Dilemmas of a pacifist stand

Time for fresh thinking?

by Jill Allum 20th January 2011

Quakers are celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Peace Declaration, which is one of the bases for our Peace Testimony. Let’s get it as right as we can. 1661 was an acute historical moment for Friends. John Punshon, in his Portrait in Grey says that: ‘4,230 Quakers were imprisoned because they were implicated in the Fifth Monarchy Men’s plot against King Charles II’. George Fox wrote in his Journal: ‘We heard of several thousands of our Friends being cast into prison… next week, several thousands more’.