nonviolence and religion

Religion is often seen as a major cause of violent conflict, and there is plenty of evidence for this. Many religious traditions do accept a concept of sanctified violence, which justifies the killing of others to further what is believed to be divine purpose, or protect chosen people.

 

On the other hand religion is also a great wellspring of compassion and source of “organised love” of peace and nonviolence. Countless nonviolent social movements that challenged injustice and structural violence have been inspired, promoted, and mobilised by individuals and groups rooted in religious traditions – from Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Badsha Khan, Dorothy Day to Aung San Suu Kyi and the Dalai Lama.

 

Over the past 100 years people across the world have increasingly drawn on these teachings from their traditions to develop faith-based forms of public, nonviolent action to bring about social, political, or cultural change.

 

In oppressive societies, places of worship have served as centres for education and mobilisation, a process for expressing faith and conviction as nonviolent action for change. This happened for example in Catholic churches in the Philippines under President Marcos, and military dictatorships in Central America, Lutheran churches in East Germany during the Cold War, and more recently in Buddhist temples in Burma under the rule of a military junta.

Nonviolence and Quakers

Turning the Tide is a Quaker programme and its work is strongly linked to the witness of early Quakers, or Religious Society of Friends, in England during the late 1600s. These Quakers were clear about their calling to help bring in the Realm of God. In a statement to the king, Charles II, in 1660, they declared their rejection of “outward” or “carnal weapons”, a pacifist position that Quakers have held consistently ever since. But they were clear that this did not mean avoiding a fight. Instead, they said they were putting on the “armour of God” and using “the weapons of the Spirit” to wage “the Lamb’s war” for the “pulling down of sin and Satan”.

 

Although we don’t use that language today, authentic religious practice and experience can provide us with a particular understanding of nonviolence that is different both to a secular ethical position and a pragmatic method for change. It is an understanding and practice that aligns our deepest internal spiritual and religious experience with our actions, and our hopes and visions for ourselves and our world.