![]() What actions did they offer as alternatives that would not violate their beliefs?.In the Revolution, how did peace churches explain their refusal to contribute to the war effort?.What is the religious basis for pacifists' opposition to war, bearing arms, and, for some groups, taking oaths?. ![]() 2 When they refused to sign the required oaths of allegiance to the United States, pacifists were fined, imprisoned, and condemned as Loyalists and traitors. For Quakers, Mennonites and other sects, the scriptural command "Do not swear" (not referring to cursing) is clear-"let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No," i.e., be truthful, period, without the need for oaths. Oath taking involves swearing to the truthfulness of one's words and intentions, which implies that one might not be truthful unless taking an oath. Allegiance was not the issue, oaths were the issue. "Members of the historic peace churches," concludes historian Richard MacMaster, "refused to accept military service, to hire substitutes, or to provide weapons for others to use with a degree of unanimity that would never be matched again in any American war." 1Īnother mandate opposed by many peace churches was taking oaths of allegiance. Could one repair equipment for the army? pay the fine for refusing to join a militia unit? close one's business as required on official days of prayer for the war? use the state's paper money issued to fund the war? The answer often was no, and they supported each other in maintaining fidelity to their beliefs. And beyond direct military service, they struggled to define just what constituted support for the war effort. But to the pacifist churches, hiring substitutes was still contributing to war and thus unacceptable to God. As the colonies mobilized for war, they required able-bodied men to serve in the militias, allowing them to hire substitutes (who would still have to fulfill their own service). While religious pacifists strove to live peacefully and often separately in the American colonies-as depicted in the pastoral scene at right of a Moravian settlement in Pennsylvania-their principled opposition to war would be harshly challenged during the Revolution.
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