Letters - 08 January 2016
From qualified pacifism to farewell
Qualified pacifism
It seems, from the opening sentences of Quaker faith & practice (Qf&p) 24.21, that Isaac Penington may have been a qualified pacifist and that, for him, peace was an ideal (or ‘better state’) towards which we should strive in less than ideal circumstances.
He ends by saying that the path to peaceful coexistence must begin ‘in particulars’, which an editorial committee has translated as ‘in individuals’. Truly, we must not try to bring about general conversion in one swoop, for fear of at least one individual being felled en route. Yet, individuals may not necessarily be the only primary channels towards peace. Since Isaac Penington wrote in 1661, Japan has adopted a pacifist constitution (Qf&p 24.16) and global institutions, such as the United Nations (such as Qf&p 24.49) have emerged as potential catalysts towards creating peace between nation states, using force as a transitional measure when judged unavoidably necessary.
Harry Baxter
Recent letters from Andrew Hughes Nind (11 December 2015), Graham Spinks and Colin Rendall (both 1 January) raise the contrast of pacifism based on principle or pragmatism. The latter position reserves the option to use violence in situations where we personally consider it is the best response to achieve the greater good, whether it is to protect your grandmother or a whole nation. The desire to have this choice inevitably leads on to the creation of the whole, hugely expensive, paraphernalia of the exercise of military power as, if it is to be meaningful, it must be effective or it is worthless. Having the weaponry overshadows every relationship, as it embodies threat from the start. The pragmatist position has to take responsibility for the creation of this monster and the effect it has on society. Pacifism, guided by principle, does not have an immediate solution to every conflict situation, but acts as a guide to lessening the violence in the world.
Philip Thornley
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