Respectable Pacifists: Quaker Response to World War I

RESPECTABLE PACIFISTS: QUAKER RESPONSE TO WORLD WAR I Allan Kohrman* The place of Quakers within the matrix of American religious history has always been rather ambiguous. On the one hand, they share many similarities with the liberal mainline churches; on the other, they have deviated from mainline ways both in their form of worship and in their outlook on war. The question of this ambiguity has become more important during the past few years, as we have more and more realized that minority religions have played a major role in our religious history. To be sure, Protestant Christianity and its descendants have dominated American cultural life, but generalizations that make other groups mere footnotes on the American religious scene are clearly invalid. Though these generalizations can easily be questioned, a problem immediately arises, a problem well formulated by R. Laurence Moore in a seminal article in The American Historical Review.1 Moore points out the tendency to categorize American religious groups as mainline "insiders," such as the Methodists or Congregationalists , or deviant "outsiders," such as the Christian Scientists or Jehovah's Witnesses. For most groups, however, such categorization is difficult, since "Insider and outsider identities are rarely unmixed ."2 The principal purpose of this article is to examine the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) within the context of this insider/ outsider relationship. Among all religious groups in America, the question of insider/outsider status is particularly difficult for the Quakers, for they have over the past century or so ranged from the extremely conservative to the extremely liberal theologically, a range perhaps greater than in other relatively major American religious groups. The more conservative theologically, aside from the so- *Allan Kohrman is Associate Professor of History and English at the Massasoit Community College, Brockton, Massachusetts. 1 . R. Laurence Moore, "Insiders and Outsiders in American Historical Narrative and American History," American Historical Review, Vol. 87, No. 2 (April, 1982), pp. 390-412. 2.ibid., p. 398. 35 36Quaker History called Conservative (Wilburite) Friends, have a close identity with mainstream Protestants. They call themselves "churches" and employ pastors with the usual Protestant type of religious service characterized by hymns, choirs, organs, and sermons. In other words they are quite similar to the Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. They are generally strongly Christocentric and support extensive foreign missions, especially in Latin America and Africa which, however, frequently also have medical and educational adjuncts. The more traditional Friends include a wider scope of theological belief although they seem to be a clear example of outsiderhood. Their religious services are held in the original form of a simple meeting for worship in a simple meeting house unaccompanied by hymn singing or pastoral sermons. They do not evangelize but they do carry on extensive educational and social assistance programs. In the period around World War I most Orthodox Friends considered themselves in the more conservative wing of the Christian mainstream theologically. While there were some in the more liberal Hicksite wing ofthe Society who would espouse this more conservative position, others would assert that Jesus was only a perfect human being rather than the son of God. From their origin the Friends have been socially conscious and consequently they have at times been politically as well as socially active. In the eighteenth century they were among the first to free their slaves, in the nineteenth century they were active in the movement for the abolition of slavery and prison reform, while in the twentieth century they have worked for peace and social justice through agencies such as the American Friends Service Committee. Clearly, at times Quakers have been legitimate mainline members ofthe American religious community, while at other times they have been deviant, perhaps even marginal. So the question of their insider /outsider status is difficult to assess, especially since Quakers have often had much trouble agreeing among themselves as to the nature of the Society of Friends. The Quaker response to the events of World War I provides an illustrative and significant test case to help judge the place of Quakers in American religious history in general and the insider/outsider dilemma in particular. For that war put more strain on Quaker belief and courage than...