Thought for the Week: Conscience not creed
Harvey Gillman reflects on 'conscience not creed'
This year we’re beginning to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the first world war. I was once asked by a national newspaper whether Quakers were pacifists as quite a few had refused to enlist in that war, believing that warfare was wrong. I tried to point out that Quakers did not have creeds, that one had to follow one’s own convictions, but that the basic idea that there was something of God in everyone has led most Quakers throughout history to witness against war as being against the will of God.
Researching attitudes to that war among Quakers in Brighton I found that there were three main reactions to conscription. Some did enlist, some joined the Friends Ambulance Unit and other non-combat units, some were prepared to go to prison and suffer greatly for their consciences. They were activists against war, not passive in the face of violence.
We are being asked today to consider whether we are a Christian country. That question would not have arisen one hundred years ago, when churches on all sides begged God to help them defeat their enemies and many priests were willing to bless weapons that would kill other Christians.
The question is not whether we call ourselves a Christian country or not. Perhaps a more important question is: how much do we respect the face of God in everyone we meet? Or as Jesus himself said: ‘to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.’ Can we really say – now in the twenty-first century – that we are followers of such a man?
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