The Pacifist Tradition

I found it rather interesting that many of the sects in the U.S. colonies before the Revolution were predominately non-violent. The Amish, Church of the Brethrm, Mennonites, Nicholites, Moravians, Hogerenes, Schwenckfelders, Society of Friends, and the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming all do not use personal violence. It is amazing to see the strength of religion in the circles of non-violence. Almost every non-violent organization and order has religious connections and uses God as the uniting factor against the oppressors. What I also found interesting which was slightly counter intuitive, was the fact that the majority of the army actually accepted these advocates of non-violence. It was the officers who were often harsh, but the general masses accepted these people, “It was the regimental officers who handed out the harshest treatment to noncombatants, while in many cases the lower ranks were friendly to pacifists” (pg. 7) The top command in Abe Lincoln and the Secretary of War both accepted these people and released them from service whenever brought to their attention. I thought this was also interesting that if the 2 people who were probably most influential in starting the war, were tolerant of these non-violent peoples, but others were not tolerant. It seems that if the Secretary of War is relieving these people from duty, then everyone else who is involved with the military should also recognize the beliefs of these people.

This article also talks about how, “The general public accepted pacifism… more easily during the Civil War than during the Revolutionary War because people had even more familiarity with the idea” (pg. 6). This is rather intriguing because it is similar to the way my views have changed since taking this class. Before I was introduced to these ideas of pacifism and non-violence I was much less likely to take concern of the people who were advocates and those would simply refused violence. I used to feel like there was always a time and place for violence, but now I’m reassess my views.