View source for Pacifism

{{short description|Philosophy opposing war or violence}}
{{Redirect|Pacifist}}
{{Redirect|Dovish|the economic term|Dovish (inflation)}}
{{distinguish|pacificism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Peace symbol (bold).svg|thumb|upright|A [[peace sign]], which is widely associated with pacifism.]]
[[File:World-Day-of-Prayer-for-Peace Assisi 2011.jpg|right|upright=1.5|thumb|alt=Large outdoor gathering|World Day of Prayer for Peace in [[Assisi]], 2011]]

'''Pacifism''' is the opposition to [[war]] or [[violence]]. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner [[Émile Arnaud]] and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in [[Glasgow]] in 1901.<ref>''The Abolition of War: the Peace Movement in Britain, 1914–1919'' by [[Keith Robbins]]. University of Wales Press, 1976. {{ISBN|978-0708306222}} (p. 10).</ref> A related term is ''[[ahimsa]]'' (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Jainism]]. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.

In modern times, interest was revived by [[Leo Tolstoy]] in his late works, particularly in ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]''. [[Mahatma Gandhi]] propounded the practice of steadfast [[nonviolent resistance|nonviolent opposition]] which he called "[[satyagraha]]", instrumental in its role in the [[Indian independence movement]]. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[James Lawson (activist)|James Lawson]], [[Charles and Mary Beard|Mary and Charles Beard]], [[James Bevel]],<ref>James L. Bevel, The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement" by Randy Kryn, a paper in [[David Garrow]]'s 1989 book ''We Shall Overcome, Volume II'', Carlson Publishing Company</ref> [[Thích Nhất Hạnh]],<ref name="aavw.org">"Searching for the Enemy of Man", in Nhat Nanh, Ho Huu Tuong, Tam Ich, Bui Giang, Pham Cong Thien. ''Dialogue''. Saigon: La Boi, 1965. pp.&nbsp;11–20., archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website, [http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html King's Journey: 1964 – April 4, 1967] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061027112237/http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html |date=27 October 2006 }}</ref> and many others in the [[civil rights movement]].

==Definition==
Pacifism covers a spectrum of views, including the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war, opposition to any organization of society through governmental force ([[anarcho-pacifism|anarchist or libertarian pacifism]]), rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals, the obliteration of force, and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others. Historians of pacifism [[Peter Brock (historian)|Peter Brock]] and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism "in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas" as "an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare".<ref>''Challenge to Mars: Essays on Pacifism from 1918 to 1945''. Edited by Brock and Socknat University of Toronto Press, 1999 {{ISBN|0802043712}} (p. ix)</ref> Philosopher [[Jenny Teichman]] defines the main form of pacifism as "anti-warism", the rejection of all forms of warfare.<ref>''Pacifism and the Just War: A Study in Applied Philosophy'' by Jenny Teichman. Basil Blackwell, 1986 {{ISBN|0631150560}}</ref> Teichman's beliefs have been summarized by [[Brian Orend]] as "...&nbsp;A pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong." In a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means.<ref>''War and International Justice: a Kantian perspective'' by Brian Orend. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0889203377}} pp.&nbsp;145–146</ref> The word ''[[:wikt:pacifique|pacific]]'' denotes conciliatory.<ref>{{cite web |title=pacific |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pacific |website=www.merriam-webster.com |access-date=19 June 2021}} (q.v. the [[Pacific Ocean]]</ref>

===Moral considerations===
[[File:Pacifista Arresto.jpg|thumb|upright|Anti-war activist arrested in [[San Francisco]] during the March 2003 protests against the war in Iraq]]

Pacifism may be based on [[morality|moral]] principles (a [[deontological]] view) or [[pragmatism]] (a [[consequentialist]] view). Principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and interpersonal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found.

===Nonviolence===
Some pacifists follow principles of [[nonviolence]], believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others. Others support [[property damage|destruction of property]] in such emergencies or for conducting symbolic acts of resistance like pouring red paint to represent blood on the outside of military recruiting offices or entering air force bases and hammering on military aircraft.

Not all [[nonviolent resistance]] (sometimes also called [[civil resistance]]) is based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists. Sometimes, as with the civil rights movement's march from  [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Selma to Montgomery]] in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex.<ref>Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), ''Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present'', Oxford University Press, 2009. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=BxOQKrCe7UUC&q=Civil+resistance+and+power+politics]. Includes chapters by specialists on the various movements.</ref>

==Types==
===Absolute pacifism===
An absolute pacifist is generally described by the [[BBC]] as one who believes that human life is so valuable, that a human should never be killed and war should never be conducted, even in self-defense (except for non-violence type). The principle is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to more undesirable results than non-violence.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |title=Ethics – War: Pacifism |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/against/pacifism_1.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017181207/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/against/pacifism_1.shtml |archive-date=17 October 2014 |access-date=9 August 2014 |website=BBC |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref>

===Conditional pacifism===
Tapping into [[just war theory]] ''conditional pacifism'' represents a spectrum of positions departing from positions of absolute pacifism. One such conditional pacifism is the common [[pacificism]], which may allow defense but is not advocating a default [[defensivism]]<ref name="Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy">{{cite web | title=Pacifism | website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | url=https://iep.utm.edu/pacifism/ | access-date=10 October 2022}}</ref> or even [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionism]].

==Police actions and national liberation==
Although all pacifists are opposed to war between [[nation states]], there have been occasions where pacifists have supported [[military conflict]] in the case of [[civil war]] or [[revolution]].<ref name="ffw">"When the American Civil War broke out&nbsp;... both the American Peace Society and many former nonresistants argued that the conflict was not properly war but rather police action on a grand scale" Brock, Peter, ''Freedom from War: Nonsectarian Pacifism, 1814–1914'' University of Toronto Press, 1991 {{ISBN|0802058833}}, (p. 176)</ref> For instance, during the [[American Civil War]], both the [[American Peace Society]] and some former members of the [[Non-Resistance Society]] supported the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]'s military campaign, arguing they were carrying out a "[[police action]]" against the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], whose act of [[Secession]] they regarded as criminal.<ref name="ffw" /><ref>Ziegler, Valarie H., ''The Advocates of Peace in Antebellum America''. Mercer University Press, 2001 {{ISBN|0865547262}} (p. 158).</ref> Following the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]], French pacifist [[René Gérin]] urged support for the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]].<ref name="tpod">Ingram, Norman. ''The Politics of Dissent : Pacifism in France, 1919–1939''. University of Edinburgh, 1988.  (p. 219)</ref> Gérin argued that the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Spanish Nationalists]] were "comparable to an individual enemy" and the Republic's war effort was equivalent to the action of a domestic police force suppressing crime.<ref name="tpod" />

In the 1960s, some pacifists associated with the [[New Left]] supported [[wars of national liberation]] and supported groups such as the [[Viet Cong]] and the Algerian [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|FLN]], arguing peaceful attempts to liberate such nations were no longer viable, and war was thus the only option.<ref>''Pacifism in the Twentieth Century'', by Peter Brock and [[Nigel Young]]. Syracuse University Press, New York, 1999 {{ISBN|0815681259}}  (p. 296)</ref>

==History==
===Early traditions===
[[File:1871 Vereshchagin Apotheose des Krieges anagoria.JPG|thumb|[[Vasily Vereshchagin|Vereshchagin]]'s painting ''[[The Apotheosis of War]]'' (1871) came to be admired as one of the earliest artistic expressions of pacifism.]]

Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature.

====China====
During the [[Warring States period]], the pacifist [[Mohist]] School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states. They took this belief into action by using their famed defensive strategies to defend smaller states from invasion from larger states, hoping to dissuade feudal lords from costly warfare. The [[Seven Military Classics]] of ancient China view warfare negatively, and as a last resort. For example, the ''[[Three Strategies of Huang Shigong]]'' says: "As for the military, it is not an auspicious instrument; it is the way of heaven to despise it", and the ''[[Wei Liaozi]]'' writes: "As for the military, it is an inauspicious instrument; as for conflict and contention, it runs counter to virtue".<ref name="Johnston">{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Alastair I |title=Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1998 |pages=66–67}}</ref>

The [[Taoist]] scripture "''Classic of Great Peace'' (''[[Taiping Jing|Taiping jing]]'')" foretells "the coming Age of Great Peace (''Taiping'')".<ref>{{cite web |title=''Daoist Philosophy'' – 10. "Celestial Masters Daoism" |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/daoism.htm#H10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129182005/http://iep.utm.edu/d/daoism.htm#H10 |archive-date=29 January 2009 |access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> The ''Taiping Jing'' advocates "a world full of peace".<ref>{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.kaogu.com.cn/upload/200811191348384181.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228200813/http://www.kaogu.com.cn/upload/200811191348384181.doc |archive-date=28 February 2012 |access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref>

====Lemba====
The [[Lemba people|Lemba]] religion of southern French Congo, along with its symbolic herb, is named for pacifism : "''lemba, lemba''" (peace, peace), describes the action of the plant ''lemba-lemba'' (''Brillantaisia patula T. Anders'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Janzen |first=John M. |title=Lemba, 1650–1930 |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc. |year=1982 |isbn=978-0824093068 |location=New York |page=173}}</ref> Likewise in Cabinda, "''Lemba'' is the spirit of peace, as its name indicates."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Janzen |first=John M. |title=Lemba, 1650–1930 |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc. |year=1982 |isbn=978-0824093068 |location=New York |pages=303 (8)}}</ref>

====Moriori====
The [[Moriori]], of the [[Chatham Islands]], practiced pacifism by order of their ancestor [[Nunuku-whenua]]. This enabled the Moriori to preserve what limited resources they had in their harsh climate, avoiding waste through warfare. In turn, this led to their almost complete annihilation in 1835 by invading [[Ngāti Mutunga]] and [[Ngāti Tama]] [[Māori people|Māori]] from the [[Taranaki Region|Taranaki]] region of the [[North Island]] of New Zealand. The invading Māori killed, enslaved and [[Human cannibalism|cannibalised]] the Moriori. A Moriori survivor recalled : "[The Maori] commenced to kill us like sheep&nbsp;... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed – men, women and children indiscriminately."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |title-link=Guns, Germs, and Steel |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1997 |location=New York |page=53 |author-link=Jared Diamond}}</ref>

====Greece====
In [[Ancient Greece]], pacifism seems not to have existed except as a broad moral guideline against violence between individuals. No philosophical program of rejecting violence between states, or rejecting all forms of violence, seems to have existed. [[Aristophanes]], in his play [[Lysistrata]], creates the scenario of an [[Athens|Athenian]] woman's anti-war sex strike during the [[Peloponnesian War]] of 431–404 BCE, and the play has gained an international reputation for its anti-war message. Nevertheless, it is both fictional and comical, and though it offers a pragmatic opposition to the destructiveness of war, its message seems to stem from frustration with the existing conflict (then in its twentieth year) rather than from a philosophical position against violence or war. Equally fictional is the nonviolent protest of [[Hegetorides]] of [[Thasos]]. [[Euripides]] also expressed strong anti-war ideas in his work, especially ''[[The Trojan Women]]''.<ref name="fsn">"Peace, War and Philosophy" by F. S. Northedge, in [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]], ''The Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Volume 6, Collier Macmillan, 1967 (pp.&nbsp;63–67).</ref>

In ''[[Plato's Republic]]'' [[Socrates]] makes the pacifistic argument that a just person would not harm anyone.<ref name="Purshouse 2010 p. 20">{{cite book | last=Purshouse | first=Luke | title=Plato's Republic: A Reader's Guide | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | series=Reader's Guides | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4411-9339-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VImxAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 | access-date=13 December 2023 | page=20}}</ref> In [[Plato]]'s earlier work [[Crito]] Socrates asserts that it is not moral to return evil with further evil, an original moral conception, according to [[Gregory Vlastos]], that undermines all justifications for war and violence.<ref name="Cady 2010 p. 5">{{cite book | last=Cady | first=Duanne | title=From Warism to Pacifism: A Moral Continuum | publisher=Temple University Press | series=UPCC book collections on Project MUSE | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4399-0313-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRVFs85rPuAC&pg=PA5 | access-date=13 December 2023 | page=5}}</ref>

====Roman Empire====
Several Roman writers rejected the militarism of Roman society and gave voice to anti-war sentiments,<ref name="fsn" />
including [[Propertius]], [[Tibullus]] and [[Ovid]].<ref>''Restless Youth in Ancient Rome'', Emiel Eyben, Routledge, 2004 {{ISBN|0203168488}}, p. 194.</ref> The [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[Seneca the Younger]] criticised warfare in his book ''[[Naturales quaestiones]]'' (c. 65 CE).<ref>''Panorama of the Classical World'' by Nigel Spivey and Michael Squire. Getty Publications, 2011, {{ISBN|1606060562}} (p. 200).</ref>

[[Maximilian of Tebessa]] was a Christian conscientious objector. He was killed for refusing to be conscripted.<ref>''The Riddle of Saint Maximilian of Tebessa'' by Peter Brock. University of Toronto Press, 2000.</ref>

====Christianity====
{{See also|Christian pacifism}}

Throughout history many have understood [[Jesus]] of Nazareth to have been a pacifist,<ref name="weidhorn">{{Cite journal |last=Weidhorn |first=Manfred |year=2004 |title=Pacifism Lost |journal=International Journal of Humanities and Peace |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=13–18}}</ref> drawing on his [[Sermon on the Mount]]. In the sermon Jesus stated that one should "not resist an evildoer" and promoted his [[turn the other cheek]] philosophy. "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well&nbsp;... Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."<ref>{{cite web |title=oremus Bible Browser : Matthew 5<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213511/http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=19 October 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=oremus Bible Browser : Luke 6<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212929/http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+6 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=19 October 2006}}</ref><ref name="aqa">{{Cite book |last1=Cleave |first1=Joanne |title=GCSE Religious Studies for AQA Christianity: Christianity: Behaviour, Attitudes & Lifestyles |last2=Geddes, Gordon D. |last3=Griffiths, Jane |publisher=Heinemann Educational Publisher |year=2004 |isbn=978-0435307141 |location=Oxford |page=75}}</ref> He also believed that murder is a sin and repeated the commandment of "[[Thou shalt not kill]]".<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|5:21}} {{bibleverse|Mark|10:19}} {{bibleverse|Luke|18:20}}</ref> The New Testament story is of Jesus, besides preaching these words, surrendering himself freely to an enemy intent on having him killed and proscribing his followers from defending him. When one of his apostles drew a sword to defend Jesus, Jesus told him, "Put your sword back into its place. [[Live by the sword, die by the sword|For all who take the sword will perish by the sword]]" (Matthew 26:52).<ref>{{cite web |first=Josiah |last=Roberts |url=https://davenantinstitute.org/jesus-and-pacifism-excerpt/%23:~:text%3DAllison%27s%2520general%2520analysis.-,TAKING%2520THE%2520SWORD,it%2520could%2520not%2520be%2520pacifistic. |title=Excerpt from 'Jesus and Pacifism': The Teachings of Christ |work=The Davenant Institute |access-date=31 May 2025}}</ref>

There are those, however, who deny that Jesus was a pacifist<ref name="weidhorn" /> and state that Jesus never said not to fight,<ref name="aqa" /> citing examples from the New Testament. One such instance portrays an angry Jesus driving dishonest market [[Cleansing of the Temple|traders from the temple]].<ref name="aqa" /> A frequently quoted passage is Luke 22:36: "He said to them, 'But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must [[Sell your cloak and buy a sword|sell his cloak and buy one]].'" Pacifists have typically explained that verse as Jesus fulfilling prophecy, since in the next verse, Jesus continues to say: "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." Others have interpreted the non-pacifist statements in the New Testament to be related to [[self-defense]] or to be metaphorical and state that on no occasion did Jesus shed blood or urge others to shed blood.<ref name="weidhorn" />

===Modern history===
[[File:Edward Hicks - Penn's Treaty.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Penn's Treaty with the Indians|Penn's Treaty]] with the Lenape]]

Beginning in the 16th century, the [[Protestant Reformation]] gave rise to a variety of new Christian sects, including the [[Peace churches|historic peace churches]]. Foremost among them were the [[Religious Society of Friends]] (Quakers), [[Amish]], [[Mennonites]], [[Hutterites]], and [[Church of the Brethren]]. The humanist writer [[Desiderius Erasmus]] was one of the most outspoken pacifists of the [[Renaissance]], arguing strongly against warfare in his essays ''[[The Praise of Folly]]'' (1509) and ''The Complaint of Peace'' (1517).<ref name="fsn" /><ref>"Erasmus, Desiderius" by Garrett L. McAinsh, in ''The World Encyclopedia of Peace''.Edited by [[Linus Pauling]], [[Ervin László]], and [[Jong Youl Yoo]]. Oxford : Pergamon, 1986. {{ISBN|0080326854}}, (Volume 1, p. 293).</ref>

The [[Quakers]] were prominent advocates of pacifism, who as early as 1660 had repudiated violence in all forms and adhered to a strictly pacifist interpretation of [[Christianity]]. They stated their beliefs in a declaration to [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]]:
<blockquote> "We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world. The Spirit of Christ&nbsp;... which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world.<ref>{{cite web |last=Eric Roberts |title=Quaker Traditions of Pacifism and Nonviolence |url=http://events.stanford.edu/events/352/35227/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203022623/http://events.stanford.edu/events/352/35227/ |archive-date=2013-12-03 |access-date=2013-12-02 |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref></blockquote>

Throughout the many 18th century wars in which [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] participated, the Quakers maintained a principled commitment [[Conscientious objector|not to serve in the army and militia]] or even to pay the alternative £10 fine.

The English Quaker [[William Penn]], who founded the [[Province of Pennsylvania]], employed an anti-militarist public policy. Unlike residents of many of the colonies, Quakers chose to trade peacefully with the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], including for land. The colonial province was, for the 75 years from 1681 to 1756, essentially unarmed and experienced little or no warfare in that period.

From the 16th to the 18th centuries, a number of thinkers devised plans for an international organisation that would promote peace, and reduce or even eliminate the occurrence of war. These included the French politician [[Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully|Duc de Sully]], the philosophers [[Émeric Crucé]] and the [[Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre|Abbe de Saint-Pierre]], and the English Quakers William Penn and [[John Bellers]].<ref>''Power and the Pursuit of Peace: Theory and Practice in the History of Relations between States'', by [[Francis Harry Hinsley]], Cambridge University Press, 1967, {{ISBN|0521094488}}, (pp.&nbsp;13–45).</ref><ref>"Thinking About Peace in History" by [[Charles Chatfield]], in ''The Pacifist Impulse in Historical Perspective : Essays in Honour of Peter Brock'', edited by [[Harvey L. Dyck]]. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0802007775}} (pp.&nbsp;36–51).</ref>

Pacifist ideals emerged from two strands of thought that coalesced at the end of the 18th century. One, rooted in the secular [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], promoted peace as the rational antidote to the world's ills, while the other was a part of the [[Evangelicalism|evangelical religious revival]] that had played an important part in the campaign for the [[abolitionism|abolition of slavery]]. Representatives of the former included [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], in ''Extrait du Projet de Paix Perpetuelle de Monsieur l'Abbe Saint-Pierre'' (1756),<ref>Hinsley, pp.&nbsp;46–61.</ref> [[Immanuel Kant]], in his ''Thoughts on Perpetual Peace'',<ref>Hinsley, pp.&nbsp;62–80.</ref> and [[Jeremy Bentham]] who proposed the formation of a peace association in 1789. Representative of the latter, was [[William Wilberforce]] who thought that strict limits should be imposed on British involvement in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] based on Christian ideals of peace and brotherhood. [[Bohemia]]n [[Bernard Bolzano]] taught about the social waste of militarism and the needlessness of war. He urged a total reform of the educational, social, and economic systems that would direct the nation's interests toward peace rather than toward armed conflict between nations.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pacifism was not entirely frowned upon throughout Europe. It was considered a political stance against costly capitalist-imperialist wars, a notion particularly popular in the [[British Liberal party|British Liberal Party]] of the twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schuyler |first=Robert Livingston |year=1922 |title=The Rise of Anti-Imperialism in England |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=440–4471 |doi=10.2307/2142146 |jstor=2142146}}</ref> However, during the eras of [[World War One]] and especially [[World War Two]], public opinion on the ideology split. Those against the Second World War, some argued, were not fighting against unnecessary wars of imperialism but instead acquiescing to the [[fascists]] of [[Germany]], [[Italy]] and [[Japan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eller |first=Cynthia |year=1990 |title=Oral History as Moral Discourse: Conscientious Objectors and the Second World War |journal=The Oral History Review |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=45–75 |doi=10.1093/ohr/18.1.45 |jstor=3674738}}</ref>

====Peace movements====
During the period of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], although no formal [[peace movement]] was established until the end of hostilities, a significant peace movement animated by universalist ideals did emerge, due to the perception of Britain fighting in a [[reactionary]] role and the increasingly visible impact of the war on the welfare of the nation in the form of higher taxation levels and high casualty rates. Sixteen peace petitions to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] were signed by members of the public, anti-war and anti-[[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] demonstrations convened and peace literature was widely published and disseminated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ceadel, Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lx4xr3PsdI8C&q=freemason+hall+1843+london+peace |title=The Origins of War Prevention: The British Peace Movement and International Relations, 1730–1854 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0198226741}}</ref>

[[File:Henry Richard, Vanity Fair, 1880-09-04.jpg|thumb|upright|"Peace". Caricature of [[Henry Richard]], a prominent advocate of pacifism in the mid-19th century]]

The first peace movements appeared in 1815–16. In the United States the first such movement was the [[New York Peace Society]], founded in 1815 by the theologian [[David Low Dodge]], and the [[Massachusetts Peace Society]]. It became an active organization, holding regular weekly meetings, and producing literature which was spread as far as [[Gibraltar]] and Malta, describing the horrors of war and advocating pacificism on [[Christianity|Christian]] grounds.<ref>''Pacifism to 1914 : an overview'' by Peter Brock. Toronto, Thistle Printing, 1994. (pp.&nbsp;38–39).</ref> The [[Peace Society|London Peace Society]] (also known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace) was formed in 1816 to promote permanent and universal peace by the [[philanthropy|philanthropist]] [[William Allen (philanthropist)|William Allen]]. In the 1840s, British women formed "Olive Leaf Circles", groups of around 15 to 20 women, to discuss and promote pacifist ideas.<ref>''The Long Road to Greenham : Feminism and Anti-Militarism in Britain since 1820'', by [[Jill Liddington]]. London, Virago, 1989 {{ISBN|0860686884}} (pp.&nbsp;14–15).</ref>

The peace movement began to grow in influence by the mid-nineteenth century.<ref>Gavin B. Henderson, "The Pacifists of the Fifties" ''Journal of Modern History'' 9#3 (1937), pp. 314–341, on British developments. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1898869 online]</ref> The London Peace Society, under the initiative of American consul [[Elihu Burritt]] and the reverend [[Henry Richard]], convened the first [[International Peace Congress]] in London in 1843.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cortright, David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCgvvXUzu-oC |title=Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1139471855}}</ref> The congress decided on two aims: the ideal of peaceable arbitration in the affairs of nations and the creation of an international institution to achieve that. [[Henry Richard|Richard]] became the secretary of the Peace Society in 1850 on a full-time basis, a position which he would keep for the next 40 years, earning himself a reputation as the 'Apostle of Peace'. He helped secure one of the earliest victories for the peace movement by securing a commitment from the [[Great Power]]s in the [[Treaty of Paris (1856)]] at the end of the [[Crimean War]], in favour of arbitration. On the European continent, wracked by [[1848 Revolution|social upheaval]], the first peace congress was held in [[Brussels]] in 1848 followed by [[Paris]] a year later.<ref>{{cite web |last=André Durand |title=Gustave Moynier and the peace societies |url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnaw.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308023153/https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnaw.htm |archive-date=8 March 2016 |access-date=2 December 2013 |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]}}</ref>

After experiencing a recession in support due to the resurgence of militarism during the [[American Civil War]] and [[Crimean War]], the movement began to spread across Europe and began to infiltrate the new socialist movements. In 1870, [[Randal Cremer]] formed the [[International Arbitration League|Workman's Peace Association]] in London. Cremer, alongside the French economist [[Frédéric Passy]] was also the founding father of the first international organisation for the arbitration of conflicts in 1889, the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]]. The [[National Peace Council]] was founded in after the 17th [[Universal Peace Congress]] in London (July August 1908).

An important thinker who contributed to pacifist ideology was Russian writer [[Leo Tolstoy]]. In one of his latter works, ''[[The Kingdom of God Is Within You]]'', Tolstoy provides a detailed history, account and defense of pacifism. Tolstoy's work inspired a [[Tolstoyan movement|movement named after him]] advocating pacifism to arise in Russia and elsewhere.<ref>''Tolstoy's Pacifism'', by [[Colm McKeogh]], Cambria Press, 2009, {{ISBN|1604976349}}, (pp.&nbsp;105–107).</ref> The book was a major early influence on [[Mahatma Gandhi]], and the two engaged in regular correspondence while Gandhi was active in South Africa.<ref>''Pacifism in the Twentieth Century'', by [[Peter Brock]] and [[Nigel Young]]. Syracuse University Press, New York, 1999 {{ISBN|0815681259}} (p. 73)</ref>

[[Bertha von Suttner]], the first woman to be a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate, became a leading figure in the peace movement with the publication of her novel, ''Die Waffen nieder!'' ("Lay Down Your Arms!") in 1889 and founded an Austrian pacifist organization in 1891.

====Nonviolent resistance====
[[File:WeFightCartoon.jpg|thumb|left|"Leading Citizens want War and declare War; Citizens Who are Led fight the War" 1910 cartoon]]

In [[Colony of New Zealand|colonial New Zealand]], during the latter half of the 19th century [[European settlers in New Zealand|European settlers]] used numerous tactics to confiscate land from the indigenous [[Māori people|Māori]], including [[New Zealand Wars|warfare]]. In the 1870s and 1880s, [[Parihaka]], then reported to be the largest Māori settlement in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to land confiscations. One Māori leader, [[Te Whiti-o-Rongomai]], quickly became the leading figure in the movement, stating in a speech that "Though some, in darkness of heart, seeing their land ravished, might wish to take arms and kill the aggressors, I say it must not be. Let not the Pakehas think to succeed by reason of their guns... I want not war". Te Whiti-o-Rongomai achieved renown for his non-violent tactics among the Māori, which proved more successful in preventing land confiscations than acts of violent resistance.<ref>{{cite web |last=Winder |first=Virginia |title=Conflict and Protest – Pacifist of Parihaka – Te Whiti o Rongomai |url=http://www.pukeariki.com/en/stories/conflict/pacifistofparihaka.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705092832/http://www.pukeariki.com/en/stories/conflict/pacifistofparihaka.htm |archive-date=5 July 2009 |access-date=29 July 2007}}</ref>

[[Mahatma Gandhi]] was a major political and spiritual leader of India, instrumental in the [[Indian independence movement]]. The Nobel prize winning great poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]], who was also an Indian, gave him the honorific "[[Mahatma]]", usually translated "Great Soul". He was the pioneer of a brand of nonviolence (or ''[[ahimsa]]'') which he called ''[[satyagraha]]''{{snd}}translated literally as "truth force". This was the resistance of tyranny through civil disobedience that was not only nonviolent but also sought to change the heart of the opponent. He contrasted this with ''duragraha'', "resistant force", which sought only to change behaviour with stubborn protest. During his 30 years of work (1917–1947) for the independence of his country from [[British Raj|British colonial rule]], Gandhi led dozens of nonviolent campaigns, spent over seven years in prison, and [[Hunger strike|fasted nearly to the death]] on several occasions to obtain British compliance with a demand or to stop inter-communal violence. His efforts helped lead India to independence in 1947, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom worldwide.

====World War I====
[[File:The Deserter.jpg|alt=|thumb|right|''The Deserter'' (1916) by [[Boardman Robinson]]]]

Peace movements became active in the Western world after 1900, often focusing on treaties that would settle disputes through arbitration, and efforts to support the Hague conventions.<ref>Neil Hollander,  ''Elusive Dove: The Search for Peace During World War I'' (2014), ch 1 [https://books.google.com/books?id=RZHLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 excerpt]</ref>

The sudden outbreak of the [[First World War]] in July 1914 dismayed the peace movement. Socialist parties in every industrial nation had committed themselves to antiwar policies, but when the war came, all of them, except in Russia and the United States, supported their own governments. There were highly publicized dissidents, some of whom were imprisoned for opposing draft laws, such as [[Eugene Debs]] in the U.S.<ref>Harry W. Laidler, Harry W. ''Socialism in thought and action'' (1920) covers wartime roles in many countries [https://archive.org/details/socialisminthoug00laidiala/page/n44 <!-- pg=1 quote=harry laidler socialism. --> online].</ref> In Britain, the prominent activist [[Stephen Henry Hobhouse]] was jailed for refusing military service, citing his convictions as a "socialist and a Christian".<ref>Hochschild, Adam, ''To end all wars : a story of loyalty and rebellion, 1914–1918'', p. 277, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, {{ISBN|0618758283}}</ref> Many [[socialism|socialist]] groups and movements were [[antimilitarist]], arguing that war by its nature was a type of governmental coercion of the [[working class]] for the benefit of [[capitalism|capitalist]] elites. The French socialist pacifist leader [[Jean Jaurès]] was assassinated by a nationalist fanatic on 31 July 1914. The national parties in the [[Second International]] increasingly supported their respective nations in war, and the International was dissolved in 1916.

[[File:Peace-Marcher.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A World War I-era female peace protester]]

In 1915, the [[League of Nations Society]] was formed by British [[liberalism|liberal]] leaders to promote a strong international organisation that could enforce the peaceful resolution of conflict. Later that year, the [[League to Enforce Peace]] was established in the U.S. to promote similar goals. [[Hamilton Holt]] published a 28 September 1914, editorial in his magazine the ''Independent'' called "The Way to Disarm: A Practical Proposal" that called for an international organization to agree upon the arbitration of disputes and to guarantee the territorial integrity of its members by maintaining military forces sufficient to defeat those of any non-member. The ensuing debate among prominent internationalists modified Holt's plan to align it more closely with proposals offered in Great Britain by [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|Viscount James Bryce]], a former British ambassador to the United States.<ref>Herman, 56–57</ref> These and other initiatives were pivotal in the change in attitudes that gave birth to the [[League of Nations]] after the war.

In addition to the traditional peace churches, some of the many groups that protested against the war were the [[Woman's Peace Party]] (which was organized in 1915 and led by noted reformer [[Jane Addams]]), the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP) (also organized in 1915),<ref>[https://archive.today/20021108014655/http://www.binghamton.edu/womhist/milit/intro.htm Pacifism vs. Patriotism in Women's Organizations in the 1920s]. {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> the [[American Union Against Militarism]], the [[Fellowship of Reconciliation]] and the [[American Friends Service Committee]].<ref>[http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628120559/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5215/is_2002/ai_n19132457/pg_2 Chatfield, Charles, "Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy" 2002].</ref> [[Jeannette Rankin]], the first woman elected to Congress, was another fierce advocate of pacifism, the only person to vote against American entrance into both wars.

====Between the two World Wars====
[[File:Красноармейцы-пацифисты.png|thumb|The soldiers of the Red Army in Russia, who on religious grounds refused to shoot at the target (evangelicals or Baptists). Between 1918 and 1929]]

After the immense loss of nearly ten million men to [[trench warfare]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rauchensteiner |first=Manfried |title=The First World War |year=2014|publisher=Böhlau Verlag |isbn=978-3205793656 |location=Wien |doi=10.7767/boehlau.9783205793656|url=https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=fulltext&uiLanguage=en&rid=16519 }}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}</ref> a sweeping change of attitude toward [[militarism]] crashed over Europe, particularly in nations such as Great Britain, where many questioned its involvement in the war. After World War I's official end in 1918, peace movements across the continent and the United States renewed, gradually gaining popularity among young Europeans who grew up in the shadow of Europe's trauma over the Great War. Organizations formed in this period included the [[War Resisters' International]],<ref>''Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963'' by Scott H. Bennett. New York, Syracuse University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|081563028X}}, p. 18.</ref> the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom]], the [[No More War Movement]], the [[Service Civil International]] and the [[Peace Pledge Union]] (PPU). The [[League of Nations]] also convened several disarmament conferences in the interbellum period such as the [[Geneva Naval Conference|Geneva Conference]], though the support that pacifist policy and idealism received varied across European nations. These organizations and movements attracted tens of thousands of Europeans, spanning most professions including "scientists, artists, musicians, politicians, clerks, students, activists and thinkers."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kramer |first=Ann |title=Conscientious Objectors of the Second World War: Refusing to Fight |year=2013 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1783469376}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}</ref>

=====Great Britain=====
Pacifism and revulsion with war were very popular sentiments in 1920s Britain. Novels and poems on the theme of the futility of war and the slaughter of the youth by old fools were published, including, [[Death of a Hero]] by [[Richard Aldington]], [[Erich Remarque]]'s translated [[All Quiet on the Western Front]] and [[Beverley Nichols]]'s expose ''Cry Havoc''. A debate at the [[University of Oxford]] in 1933 on the motion 'one must fight for King and country' captured the changed mood when the motion was resoundingly defeated. [[Hugh Richard Lawrie Sheppard|Dick Sheppard]] established the [[Peace Pledge Union]] in 1934, which totally renounced war and aggression. The idea of collective security was also popular; instead of outright pacifism, the public generally exhibited a determination to stand up to aggression, but preferably with the use of economic sanctions and multilateral negotiations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pacifism |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Hom-c5.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203103202/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Hom-c5.html |archive-date=3 December 2013 |access-date=2 December 2013 |publisher=[[University of Wellington]]}}</ref> Many members of the Peace Pledge Union later joined the [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Learning from the Bruderhof: An Intentional Christian Community |language=en |work=ChristLife |url=https://christlife.org/blog/learning-from-the-bruderhof-an-intentional-christian-community |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407004601/https://christlife.org/blog/learning-from-the-bruderhof-an-intentional-christian-community |url-status=dead }}</ref> during its period of residence in the Cotswolds, where Englishmen and Germans, many of whom were Jewish, lived side by side despite local persecution.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Randall |first1=Ian M. |title=A Christian Peace Experiment: The Bruderhof Community in Britain, 1933–1942 |last2=Wright |first2=Nigel G. |year=2018|publisher=Cascade Books |isbn=978-1532639982 |language=en}}</ref><!-- This formerly read "English, Jews and Germans", but this implies that Englishmen and Germans could not be Jewish. -->

[[File:Prats-de-Mollo Children's Home.jpg|thumb|left|Refugees from the Spanish Civil War at the [[War Resisters' International]] children's refuge in the French Pyrenees]]

The British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] had a strong pacifist wing in the early 1930s, and between 1931 and 1935 it was led by [[George Lansbury]], a Christian pacifist who later chaired the No More War Movement and was president of the PPU. The 1933 annual conference resolved unanimously to "pledge itself to take no part in war". Researcher Richard Toye writes that "Labour's official position, however, although based on the aspiration towards a world socialist commonwealth and the outlawing of war, did not imply a renunciation of force under all circumstances, but rather support for the ill-defined concept of 'collective security' under the League of Nations. At the same time, on the party's left, [[Stafford Cripps]]'s small but vocal [[Socialist League (UK, 1932)|Socialist League]] opposed the official policy, on the non-pacifist ground that the League of Nations was 'nothing but the tool of the satiated imperialist powers'."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toye |first=R. |date=1 January 2001 |title=The Labour Party and the Economics of Rearmament, 1935–39 |journal=Twentieth Century British History |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=303–326 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/12.3.303 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10036/26952}}</ref>

Lansbury was eventually persuaded to resign as Labour leader by the non-pacifist wing of the party and was replaced by [[Clement Attlee]].<ref>Rhiannon Vickers, ''Labour and the World'', Manchester University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0719067457}}</ref> As the threat from [[Nazi Germany]] increased in the 1930s, the Labour Party abandoned its pacifist position and supported rearmament, largely as the result of the efforts of [[Ernest Bevin]] and [[Hugh Dalton]], who by 1937 had also persuaded the party to oppose [[Neville Chamberlain]]'s policy of [[appeasement]].<ref>A.J.Davies, ''To Build A New Jerusalem: The British Labour Party from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair'', Abacus, 1996</ref>

The [[League of Nations]] attempted to play its role in ensuring world peace in the 1920s and 1930s. However, with the increasingly revisionist and aggressive behaviour of Nazi Germany, [[Italian Fascism|Fascist Italy]] and [[Imperial Japan]], it ultimately failed to maintain such a world order. [[Economic sanctions]] were used against states that committed aggression, such as those against Italy when it [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|invaded Abyssinia]], but there was no will on the part of the principal League powers, Britain and France, to subordinate their interests to a multilateral process or to disarm at all themselves.

=====Spain=====
The [[Spanish Civil War]] proved a major test for international pacifism, and the work of pacifist organisations (such as [[War Resisters' International]] and the [[Fellowship of Reconciliation]]) and individuals (such as [[José Brocca]] and [[Amparo Poch y Gascón|Amparo Poch]]) in that arena has until recently{{when|date=May 2011}} been ignored or forgotten by historians, overshadowed by the memory of the [[International Brigades]] and other militaristic interventions. Shortly after the war ended, [[Simone Weil]], despite having volunteered for service on the republican side, went on to publish ''[[The Iliad or the Poem of Force]]'', a work that has been described as a pacifist manifesto.<ref name="NYB">{{cite web |title=War and the Iliad |url=http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=4551 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501053342/http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=4551 |archive-date=1 May 2008 |access-date=29 September 2009 |publisher=The New York Review of books}}</ref> In response to the threat of fascism, some pacifist thinkers, such as [[Richard B. Gregg]], devised plans for a campaign of [[nonviolent resistance]] in the event of a fascist invasion or takeover.<ref>Lynd, Staughton. ''Nonviolence in America: a documentary history'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1966, (pps.&nbsp;271–296).</ref>

=====France=====
As the prospect of a second major war began to seem increasingly inevitable, much of France adopted pacifist views, though some historians argue that France felt more war anxiety than a moral objection to a second war. Hitler's spreading influence and territory posed an enormous threat to French livelihood from their neighbors. The French countryside had been devastated during World War I and the entire nation was reluctant to subject its territory to the same treatment. Though all countries in the First World War had suffered great losses, France was one of the most devastated and many did not want a second war.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://paxchristi.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-First-World-War-in-Numbers.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102558/http://paxchristi.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-First-World-War-in-Numbers.pdf |archive-date=6 December 2018 |access-date=6 December 2018}}</ref>

=====Germany=====
{{Main|Pacifism in Germany}}

As Germany dealt with the burdens of the Treaty of Versailles, a conflict arose in the 1930s between German Christianity and German nationalism. Many Germans found the terms of the treaty debilitating and humiliating, so German nationalism offered a way to regain the country's pride. German Christianity warned against the risks of entering a war similar to the previous one. As the German depression worsened and fascism began to rise in Germany, a greater tide of Germans began to sway toward Hitler's brand of nationalism that would come to crush pacifism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Conway |first=John S. |year=2003 |title=Review of Christian Pacifism confronts German Nationalism – The Ecumenical Movement and the Cause of Peace in Germany, 1914–1933; Der Weltbund für Freundschaftsarbeit der Kirchen, 1914–1948. Eine ökumenische Friedensorganisation |journal=Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=491–497 |jstor=43751708}}</ref>

====World War II====
[[File:Berkeley, California. University of California Student Peace Strike - NARA - 532103 (cropped).tif|thumb|A peace strike rally at [[University of California, Berkeley]], April 1940]]

With the start of [[World War II]], pacifist and antiwar sentiment declined in nations affected by the war. Even the communist-controlled [[American Peace Mobilization]] reversed its antiwar activism once Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. After the [[Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]], the [[Non-interventionism|non-interventionist]] [[America First Committee]] dropped its opposition to American involvement in the war and disbanded,<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 December 1941 |title=America First Acts to End Organization |page=22 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> but many smaller religious and socialist groups continued their opposition to war.

=====Great Britain=====
[[Bertrand Russell]] argued that the necessity of defeating [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazis]] was a unique circumstance in which war was not the worst of the possible evils; he called his position ''relative pacifism''. Shortly before the outbreak of war, British writers such as [[E. M. Forster]], [[Leonard Woolf]], [[David Garnett]] and [[Storm Jameson]] all rejected their earlier pacifism and endorsed military action against Nazism.<ref>Ian Patterson, "Pacifists and Conscientious Objectors", in Adam Piette and Mark Rawlinson, ''The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century British and American War Literature'', Edinburgh University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|0748638741}}  (p. 311).</ref> Similarly, [[Albert Einstein]] wrote: "I loathe all armies and any kind of violence; yet I'm firmly convinced that at present these hateful weapons offer the only effective protection."<ref>Quoted on [http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/people/pp-einstein2.html Albert Einstein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009142749/http://www.ppu.org.uk//learn/infodocs/people/pp-einstein2.html |date=9 October 2007 }} at Peace Pledge Union, and but also discussed in detail in articles in Einstein, Albert (1954), ''Ideas and Opinions'', New York: Random House, {{ISBN|0517003937}}</ref> The British pacifists [[Reginald Sorensen, Baron Sorensen|Reginald Sorensen]] and [[Cecil John Cadoux|C. J. Cadoux]], while bitterly disappointed by the outbreak of war, nevertheless urged their fellow pacifists "not to obstruct the war effort."<ref>Martin Ceadel, ''Pacifism in Britain, 1914–1945 : The Defining of a Faith''. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1980. {{ISBN|0198218826}} (pp.&nbsp;298–299).</ref>

Pacifists across Great Britain further struggled to uphold their anti-military values during the [[The Blitz|Blitz]], a coordinated, long-term attack by the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' on Great Britain. As the country was ravaged nightly by German bombing raids, pacifists had to seriously weigh the importance of their political and moral values against the desire to protect their nation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Overy |first=R. |date=1 May 2013 |title=Pacifism and the Blitz, 1940–1941 |journal=Past & Present |issue=219 |pages=201–236 |doi=10.1093/pastj/gtt005}}</ref>

=====France=====
Some scholars theorize that pacifism was the cause of France's rapid fall to the Germans after it was [[Invasion of France (Nazi Germany)|invaded]] by the Nazis in June 1940, resulting in a takeover of the government by the German military. Whether or not pacifism weakened French defenses against the Germans, there was no hope of sustaining a real pacifist movement after Paris fell. Just as peaceful Germans succumbed to violent nationalism, the pacifist French were muzzled by the totality of German control over nearly all of France.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hucker |first=D. |date=15 November 2007 |title=French public attitudes towards the prospect of war in 1938 1939: 'pacifism' or 'war anxiety'? |url=https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/preview/1017511/French%20Public%20Attitudes%20towards%20the%20Prospect%20of%20War%20in%201938-39.pdf |journal=French History |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=431–449 |doi=10.1093/fh/crm060}}</ref>

The French pacifists [[André and Magda Trocmé]] helped conceal hundreds of Jews fleeing the Nazis in the village of [[Le Chambon-sur-Lignon]].<ref name="pph">''Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There'' Philip P. Hallie, (1979)  New York: Harper & Row, {{ISBN|006011701X}}</ref><ref>Brock and Young, p. 220.</ref> After the war, the Trocmés were declared [[Righteous Among the Nations]].<ref name="pph" />

=====Germany=====
Pacifists in [[Nazi Germany]] were dealt with harshly, reducing the movement into almost nonexistence; those who continued to advocate for the end of the war and violence were often sent to labor camps; German pacifist [[Carl von Ossietzky]]<ref>Brock and Young, p. 99.</ref> and [[Olaf Kullmann]], a Norwegian pacifist active during the Nazi occupation,<ref>Brock and Socknat, pp.&nbsp;402–403.</ref> were both imprisoned in concentration camps and died as a result of their mistreatment there. Austrian farmer [[Franz Jägerstätter]] was executed in 1943 for refusing to serve in the [[Wehrmacht]].<ref>''[[In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter]]'' by [[Gordon Zahn]].Springfield, Illinois: Templegate Publishers. {{ISBN|087243141X}}.</ref>

German nationalism consumed even the most peaceful of Christians, who may have believed that Hitler was acting in the good faith of Germany or who may have been so suppressed by the Nazi regime that they were content to act as bystanders to the violence occurring around them. [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]], an anti-Nazi German pastor who later died in 1945 in the [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]], once wrote in a letter to his grandmother: "The issue really is: Germanism or Christianity."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lovin |first=Robin W. |date=July 1997 |title=Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume 2: Act and Being: Transcendental Philosophy and Ontology in Systematic Theology; Minneapolis, Fortress, 1996. 237 pp. $30.00: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume 5: Life Together; Prayerbook of the Bible; Minneapolis, Fortress, 1996. 218 pp. $30.00 |journal=Theology Today |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=266–268 |doi=10.1177/004057369705400223 |s2cid=170907892}}</ref>

After the end of the war, it was discovered that "[[The Black Book (list)|The Black Book]]" or ''Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.'', a list of Britons to be arrested in the event of a [[Operation Sealion|successful German invasion of Britain]], included three active pacifists: [[Vera Brittain]], [[Sybil Thorndike]] and [[Aldous Huxley]] (who had left the country).<ref>Reinhard R. Doerries, ''Hitler's Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg'', New York. Enigma Books, 2013 {{ISBN|1936274132}} (p. 33)</ref><ref>William Hetherington, ''Swimming Against the Tide:The Peace Pledge Union Story, 1934–2009''. London; The Peace Pledge Union, {{ISBN|978-0902680517}} (p. 14)</ref>

=====Conscientious objectors=====
There were [[conscientious objectors]] and war [[tax resisters]] in both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. The United States government allowed sincere objectors to serve in noncombatant military roles. However, those [[draft dodgers|draft resisters]] who refused any cooperation with the war effort often spent much of the wars in federal prisons. During World War II, pacifist leaders such as [[Dorothy Day]] and [[Ammon Hennacy]] of the [[Catholic Worker Movement]] urged young Americans not to enlist in military service.

During the two world wars, young men conscripted into the military, but who refused to take up arms, were called conscientious objectors. Though these men had to either answer their conscription or face prison time, their status as conscientious objectors permitted them to refuse to take part in battle using weapons, and the military was forced to find a different use for them. Often, these men were assigned various tasks close to battle such as medical duties, though some were assigned various civilian jobs including farming, forestry, hospital work and mining.<ref name="Kramer, Ann 2013">Kramer, Ann. Conscientious Objectors of the Second World War : Refusing to Fight. Pen and Sword, 2013.</ref> Conscientious objectors were often viewed by soldiers as cowards and liars, and they were sometimes accused of shirking military duty out of fear rather than as the result of conscience. In Great Britain during World War II, the majority of the public did not approve of moral objection by soldiers but supported their right to abstain from direct combat. On the more extreme sides of public opinion were those who fully supported the objectors and those who believed they should be executed as traitors.<ref name="Kramer, Ann 2013" /> The World War II objectors were often scorned as fascist sympathizers and traitors, though many of them cited the influence of World War I and their [[shell shock]]ed fathers as major reasons for refusing to participate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kramer |first=Ann |title=Conscientious Objectors of the Second World War: Refusing to Fight |year=2013 |publisher=Barnsley: Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1844681181}}</ref>

====Later 20th century====
[[File:Vietnamdem.jpg|thumb|A demonstrator offers a flower to military police at an [[Opposition to Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War protest]], 1967.]]
[[File:Massale vredesdemonstratie in Bonn tegen de modernisering van kernwapens in West, Bestanddeelnr 253-8611.jpg|thumb|Protest against the deployment of [[Pershing II]] missiles in Europe, Bonn, West Germany, 1981]]

[[Baptist]] [[Minister of religion|minister]] [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] led a [[civil rights movement]] in the U.S., employing [[Gandhism|Gandhian]] [[nonviolent resistance]] to repeal laws enforcing racial segregation and to work for integration of schools, businesses and government. In 1957, his wife [[Coretta Scott King]], along with [[Albert Schweitzer]], [[Benjamin Spock]] and others, formed the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (now [[Peace Action]]) to resist the [[nuclear arms race]]. In 1958 British activists formed the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] with Bertrand Russell as its president.

In 1960, [[Thich Nhat Hanh]] came to the U.S. to study [[comparative religion]] at [[Princeton University]] and was subsequently appointed a lecturer in Buddhism at [[Columbia University]]. Nhất Hạnh had written a letter to King in 1965 entitled "Searching for the Enemy of Man" and met with King in 1966 to urge him to publicly denounce the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name="aavw.org" /> In a famous 1967 speech at [[Riverside Church]] in New York City,<ref>[http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html "Beyond Vietnam"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820044643/http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html |date=20 August 2006 }}, 1967-04-04, speech made by King at the Riverside Church, NYC, archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website</ref> King publicly questioned the U.S. involvement in Vietnam for the first time.

Other examples from this period include the 1986 [[People Power Revolution]] in the Philippines led by [[Cory Aquino|Corazon Aquino]] and the 1989 [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989|Tiananmen Square protests]], with the broadly publicized "[[Tank Man]]" incident as its indelible image.

On 1 December 1948, President [[José Figueres Ferrer]] of Costa Rica abolished the [[military of Costa Rica|Costa Rican military]].<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm "Costa Rica"] . U.S. Department of State.</ref> In 1949, the abolition of the military was introduced in Article 12 of the Costa Rican constitution. The budget previously dedicated to the military is now dedicated to providing healthcare services and education.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1 "The Happiest People"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224163549/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1 |date=24 December 2016}}. ''The New York Times''. 6 January 2010.</ref>

Within the halls of academe, several philosophers endeavored to demonstrate that the theoretical principles underlying secular pacifism could be successfully applied in order to resolve several unique forms of international conflict which emerged as the 20th century came to a close. Included in this group is [[Robert L. Holmes]], who illustrates that four principles of "moral personalism" can be utilized within the context of both [[nuclear war]] and [[terrorism]] in order to promote an ethically viable outcome.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2185583.pdf | jstor=2185583 | last1=Meyers | first1=Diana T. | title=Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes | journal=The Philosophical Review | date=1992 | volume=101 | issue=2 | pages=481–484 | doi=10.2307/2185583 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1961738.pdf | jstor=1961738 | last1=Rock | first1=Stephen R. | title=Reviewed work: On War and Morality, Robert L. Holmes; Paths to Peace: Exploring the Feasibility of Sustainable Peace, Richard Smoke, Willis Harman | journal=The American Political Science Review | date=1989 | volume=83 | issue=4 | pages=1447–1448 | doi=10.2307/1961738 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2216042.pdf | jstor=2216042 | last1=Lee | first1=Steven | title=Reviewed work: On War and Morality., Robert L. Holmes | journal=Noûs | date=1992 | volume=26 | issue=4 | pages=559–562 | doi=10.2307/2216042 }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yGx-2-maackC ''The Ethics of Nonviolence: Essay by Robert L. Holmes'' - Book blurb on google.books.com]</ref> He further argues that waging war in the modern era  is unjustifiable when considered in its totality and that by transcending the particular perceptions of injustice in a conflict it is possible to be a "pragmatic pacifist".<ref>[https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/pacificism-a-philosophy-of-nonviolence/ ''Pacifism A Philosophy of Nonviolence''. Holmes, Robert L. Bloomsbury, London, 2017 pp.265-266, "Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews" - "Pacifism A Philosophy of Nonviolence"  Book review presented by Cheyney Ryan, the University of Oxford 6/7/2017 archived at the University of Notre Dame on ndpr.nd.edu]</ref>

====Antiwar literature of the 20th century====
* Edmund Blunden's ''[[Undertones of War]]'' (1928).
* Robert Graves's ''[[Good-Bye to All That]]'' (1929).
* Erich Marie Remarque's ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' (1929).
* Beverley Nichols's ''Cry Havoc!'' (1933).
* A.A. Milne's ''[[Peace with Honor|Peace with Honour]]'' (1934).
* Aldous Huxley's ''[[Ends and Means]]'' (1937).
* [[Robert L. Holmes]]', ''On War and Morality'' (1989).<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=ti%3A%22On%20War%20and%20Morality.%22 "On War and Morality". Holmes, Robert L. Princeton University Press 1989 Robert L. Holmes on JSTOR.org]</ref>

==Religious attitudes{{anchor|Pacifism and religion}}==
{{see also|Religion and peacebuilding}}
{{Redirect|Religion of peace|peace in Islam, often called the ''religion of peace''|Pacifism in Islam}}

===Baháʼí Faith===
[[Bahá'u'lláh]], the founder of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] abolished [[religious war|holy war]] and emphasized its abolition as a central teaching of his faith.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Troxel |first1=Duane |last2=Cole, Juan |last3=Lambden, Stephen |date=17 October 2003 |title=Tablet of Ridván: Wilmette Institute faculty notes |url=http://bahai-library.com/wilmette_lawh_ridvan_notes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018150249/http://bahai-library.com/wilmette_lawh_ridvan_notes |archive-date=18 October 2011 |access-date=13 September 2006 |publisher=bahai-library.com}}</ref> However, the Baháʼí Faith does not have an absolute pacifistic position. For example, Baháʼís are advised to do social service instead of active army service, but when this is not possible because of obligations in certain countries, the [[Baháʼí laws|Baháʼí law]] of ''loyalty to one's government'' is preferred and the individual should perform the army service.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mazal |first=Peter |date=21 October 2003 |title=Selected Topics of Comparison in Christianity and the Baháʼí Faith |url=http://bahai-library.com/mazal_comparison_christianity_bahai&chapter=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514031423/http://bahai-library.com/mazal_comparison_christianity_bahai%26chapter%3D1 |archive-date=14 May 2011 |access-date=13 September 2006}}</ref><ref name="ud1">{{Cite book |last=Effendi |first=Shoghi |url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/UD/ud-136.html |title=Unfolding Destiny |pages=134–135 |author-link=Shoghi Effendi |access-date=15 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317232518/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/UD/ud-136.html |archive-date=17 March 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Shoghi Effendi]], the head of the Baháʼí Faith in the first half of the 20th century, noted that in the Baháʼí view, absolute pacifists are anti-social and exalt the individual over society which could lead to anarchy; instead he noted that the Baháʼí conception of social life follows a moderate view where the individual is not suppressed or exalted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Effendi |first=Shoghi |url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/DG/dg-144.html#gr1 |title=Directives from the Guardian |publisher=Baháʼí Publishing Trust |location=India |pages=53–54 |author-link=Shoghi Effendi |access-date=15 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060725061401/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/DG/dg-144.html#gr1 |archive-date=25 July 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On the level of society, Bahá'u'lláh promotes the principle of [[collective security]], which does not abolish the use of force, but prescribes "a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Effendi |first=Shoghi |url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/WOB/wob-52.html#gr1 |title=The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh |publisher=Baháʼí Publishing Trust |year=1938 |isbn=978-0877432319 |location=Wilmette, Illinois |pages=191–203 |author-link=Shoghi Effendi |access-date=15 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060725200858/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/WOB/wob-52.html#gr1 |archive-date=25 July 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> The idea of collective security from the Bahá'í teachings states that if a government violates a fundamental norm of international law or provision of a future [[World Constitution|world constitution]] which Bahá'ís believe will be established by all nations, then the other governments should step in.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sarooshi |first=Danesh |year=1994 |title=Search for a Just Society, Review |url=http://bahai-library.com/saroosh_huddleston_just_society |url-status=live |journal=[[Baháʼí Studies Review]] |volume=4 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008104650/http://bahai-library.com/saroosh_huddleston_just_society |archive-date=8 October 2010 |access-date=13 September 2006}}</ref>

===Buddhism===
{{Main|Buddhist ethics|Engaged Buddhism|Religion and peacebuilding#Buddhism and peacebuilding}}

[[Ahimsa]] (do no harm), is a primary virtue in Buddhism (as well as other Indian religions such as Hinduism and Jainism).<ref name="Baroni2002">{{Cite book |last=Helen Josephine Baroni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smNM4ElP3XgC&pg=PA3 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism |year= 2002 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-0823922406 |page=3}}</ref> This leads to a misconception that Buddhism is a religion based solely on peace; however, like all religions, there is a long history of violence in various Buddhist traditions and many examples of prolonged violence in its 2,500-year existence. Like many religious scholars and believers of other religions, many Buddhists disavow any connection between their religion and the violence committed in its name or by its followers, and find various ways of dealing with problematic texts.<ref>''Buddhist Warfare'' by Michael Jerryson and [[Mark Juergensmeyer]] / Oxford University Press 2010, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=AEw124lzC8wC&pg=PT12 3]–14 {{ISBN|978-0195394849}}</ref>

Notable pacifists or peace activists within Buddhist traditions include [[Thích Nhất Hạnh]] who advocated for peace in response to the Vietnam War, founded the [[Plum Village Tradition]], and helped popularize [[engaged Buddhism]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Schedneck|first=Brooke|title=Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk who introduced mindfulness to the West, prepares to die|url=http://theconversation.com/thich-nhat-hanh-the-buddhist-monk-who-introduced-mindfulness-to-the-west-prepares-to-die-111142|access-date=10 July 2021|website=The Conversation|date=18 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Thich Nhat Hanh|url=https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=Plum Village}}</ref> [[Robert Baker Aitken]] and [[Anne Hopkins Aitken]] who founded the [[Buddhist Peace Fellowship]],<ref>{{cite web|title=History|url=https://buddhistpeacefellowship.org/history/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=Buddhist Peace Fellowship|archive-date=10 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710163458/https://buddhistpeacefellowship.org/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Cheng Yen]] founder of the [[Tzu Chi Foundation]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Abdoolcarim|first=Zoher|date=21 April 2011|title=The 2011 Time 100 – Time|language=en-US|magazine=Time|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066393,00.html|access-date=10 July 2021|issn=0040-781X}}</ref> [[Bhikkhu Bodhi]] American Theravada Buddhist monk and founder of [[Buddhist Global Relief]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi presents moral vision in age of crisis|url=https://news.mit.edu/2018/venerable-bhikkhu-bodhi-presents-moral-vision-in-age-of-crisis-0501|access-date=10 July 2021|website=MIT News {{!}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=May 2018 }}</ref> Thai activist and author [[Sulak Sivaraksa]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Sulak Sivaraksa|url=https://www.weforum.org/people/sulak-sivaraksa/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=World Economic Forum}}</ref> Cambodian activist [[Preah Maha Ghosananda]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Maha Ghosananda biography|url=http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/eric/Buddhism/ghosananda.htm|access-date=10 July 2021|website=www.cs.cornell.edu}}</ref> and Japanese activist and peace pagoda builder [[Nichidatsu Fujii]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=Andrew|title=Recalling Nichidatsu Fujii|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/recalling-nichidatsu-fujii/|access-date=10 July 2021|website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|date=December 2008 |language=en}}</ref>

===Christianity===
{{Main|Christian pacifism}}
{{Further|Christianity and violence|Nonresistance#Christian theology}}
[[File:Blessed are the Peacemakers.gif|alt=|thumb|right|''[[Blessed are the peacemakers|Blessed are the Peacemakers]]'' (1917) by [[George Bellows]]]]

====Peace churches====
[[Peace churches]] are Christian denominations explicitly advocating pacifism. The term "historic peace churches" refers specifically to three church traditions: the [[Church of the Brethren]], the [[Mennonites]] (and other [[Anabaptists]], such as the [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]] and [[Apostolic Christian Church]]),<ref name="Jones1974">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Charles Edwin |title=A Guide to the Study of The Holiness Movement |date=1974 |pages=213–314 |language=English}}</ref> as well as the [[Quakers]] (Religious Society of Friends). The historic peace churches have, from their origins as far back as the 16th century, always taken the position that [[Jesus]] was himself a pacifist who explicitly taught and practiced pacifism, and that his followers must do likewise. Pacifist churches vary on whether physical force can ever be justified in [[self-defense]] or protecting others, as many adhere strictly to [[nonresistance]] when confronted by violence. But all agree that violence on behalf of a country or a government is prohibited for Christians.

====Holiness movement====
The [[Emmanuel Association of Churches]], [[Immanuel Missionary Church]], [[Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma)]], First Bible Holiness Church, and [[Christ's Sanctified Holy Church]] are denominations in the [[holiness movement]] (which is largely [[Methodist]] with a minority from other backgrounds such as Quaker, Anabaptist and Restorationist) known for their opposition to war today; they are known as "holiness pacifists".<ref name="Emmanuel2002">{{Cite book |title=Guidebook of the Emmanuel Association of Churches |year=2002 |publisher=[[Emmanuel Association]] |location=[[Logansport, Indiana|Logansport]] |pages=15–17 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=James R. |title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions |year=2001 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1615927388}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Manual: First Bible Holiness Church |date=1956 |publisher=First Bible Holiness Church |location=[[Muncie, Indiana|Muncie]] |page=4}}</ref><ref name="BeamanPipkin2013" /> The Emmanuel Association teaches:<ref name="BeamanPipkin2013">{{Cite book |last1=Beaman |first1=Jay |title=Pentecostal and Holiness Statements on War and Peace |last2=Pipkin |first2=Brian K. |year=2013 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1610979085 |pages=73–74, 98–99, 124}}</ref><ref name="Alexander2011">{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Estrelda Y. |title=Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism |year=2011 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0830825868 |page=82 |language=English}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We feel bound explicitly to avow our unshaken persuasion that War is utterly incompatible with the plain precepts of our divine Lord and Law-giver, and with the whole spirit of the Gospel; and that no plea of necessity or policy, however urgent or peculiar, can avail to release either individuals or nations for the paramount allegiance which they owe to Him who hath said, "Love your enemies." Therefore, we cannot participate in war (Rom. 12:19), war activities, or compulsory training.<ref name="BeamanPipkin2013" />}}

====Pentecostal churches====
Jay Beaman's thesis<ref name="beaman">Beaman, J: Pentecostal Pacifism: The Origin, Development, and Rejection of Pacific Belief among the Pentecostals, Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Hillsboro, Kansas, 1989</ref> states that 13 of 21, or 62% of American Pentecostal groups formed by 1917 show evidence of being pacifist sometime in their history. Furthermore, Jay Beaman has shown in his thesis<ref name="beaman" /> that there has been a shift away from pacifism in the American Pentecostal churches to more a style of military support and chaplaincy. The major organisation for Pentecostal Christians who believe in pacifism is the PCPF, the [[Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship]].

The [[United Pentecostal Church]], the largest Apostolic/[[Oneness Pentecostalism|Oneness]] denomination, takes an official stand of conscientious objection: its Articles of Faith read, "We are constrained to declare against participating in combatant service in war, armed insurrection&nbsp;... aiding or abetting in or the actual destruction of human life. We believe that we can be consistent in serving our Government in certain noncombatant capacities, but not in the bearing of arms."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Articles of Faith 2012 |url=http://www.spiritualabuse.org/aof.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830014848/http://www.spiritualabuse.org/aof.html |archive-date=30 August 2011 |access-date=16 August 2011}}</ref>

====Other denominations====
[[File:Peace Poppy Wreath.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Photograph|A Peace poppy [[wreath]], made of Peace poppies, with a [[CND]] symbol inside at a British [[Remembrance Day]] event]]

The [[Peace Pledge Union]] is a pacifist organisation from which the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (APF) later emerged within the Anglican Church. The APF succeeded in gaining ratification of the pacifist position at two successive [[Lambeth Conferences]], but many Anglicans would not regard themselves as pacifists. South African Bishop [[Desmond Tutu]] is the most prominent Anglican pacifist. [[Rowan Williams]] led an almost united Anglican Church in Britain in opposition to the 2003 [[Iraq War]]. In Australia [[Peter Carnley]] similarly led a front of bishops opposed to the [[Government of Australia]]'s involvement in the invasion of Iraq.

The [[Catholic Worker Movement]] is concerned with both social justice and pacifist issues, and voiced consistent opposition to the [[Spanish Civil War]] and World War II. Many of its early members were imprisoned for their opposition to [[conscription]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Catholic Worker Movement |url=http://www.catholicworker.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131054149/http://www.catholicworker.org/ |archive-date=31 January 2016 |access-date=30 January 2016}}</ref> Within the Roman Catholic Church, the [[Pax Christi]] organisation is the premier pacifist lobby group. It holds positions similar to APF, and the two organisations are known to work together on ecumenical projects. Within Roman Catholicism there has been a discernible move towards a more pacifist position through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Popes [[Pope Benedict XV|Benedict XV]], [[Pope John XXIII|John XXIII]] and [[Pope John Paul II|John Paul II]] were all vocal in their opposition to specific wars. By taking the name [[Pope Benedict XVI|Benedict XVI]], some suspected that [[Pope Benedict XVI|Joseph Ratzinger]] would continue the strong emphasis upon nonviolent conflict resolution of his predecessor. However, the Roman Catholic Church officially maintains the legitimacy of Just War, which is rejected by some pacifists.

In the twentieth century, there was a notable trend among prominent Roman Catholics towards pacifism. Individuals such as [[Dorothy Day]] and [[Henri Nouwen]] stand out among them. The monk and mystic [[Thomas Merton]] was noted for his commitment to pacifism during the [[Vietnam War]] era. Murdered Salvadoran Bishop [[Óscar Romero]] was notable for using non-violent resistance tactics and wrote meditative sermons focusing on the power of prayer and peace. [[School of the Americas Watch]] was founded by Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois in 1990 and uses strictly pacifist principles to protest the training of Latin American military officers by United States Army officers at the School of the Americas in the state of Georgia.

The [[Southern Baptist Convention]] has stated in the [[Baptist Faith and Message]], "It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of [[righteousness]]. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war."<ref>{{cite web |title=SBC, " Baptist Faith and Message 2000" |url=http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#xvi |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303000119/http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#xvi |archive-date=3 March 2009 |access-date=22 January 2008}}</ref>

The [[United Methodist Church]] explicitly supports conscientious objection by its members "as an ethically valid position" while simultaneously allowing for differences of opinion and belief for those who do not object to military service.<ref>Article V, section 2 of [http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=989 The United Methodist Church and Peace] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221085322/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=989 |date=21 February 2010 }}</ref>

Members of the [[Rastafari Movement]]'s Mansion [[Mansions of Rastafari#Niyabinghi|Nyabinghi]] are specifically noted for having a large population of Pacifist members, though not all of them are.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rastafarianism – WRSP |url=https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/rastafarianism/ |access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref>

===Hinduism===
{{Main|Ahimsa}}

Nonviolence, or [[ahimsa]], is a central part of Hinduism and is one of the fundamental [[Yamas]] – self restraints needed to live a proper life. The concept of ahimsa grew gradually within Hinduism, one of the signs being the discouragement of ritual animal sacrifice. Many Hindus today have a vegetarian diet. The classical texts of Hinduism devote numerous chapters discussing what people who practice the virtue of Ahimsa, can and must do when they are faced with war, violent threat or need to sentence someone convicted of a crime. These discussions have led to theories of just war, theories of reasonable self-defence and theories of proportionate punishment.<ref name="balkaran2012">Balkaran, R., & Dorn, A. W. (2012). [http://www.sareligionuoft.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/JAAR-Article-Violence-in-the-Valmiki-Ramayana-Just-War-Criteria-in-an-Ancient-Indian-Epic-.pdf Violence in the Vālmı̄ki Rāmāyaṇa: Just War Criteria in an Ancient Indian Epic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412060315/http://www.sareligionuoft.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/JAAR-Article-Violence-in-the-Valmiki-Ramayana-Just-War-Criteria-in-an-Ancient-Indian-Epic-.pdf |date=12 April 2019 }}, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 80(3), 659–690.</ref><ref name="klos1996">[[Klaus K. Klostermaier]] (1996), in Harvey Leonard Dyck and Peter Brock (Ed), The Pacifist Impulse in Historical Perspective, see ''Chapter on Himsa and Ahimsa Traditions in Hinduism'', {{ISBN|978-0802007773}}, University of Toronto Press, pp. 230–234</ref> [[Arthashastra]] discusses, among other things, why and what constitutes proportionate response and punishment.<ref name="robinson2003">Paul F. Robinson (2003), Just War in Comparative Perspective, {{ISBN|0754635872}}, Ashgate Publishing, see pp. 114–125</ref><ref>Coates, B. E. (2008). Modern India's Strategic Advantage to the United States: Her Twin Strengths in Himsa and Ahimsa. Comparative Strategy, 27(2), pp. 133–147</ref>
The precepts of Ahimsa under Hinduism require that war must be avoided, with sincere and truthful dialogue. Force must be the last resort. If war becomes necessary, its cause must be just, its purpose virtuous, its objective to restrain the wicked, its aim peace, its method lawful.<ref name=balkaran2012/><ref name=robinson2003/> While the war is in progress, sincere dialogue for peace must continue.<ref name=balkaran2012/><ref name=klos1996/>

===Islam===
{{Main|Pacifism in Islam}}
{{See also|Peace in Islamic philosophy}}

Different Muslim movements through history had linked pacifism with [[Muslim theology]].<ref name="Osborn2011">{{Cite book |last=Emily Lynn Osborn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vFHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |title=Our New Husbands Are Here: Households, Gender, and Politics in a West African State from the Slave Trade to Colonial Rule |year=2011 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=978-0821443972 |pages=18–}}</ref><ref name="Müller2013">{{Cite book |last=Louise Müller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T890Drkv9AoC&pg=PA207 |title=Religion and Chieftaincy in Ghana: An Explanation of the Persistence of a Traditional Political Institution in West Africa |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2013 |isbn=978-3643903600 |pages=207–}}</ref><ref>An American Witness to India's Partition by Phillips Talbot Year (2007)</ref> However, [[Islam and war|warfare]] has been integral part of Islamic history both for the defense and the spread of the faith since the time of [[Muhammad]].<ref name="Johnson2010">{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=James Turner |title=Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions |year=2010 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0271-042145 |pages=20–25 |chapter=1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoEjpRsvuzUC&pg=PA20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Karsh |first=Efraim |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300198171/islamic-imperialism |title=Islamic imperialism : a history |year=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300198171 |edition=2nd |location=New Haven, CT}}</ref><ref>Lews, Bernard, [[Islam and the West]], Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=br74_99YqSIC&pg=PA9 9]–10</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoyland |first=Robert G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvmKBAAAQBAJ |title=In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0199916368 |author-link=Robert G. Hoyland}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaegi |first=Walter E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IvPVEb17uzkC |title=Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0521484558 |author-link=Walter Kaegi}}</ref>

[[Peace in Islamic philosophy|Peace is an important aspect of Islam]], and Muslims are encouraged to strive for peace and peaceful solutions to all problems. However, most Muslims are generally not pacifists, as the teachings in the Qur'an and Hadith allow for wars to be fought if they are justified.<ref>{{cite web |title=What does pacifism mean in Islam? |url=https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zfnv87h/revision/7 |access-date=23 August 2019 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=19 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719082008/https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zfnv87h/revision/7 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Sufism====
{{Further|Sufism}}

Prior to the [[Hijra (Islam)|Hijra]] travel, [[Muhammad]] struggled [[Nonviolence|non-violently]] against his opposition in Mecca,<ref name="cultures">Boulding, Elise. "Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History", p. 57</ref> providing a basis for Islamic pacifist schools of thought such as some [[Sufism|Sufi orders]].<ref name="Hafez">{{Cite book |last=Hafez |first=Kai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkIxwQocXacC&pg=PA208 |title=Radicalism and Political Reform in the Islamic and Western Worlds |year=2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1139489041 |page=208}}</ref>

In the 13th century, [[Salim Suwari]] a philosopher in Islam, came up with a peaceful approach to Islam known as the [[Suwarian tradition]].<ref name="Osborn2011" /><ref name="Müller2013" />

The earliest massive non-violent implementation of [[civil disobedience]] was brought about by [[Egyptians]] against the British in the [[Egyptian Revolution of 1919]].<ref name="Egypt">{{Citation |last=Zunes, Stephen (1999:42) |title=Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective |publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref>

[[Khān Abdul Ghaffār Khān]] was a [[Pashtun people|Pashtun]] [[Indian independence movement|independence activist]] against [[British Raj|British colonial rule]]. He was a political and spiritual leader known for his [[nonviolence|nonviolent]] opposition, and a lifelong pacifist and devout [[Muslim]].<ref>An American Witness to India's Partition by Phillips Talbot Year (2007) Sage Publications {{ISBN|978-0761936183}}</ref> A close friend of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Bacha Khan was nicknamed the "Frontier Gandhi" in [[British Raj|British India]].<ref name="RazaAhmad1990">{{Cite book |last1=Raza |first1=Moonis |title=An Atlas of Tribal India: With Computed Tables of District-level Data and Its Geographical Interpretation |last2=Ahmad |first2=Aijazuddin |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1990 |isbn=978-8170222866 |page=1}}</ref> Bacha Khan founded the [[Khudai Khidmatgar]] ("Servants of God") movement in 1929, whose success triggered severe crackdowns by the colonial government against Khan and his supporters, and they experienced some of the strongest repression of the Indian independence movement.<ref name="Zartman">{{Cite book |last=Zartman |first=I. William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PA284/ |title=Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods & Techniques |publisher=US Institute of Peace Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1929223664 |page=284 |author-link=I. William Zartman |access-date=4 February 2013}}</ref>

====Ahmadiyya====
{{Further|Ahmadiyya view on Jihad}}

According to the [[Ahmadiyya]] understanding of Islam, pacifism is a strong current, and jihad is one's personal inner struggle and should not be used violently for political motives. Violence is the last option only to be used to protect religion and one's own life in extreme situations of persecution. [[Mirza Ghulam Ahmad]], the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said that in contrary to the current views, Islam ''does not allow the use of sword in religion, except in the case of defensive wars, wars waged to punish a tyrant, or those meant to uphold freedom''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jihad the True Islamic Concept |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/articles/Jihad-Brochure.pdf |access-date=9 September 2010}}</ref>

Ahmadiyya claims its objective to be the peaceful propagation of [[Islam]] with special emphasis on spreading the true message of Islam by the pen. Ahmadis point out that as per prophecy, who they believe was the promised messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, rendered the concept of violent jihad unnecessary in modern times. They believe that the answer of hate should be given by love.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jihad of the Pen |url=http://www.alislam.org/library/links/00000064.html |access-date=9 September 2010}}</ref> Many Muslims consider Ahmadi Muslims as either ''[[kafir]]s'' or [[bid'ah|heretics]], an animosity sometimes resulting in murder.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 May 2010 |title=Who are the Ahmadi? |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8711026.stm |url-status=live |access-date=19 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530013220/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8711026.stm |archive-date=30 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Burhani |first=Ahmad Najib |url=https://alexandria.ucsb.edu/lib/ark:/48907/f3707zhx |title=When Muslims are not Muslims: the Ahmadiyya community and the discourse on heresy in Indonesia |publisher=[[University of California]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1303424861 |location=Santa Barbara, California}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Haq |first=Zia |date=2 October 2011 |title='Heretical' Ahmadiyya sect raises Muslim hackles |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |publisher=[[HT Media]] |location=[[New Delhi]] |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/heretical-ahmadiyya-sect-raises-muslim-hackles/article1-752846.aspx |url-status=dead |access-date=19 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419082837/http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/heretical-ahmadiyya-sect-raises-muslim-hackles/article1-752846.aspx |archive-date=19 April 2015}}</ref>

===Jainism===
[[Ahimsa in Jainism|Absolute Non-violence and compassion for all life]] is central to [[Jainism]]. Human life is valued as a unique, rare opportunity to reach enlightenment. Killing any person or living creature seen or unseen, no matter what crime may have committed, is considered unimaginably terrible. It is a religion that requires monks, from all its sects and traditions, to be [[Jain vegetarianism|lacto-vegetarianism]]. Most or all Jains are lacto-vegetarians. Some Indian regions, such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh have been strongly influenced by Jains and often the majority of the local Hindus of every denomination are also lacto-vegetarian.<ref>Titze, Kurt, Jainism: A Pictorial Guide to the Religion of Non-Violence, Mohtilal Banarsidass, 1998</ref>

===Judaism===
Although [[Judaism]] is not a pacifist religion, it does believe that peace is highly desirable. Most Jews will hope to limit or minimise conflict and violence but they accept that, given human nature and the situations which arise from time to time in the world, there will be occasions when violence and war may be justified.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/znpykqt/revision/7 |title=What does pacifism mean in Judaism? – War and peace – GCSE Religious Studies Revision – BBC Bitesize |publisher=Bbc.com |date= |accessdate=5 March 2022 |archive-date=12 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712063354/https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/znpykqt/revision/7 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Jewish Peace Fellowship is a New-York based [[nonprofit]], [[Jewish denominations|nondenominational]] organization set up to provide a [[Judaism|Jewish]] voice in the [[peace movement]]. The organization was founded in 1941 in order to support Jewish [[conscientious objectors]] who sought exemption from combatant military service.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jewish Peace Fellowship |url=http://www.jewishpeacefellowship.org/index.php?p=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205030508/http://www.jewishpeacefellowship.org/index.php?p=about |archive-date=5 December 2010 |access-date=15 September 2010}}</ref> It is affiliated to the [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]].<ref>{{cite web |title=IFOR Members |url=http://www.ifor.org/members.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423022546/http://www.ifor.org/members.htm |archive-date=23 April 2013 |access-date=15 September 2010}}</ref> The fringe [[Neturei Karta]] group of anti-Zionist, ultra-orthodox Jews, supposedly take a pacifist line, saying that "Jews are not allowed to dominate, kill, harm or demean another people and are not allowed to have anything to do with the Zionist enterprise, their political meddling and their wars."<ref>{{cite web |title=What is the Neturei Karta? |url=http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/index.cfm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513010541/http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/index.cfm |archive-date=13 May 2011 |access-date=16 September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate Sabbath in Gaza |newspaper=Haaretz |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/anti-zionist-ultra-orthodox-jews-celebrate-sabbath-in-gaza-1.265558 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606174420/http://www.haaretz.com/news/anti-zionist-ultra-orthodox-jews-celebrate-sabbath-in-gaza-1.265558 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |access-date=4 January 2012}}</ref> The [[Hebrew Bible]] has many examples of  Jews being told to go and war against enemy lands or within the Israelite community as well as instances where God, as destroyer and protector, goes to war for non-participant Jews.<ref>Niditch, Susan, ''War in the Hebrew Bible'' (Oxford University Press ed. 1993)</ref>

==Government and political movements==
[[File:1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG|thumb|[[Erich Maria Remarque|Remarque]]'s anti-war novel ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' was banned and burned by war-glorifying Nazis.]]

While many governments have tolerated pacifist views and even accommodated pacifists' refusal to fight in wars, others at times have outlawed pacifist and anti-war activity. In 1918, The United States Congress passed the [[Sedition Act of 1918]]. During the periods between World Wars I and World War II, pacifist literature and public advocacy was banned in Italy under [[Benito Mussolini]], Germany after the rise of [[Adolf Hitler]],<ref name="bz">Benjamin Ziemann, "Pacifism" in ''World Fascism:An Encyclopedia'', edited by Cyprian P. Blamires. ABC-CLIO Ltd, 2006.  {{ISBN|1576079406}} (pp.&nbsp;495–496)</ref> [[Francoist Spain|Spain]] under [[Francisco Franco]],<ref>Brock and Young, pp.&nbsp;96–97, 311.</ref> and the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="nsleu">''Notes sur l'anarchisme en U.R.S.S : De 1921 à nos jours''. Les Cahiers du Vent du Chemin. Paris, 1983.</ref> In these nations, pacifism was denounced as cowardice; indeed, Mussolini referred to pacifist writings as the "propaganda of cowardice".<ref name="bz" />

Today, the United States requires that all young men register for selective service but does not allow them to be classified as conscientious objectors unless they are drafted in some future reinstatement of the draft, allowing them to be discharged or transferred to noncombatant status.<ref>{{cite web |title=Conscientious Objection Today, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors |url=http://www.objector.org/advice/conscientious_objector-6.html#pgfId-183 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804114116/http://www.objector.org/advice/conscientious_objector-6.html#pgfId-183 |archive-date=4 August 2007 |access-date=30 July 2007}}</ref> Some European governments like [[Swiss Civilian Service|Switzerland]], Greece, Norway and Germany offer [[civilian service]]. However, even during periods of peace, many pacifists still refuse to register for or report for military duty, risking criminal charges.

Anti-war and "pacifist" political parties seeking to win elections may moderate their demands, calling for [[de-escalation]] or major [[arms reduction]] rather than the outright [[disarmament]] which is advocated by many pacifists. [[Green parties]] list "[[non-violence]]" and "[[decentralization]]" towards anarchist co-operatives or minimalist village government as two of their ten key values. However, in power, Greens often compromise. The German Greens in the cabinet of Social Democrat [[Gerhard Schröder]] supported an intervention by German troops in Afghanistan in 2001 if that they hosted the peace conference in Berlin. However, during the 2002 election Greens forced Schröder to swear that no German troops would invade Iraq.

[[File:Марш за мир и свободу (15).jpg|thumb|[[March of Peace]], which took place in Moscow in March 2014]]

Some pacifists and [[multilateralism|multilateralists]] are in favor of international criminal law as means to prevent and control international aggression. The [[International Criminal Court]] has jurisdiction over war crimes, but the crime of aggression has yet to be clearly defined in international law.

{{Quote needed|date=June 2023}}The [[Constitution of Italy|Italian Constitution]] enforces a mild pacifist character on the Italian Republic, as Article 11 states that "Italy repudiates war as an instrument offending the liberty of the peoples and as a means for settling international disputes&nbsp;..." Similarly, Articles 24, 25 and 26 of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|German Constitution]] (1949), Alinea 15 of the French Constitution (1946), Article 20 of the [[Constitution of Denmark|Danish Constitution]] (1953), [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution]] (1947) and several other mostly European constitutions correspond to the United Nations Charter by rejecting the institution of war in favour of [[collective security]] and peaceful cooperation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitutional clauses providing for limitations of national sovereignty to achieve cooperation, peace and disarmament |url=http://www.ne.jp/asahi/peace/unitednationsreform2007/liste24list_en.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720025109/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/peace/unitednationsreform2007/liste24list_en.html |archive-date=20 July 2009 |access-date=17 August 2008}}</ref><!-- Quote the articles -->

===Pacifism and abstention from political activity===
However, some pacifists, such as the [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchist]] [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[autarchist]] [[Robert LeFevre]], consider the state a form of warfare. In addition, for doctrinal reason that a manmade government is inferior to divine governance and law, many pacifist-identified religions/religious sects also refrain from political activity altogether, including the [[Anabaptists]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and [[Mandaeans]]. This means that such groups refuse to participate in government office or serve under an oath to a government.

===Anarcho-pacifism===
{{Main|Anarcho-pacifism}}
[[File:Benjamin D. Maxham - Henry David Thoreau - Restored - greyscale - straightened.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Henry David Thoreau]], early proponent of anarcho-pacifism]]

Anarcho-pacifism is a form of [[anarchism]] which completely rejects the use of violence in any form for any purpose. The main precedent was [[Henry David Thoreau]] who through his work [[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|Civil Disobedience]] influenced the advocacy of both Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi for [[nonviolent resistance]].<ref name="ppu.org.uk">{{cite web |title=The pacifist and anarchist tradition by Geoffrey Ostergaard |url=http://www.ppu.org.uk/e_publications/dd-trad8.html#anarch%20and%20violence |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514052437/http://www.ppu.org.uk/e_publications/dd-trad8.html#anarch%20and%20violence |archive-date=14 May 2011 |access-date=1 March 2010}}</ref> As a global movement, anarcho-pacifism emerged shortly before [[World War II]] in the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States and was a strong presence in the subsequent campaigns for [[nuclear disarmament]].

Violence has always been controversial in anarchism. While many anarchists during the 19th century embraced [[propaganda of the deed]], [[Leo Tolstoy]] and other anarcho-pacifists directly opposed violence as a means for change. He argued that anarchism must by nature be nonviolent since it is, by definition, opposition to coercion and force and since the state is inherently violent, meaningful pacifism must likewise be anarchistic. His philosophy was cited as a major inspiration by Mahatma Gandhi, an [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence]] leader and pacifist who self-identified as an anarchist. [[Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis]] was also instrumental in establishing the pacifist trend within the anarchist movement.<ref name="woodcock">{{Cite book |last=Woodcock |first=George |title=Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements |publisher=Broadview Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1551116297 |location=Peterborough}}</ref> In France, anti-militarism appeared strongly in individualist anarchist circles as [[Émile Armand]] founded "Ligue Antimilitariste" in 1902 with [[Albert Libertad]] and George Mathias Paraf-Javal.

===Opposition to military taxation===
{{Main|Conscientious objection to military taxation}}
Many pacifists who would be conscientious objectors to military service are also [[tax resistance|opposed to paying taxes]] to fund the military. In the United States, the [[National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund]] works to pass a national law to allow conscientious objectors to redirect their tax money to be used only for non-military purposes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mission of National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund |url=http://www.peacetaxfund.org/aboutus/mission.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165301/http://www.peacetaxfund.org/aboutus/mission.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=8 July 2010}}</ref>

==Criticism==
One common argument against pacifism is the possibility of using violence to prevent further acts of violence (and reduce the "net-sum" of violence). This argument hinges on [[consequentialism]]: an otherwise morally objectionable action can be justified if it results in a positive outcome. For example, either violent rebellion, or foreign nations sending in troops to end a dictator's violent oppression may save millions of lives, even if many thousands died in the war. Those pacifists who base their beliefs on [[deontology|deontological]] grounds would oppose such violent action. Others would oppose organized military responses but support individual and small group self-defense against specific attacks if initiated by the dictator's forces. Pacifists may argue that military action could be justified should it subsequently advance the general cause of peace.

Still more pacifists would argue that a nonviolent reaction may not save lives immediately but would in the long run. The acceptance of violence for any reason makes it easier to use in other situations. Learning and committing to pacifism helps to send a message that violence is, in fact, not the most effective way. It can also help people to think more creatively and find more effective ways to stop violence without more violence.

In light of the common criticism of pacifism as not offering a clear alternative policy, one approach to finding "more effective ways" has been the attempt to develop the idea of "defence by [[civil resistance]]", also called "[[social defence]]". This idea, which is not necessarily dependent on acceptance of pacifist beliefs, is based on relying on [[nonviolent resistance]] against possible threats, whether external (such as invasion) or internal (such as [[coup d'état]]).
[[File:Ghetto Vilinus.gif|thumb|Jewish armed resistance against the Nazis during World War II]]

There have been some works on this topic, including by [[Adam Roberts (scholar)|Adam Roberts]]<ref>Adam Roberts, ed. ''The Strategy of Civilian Defence: Non-violent Resistance to Aggression'', Faber, London, 1967. (Also published as ''Civilian Resistance as a National Defense'', Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, USA, 1968; and, with a new Introduction on "Czechoslovakia and Civilian Defence", as ''Civilian Resistance as a National Defence'', Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, and Baltimore, US, 1969. {{ISBN|0140210806}}.)</ref> and [[Gene Sharp]].<ref>Gene Sharp, ''Social Power and Political Freedom'', Porter Sargent, Boston, 1980, pp.&nbsp;195–261. {{ISBN|0875580939}} (paperback); and ''Civilian-based Defence: A Post-military Weapons System'', Princeton University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0691078092}}.</ref> However, no country has adopted this approach as the sole basis of its defence.<ref>[[Adam Roberts (scholar)|Adam Roberts]], in Roberts and Garton Ash (ed.), ''Civil Resistance and Power Politics'', Introduction, p. 12.</ref> (For further information and sources see [[social defence]].)

Axis aggression that precipitated [[World War II]] has been cited as an argument against pacifism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rempel |first1=Michael |title=The Dilemmas of British Pacifists during World War 2 |journal=Journal of Modern History |date=1978 |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=D1213–D1229 |doi=10.1086/241842 |jstor=1877299 |s2cid=143552484 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1877299|url-access=subscription }}</ref> If these forces had not been challenged and defeated militarily, the argument goes, many more people would have died under their oppressive rule. [[Adolf Hitler]] told the British Foreign Secretary [[Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]] in 1937 that the British should "shoot Gandhi, and if this doesn't suffice to reduce them to submission, shoot a dozen leading members of the Congress, and if that doesn't suffice shoot 200, and so on, as you make it clear that you mean business."<ref>Ghose, Sankar (1992). ''Jawaharlal Nehru, A Biography'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=MUeyUhVGIDMC&pg=PA138 p. 138]. Allied Publishers Limited.</ref>

[[Adolf Hitler]] noted in his [[Second Book]]: "...&nbsp;Later, the attempt to adapt the living space to increased population turned into unmotivated wars of conquest, which in their very lack of motivation contained the germ of the subsequent reaction. Pacifism is the answer to it. Pacifism has existed in the world ever since there have been wars whose meaning no longer lay in the conquest of territory for a Folk's sustenance. Since then it has been war's eternal companion. It will again disappear as soon as war ceases to be an instrument of booty hungry or power hungry individuals or nations, and as soon as it again becomes the ultimate weapon with which a Folk fights for its daily bread."<ref>[[q:Adolf Hitler#The Second book (1928)]]</ref>

[[Hermann Göring]] described, during an interview at the [[Nuremberg Trials]], how denouncing and outlawing pacifism was an important part of the Nazis' seizure of power: "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."<ref>[[q:Hermann Göring#Nuremberg Diary (1947)]]</ref>

Some commentators on the most nonviolent forms of pacifism, including [[Jan Narveson]], argue that such pacifism is a self-contradictory doctrine. Narveson claims that everyone has rights and corresponding responsibilities not to violate others' rights. Since pacifists give up their ability to protect themselves from violation of their right not to be harmed, then other people thus have no corresponding responsibility, thus creating a paradox of rights. Narveson said that "the prevention of infractions of that right is precisely what one has a right to when one has a right at all." Narveson then discusses how rational persuasion is a good but often inadequate method of discouraging an aggressor. He considers that everyone has the right to use any means necessary to prevent deprivation of their civil liberties, and force could be necessary.<ref>Narveson, January 1965. "Pacifism: A Philosophical Analysis." ''Ethics'', LXXV: 4, pp.&nbsp;259–271.</ref> [[Peter Gelderloos]] criticizes the idea that nonviolence is the only way to fight for a better world. According to Gelderloos, pacifism as an ideology serves the interests of the state and is hopelessly caught up psychologically with the control schema of patriarchy and white supremacy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gelderloos |first=Peter |title=How Nonviolence Protects the State |publisher=South End Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0896087729 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=128}}</ref> [[Anne Appelbaum]] has argued that advocating pacifism in response to the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] overlooks the lessons of history, as surrendering territory and principles enables atrocities, and early military support for Ukraine might have deterred the invasion, revealing that misguided pacifism can sometimes lead to greater conflict.<ref>Appelbaum, Anne.  [https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/10/russia-ukraine-democracy-applebaum/680318/ "The West Has to Believe That ...."] ''The Atlantic''.  20 October 2024.  21 October 2024.</ref>

==See also==
{{wikiquote|Pacifism}}
{{Portal|Peace
}}{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Ahimsa]]
* [[Antimilitarism]]
* [[Anti-war movement]]
* [[Aparigraha]]
* [[Appeasement]]
* [[Catholic peace traditions]]
* [[Christian pacifism]]
* [[Christian Peacemaker Teams]]
* [[Conscientious objector]]
* [[Counter-recruitment]]
* [[Criticism of the War on Terror]]
* [[Defencism]]
* [[Defensivism]]
* [[Demilitarisation]]
* [[Die-in]]
* [[Hélder Câmara]]
* [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]
* [[Jewish Peace Fellowship]]
* [[Khudai Khidmatgar]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[Mennonites]]
* [[Non-aggression principle]]
* [[Nonkilling]]
* [[Nonresistance]]
* [[Nonviolence]]
* [[Nonviolent resistance]]
* [[Opposition to the Iraq War]]
* [[Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War]]
* [[Pacificism]]
* [[Pacifism in Germany]]
* [[Pacifist organisation]]
* [[Pacifist Socialist Party]]
* [[Peace]]
* [[Peace and conflict studies]]
* [[Peace camp]]
* [[Peace education]]
* [[Peace churches]]
* [[Peace journalism]]
* [[Peace Pledge Union]]
* [[Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship]]
* [[Protests against the Iraq War]]
* [[Quakers]]
* [[Religion and peacebuilding]]
* [[Rule according to higher law]]
* [[Satyagraha]]
* [[Soldiers are murderers]]
* [[Third Party Non-violent Intervention]]
* [[Woman's Peace Party]] in USA in World War I
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* Agnew, Elizabeth N. "A will to peace: Jane Addams, World War I, and 'pacifism in practice'." ''Peace & Change'' 42.1 (2017): 5–31.
* Bamba, Nabuya, ed. ''Pacifism in Japan: the Christian and Socialist tradition'' (1978) [https://archive.org/details/pacifisminjapanc0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up online]
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* {{Cite book |last=Hassell, Tristin S. |title=Encyclopedia of Global Justice |publisher=Springer |year=2011 |isbn=978-1402091599 |editor-last=Deen K. Chatterjee |chapter=Pacifism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2swUg4ZKTgsC&pg=PA803}}
* Henderson, Gavin B. "The Pacifists of the Fifties" ''Journal of Modern History'' 9#3, (1937), pp.&nbsp;314–341 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1898869 online] 1850s in Britain
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* [[Robert L. Holmes|Holmes, Robert L.]] and Gan, Barry L. editors. ''Nonviolence in Theory and Practice'' 3rd, edition. (Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, 2012).
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* {{Citation |last=Jefferson |first=Charles Edward |title=Varieties of Pacifism |year=1920 |series=International Peace Series |place=New York |publisher=World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches |oclc=15243673 |ol=22896131M |author-link=Charles Edward Jefferson}}
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* Lunardini, Christine A. ''The ABC-CLIO companion to the American peace movement in the twentieth century'' (1994) [https://archive.org/details/abccliocompanion00luna  online free to borrow]
* {{Citation |title=Mayer, Peter. ''The Pacifist Conscience'' |year=1967 |editor-last=[[Peter Mayer|Mayer, Peter]] |publisher=Henry Regnery Co. |ol=21324283M}}
* Morgan, W. John, "Pacifism or Bourgeois Pacifism? Huxley, Orwell, and Caudwell". In Morgan, W. John and Guilherme, Alexandre (Eds.), ''Peace and War: Historical, Philosophical, and Anthropological Perspectives'',(Palgrave Macmillan,2020) 71–96. {{ISBN|978-3030486709}}.
* Patterson, David S. ''The Search for Negotiated Peace: Women's Activism and Citizen Diplomacy in World War I'' (Routledge. 2008)
* Phelps, Christina, ''The Anglo-American peace movement in the mid-nineteenth century'' (1930)
* Pilisuc, Marc, ed. ''Peace movements worldwide'' (3 vol. 2011) [https://archive.org/details/peacemovementswo0002unse/page/n5/mode/2up online vol 2]; also [https://archive.org/details/peacemovementswo0003unse/page/n5/mode/2up Peace movements worldwide] vol 3 online\
* Rock, Stephen R. "From Just War to Nuclear Pacifism: The Evolution of US Christian Thinking about War in the Nuclear Age, 1946–1989." ''Social Sciences'' 7.6 (2018): 82+ [https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/6/82/pdf online]
* Socknat, Thomas P. ''Witness against war: pacifism in Canada, 1900–1945'' (1987) [https://archive.org/details/witnessagainstwa0000sock online]
* [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy, Leo]]. ''Bethink Yourselves!'' (1904) [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bethink_Yourselves! online]
* Wittner, Lawrence S. ''Rebels against war: the American peace movement, 1941–1960'' (1970) [https://archive.org/details/rebelsagainstwar00witt online free to borrow]

==External links==
{{Sister project links
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* [[s:Manifesto Against Conscription and the Military System|Manifesto Against Conscription and the Military System]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080516022948/http://www.stanford.edu/~rtracey/IHUM/index.html A Look at the Cultural Roots of German Pacifism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150408071326/http://senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/historic-collections/archives-manuscripts/subject-guides-to-archives/pacifist-and-anti-war-archives/ Archives on pacifism at Senate House Library], UK
* {{Citation |title=Pacifism |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pacifism/ |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |year=2021 |place=USA |publisher=Stanford University}}
* {{cite web |title=Pacifism |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/pacifism/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227055048/http://www.iep.utm.edu/pacifism/ |archive-date=27 December 2014 |access-date=24 November 2014 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |via=University of Tennessee}}

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[[Category:Pacifism| ]]
[[Category:Political theories]]