with an opposing side, civil resistance against an\nunjust authority, or patient work through a system of law. Early\nintervention is needed for nonviolent methods to be most\neffective. Prejudice and bigotry, economic inequality, resource\ndomination, and other injustices must be rooted out before they\nescalate into open hostility. Particular care must be taken after\na conflict to rebuild infrastructure and to renew relationships\nto prevent future conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonviolence does not always achieve justice in the short run. As in war, innocent people may suffer. Yet when nonviolent methods are most successful, they often go unnoticed, since conflict is averted. We will never know, for instance, if the quiet, persistent work of the African Great Lakes Initiative<\/a> — which has brought together survivors and perpetrators of genocide in dozens of trauma and healing workshops — actually has prevented a renewal of violence in Rwanda and Burundi. We know that it has transformed individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Modern warfare inflicts suffering on innocent victims who are\nconsidered “collateral damage;” it devastates\ninfrastructure on which a civilian population depends; it poisons\nthe environment, littering landmines, depleted uranium and other\nhazards which remain long after the battlefield has been returned\nto an agricultural field. Moreover, war trains people to be\nkillers; it leaves psychological scars on those who have\nexperienced suffering and on those who have inflicted it. It\nfundamentally breaks trust, fracturing relationships beyond\nrepair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocating the abolition of war may seem folly, or it may be\nvisionary. Our forebears who set about to abolish the institution\nof slavery were mocked for their efforts. Yet they succeeded,\nfirst in abolishing it in our own Society, and then working with\nothers to abolish it in our nation and world. Similarly, we are\ncommitted to rooting out violence in every facet of our lives: in\nour family relationships, our communities\u2019 response to\ncrime, our stewardship of the earth, and our foreign policies.\nOur goal is to bring forth the peaceful kingdom of God here now\non Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n