From the archive: Friends witness for peace
Quaker witness was reported in the Friend
In late 1914 it became increasingly clear that the war would not end quickly. Friends continued to speak truth to power whenever they could and to bear witness to the Peace Testimony. The Friend was an important means of communicating this within the Religious Society.
Twenty-two students at Woodbrooke sent a letter to Meeting for Sufferings:
“In the dark hour of a world-disaster, the peoples around us are standing forth fearlessly, to prove by personal sacrifice and heroic action, their devotion to their country, and the cause of righteousness.
“We, the undersigned, earnestly believe that Jesus Christ came down amongst men, to prove by an uttermost sacrifice that His Kingdom can only come through the power of love which involved a willingness to be slain rather than to slay; that He has promised ‘All power’ to conquer the pride, the greed, the hate of mankind, through Supreme Faith in God – the Holy Spirit; and further, that the helpless peoples of the warring nations, who are being slain daily by their thousands, have the right to demand of the followers of Jesus Christ, that they use every possible effort to bring this present war to an end.
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