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Kathy Brown, age 15, of Columbus, Ohio, for her question:

JUST WHAT IS PACIFISM?

Pacifism is a belief that rejects the use of violence. In the broadest sense, pacifism means opposition to all violence, even if committed in self defense. But the word is most often used to mean opposition to war.

Pacifism finds its oldest roots in religion. Buddhism, a religion founded in the 500s B.C., teaches pacifism.

Some Christians also accept the idea of pacifism. Christian pacifists often base their belief on the New Testament themes of love, nonresistance to force and the brotherhood of man. Since the 1600s, the Quakers have been the religious group most closely associated with pacifism.

Nonreligious roots of pacifism include the moral judgment that man acts against his nature when he uses force, and arguments that emphasize the unreasonableness and the cost of war.

The word pacifism was used most widely between 1900 and 1940. It described the beliefs of many groups that urged the use of international law and increased diplomatic efforts to settle disputes among nations. These groups opposed World War I and supported conscientious objectors, men who refused to fight in the war.

Pacifist groups were most active between World War I and World War II, especially in Great Britain.

In the early 1900s, Mohandas K. Gandhi of India developed a pacifist technique for bringing about social change. Gandhi led his country's fight for independence from Great Britain but he strongly opposed ending British rule through the use of violence.

Gandhi told his followers never to respond to violence with violence. His system is called passive or nonviolent resistance.

During the 1950s and the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. used a technique similar to Gandhi's to work for equality for America's black population.

In the 1960s, many pacifist peace groups used protests and nonviolent resistance to oppose United States involvement in the Vietnam war. They also opposed the military draft and certain other government policies and called for disarmament and an end to the threat of nuclear war.

The first conscientious objectors in America were members of pacifist religious groups. In 1661, Massachusetts became the first colony to exempt conscientious objectors from service in its militia.

Federal draft laws during the Civil War and World War I recognized conscientious objectors as those who belonged to a pacifist religious group. The 1940 draft law required "religious training and belief," but not necessarily membership in a pacifist religious group.

In 1970, the Supreme Court ruled that men may qualify for conscientious objector exemptions if they oppose war on strong ethical or moral grounds, even if such opposition is not based on religious belief.

 

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