My Thoughts on the Quaker Peace Testimony

(I am often asked about our peace testimony by non-Quakers. I wrote this piece to share my personal thoughts with those who have questions.)

The Quaker peace testimony was first proclaimed by the early Quakers in England when they declared that:
“We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons for any end or under any pretense whatsoever; this is our testimony to the whole world . . . .
. . . The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing of evil and again to move us into it; and we certainly know and testify to the world that the Spirit of Christ 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...therefore we cannot learn war anymore.”
[excerpts from a “Statement by the Quakers to King Charles II” (1660)]

These early Quakers believed, as we believe today, that war is not the answer. They believed, as we believe today, that living in the Spirit takes away the need for war.

A key to understanding Quakerism is knowing that everything flows from our
personal experience of the spiritual dimension in our lives. Quakers experience
God’s presence in varying ways. Some of us experience this Power as the presence of the Christ within while others may describe it as the Light or as a universal Spirit but however we describe it, every Quaker believes in the private and personal dimension of this inward journey. Quakerism isn’t based on belief. It is based on experience--a personal encounter with the Power within.

The Quaker peace testimony is a "testimony," in that we are "testifying" to
a larger truth. We are acknowledging something-- that there is a Power that
takes away the need for war. Quakers believe that there is that of God in everyone
and that it is the Spirit of God within us all that makes peace possible. We believe that this Spirit has already acted and continues to act in us and our world. We believe that non-violence is the only Spirit-led response to violence.

Obviously war isn't over. People must still want it. And they do. War is
rooted in lusts, James 4:1-3 tells us. Modern American greed for material
things with ever more rapacity and blindness leads us to war. We drive our
S.U.V.s and then fight for oil supplies in the Persian Gulf. We worry that
we won't be popular or “with it” if we don't wear the latest fashions or
don't have the latest technological gadget. When this happens, we stop living
in the Power and the worldly powers convince us that having more
is the way to happiness and that war is the way to peace.

But the Power is always there. We can live in that Power and it will take away more
than the occasions for war, for it will take away the lusts and insecurities
that lead to war. When you've acknowledged the Power, what does faith become?
It becomes a testimony to the world that the Spirit is among us and that we can have peace when we accept and truly trust the Spirit.

There are some Christians who readily agree that there's a Power but conclude that their job is just to wait for the Second Coming in order to bring peace to the world. That's not our way. I believe that the First Coming has given us the way to peace. Our way of working for peace is to turn to the Spirit within, wait for its guidance and then follow its direction through whatever struggle awaits us. When we're doing it right, we become instruments of God in the service of the Spirit.

The Power within gives us the strength to avoid burn-out and it gives us the direction for our work. The biggest marches and the most dramatic actions often achieve less than the simple, humble, behind-the-scenes, year-in, year-out work with those around us. I suspect we're most often used by the Spirit in ways we barely perceive.

Quaker peace-making is not a passive waiting. We listen to the Spirit, we test, we work hard and we use those gifts our Creator has given us. There are problems in the
world, huge ones that need addressing, and we address them as the Spirit moves us.
But we do so out of a joy. And through our work, we ask others to join us in our joy in witnessing to the presence of the Spirit within and following the way of peace.

When you work with the Spirit, you don't get attached to results. Often we'll do things and have no idea how they've affected others. It's not our job to know, for it's not our job to be successful as defined by the world. We strive to be gracious and grounded even when the world rejects our testimony. We will be known to the world by how we witness to our trust in the Spirit.

The Quaker peace testimony is based on a radical, unequivocal trust in the
Power within. We do not differentiate between "just" and "unjust" wars.
We believe that all wars are fundamentally wrong. People sometimes criticize us as being utopian and not recognizing that there are those who would attack us.
We do recognize this but we trust in God and refuse to attack in return. We do not believe that we can kill our way to peace.
We believe that God is present in both our friends and our enemies
We believe that the Spirit tells us without question that war is not the way to peace.