Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Pacifism … or Nonviolent Activism?

Published by

Matt Stone

2009-12-04

“I oftentimes say in public that I’m a pacifist, but I don’t like the word for two reasons. One, it’s just so passive, and I think Christian nonviolence is very active confrontation with violence. Second, I think the word pacifism sounds like you have a position that is somehow separate from your worship of the crucified Savior. Christian nonviolence is entailed in the very heart of what it means to worship a crucified God. So I don’t like the idea that pacifism has some further implication for my belief in Jesus.” – Hauerwas

Tags Peace

5 responses to “Pacifism … or Nonviolent Activism?”

aflouw

2009-12-05

A friend of mine coined the term “Shalom Activist” 🙂

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Dan

2009-12-05

I kind of like the term ‘nonviolent activism’ much better than ‘pacifism’.

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Matt Stone

2009-12-05

I just get tired of people assuming the “pacifist” response to war is to do nothing. Say what???

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aflouw

2009-12-05

What! Have you heard of Walter Wink who wrote the Powers Trilogy, anyway I only bought his Engaging the Powers, but he also favours nonviolence in contrast to pacifism.

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Dr Ian Shanahan

2009-12-05

… which seems to harmonize with Mohandas K. Gandhi’s satyagraha.

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