Editing Peace churches (section)

==History==
[[File:The Deserter.jpg|alt=|thumb|''The Deserter'' (1916) by [[Boardman Robinson]]]]
[[File:Blessed are the Peacemakers.gif|thumb|right|''[[Blessed are the peacemakers|Blessed are the Peacemakers]]'' (1917) by [[George Bellows]]]]
Among all Christian denominations, there have always been groups of members who advocate nonviolence, but certain churches have consistently supported it since their foundation. Besides the three historic peace churches, they include the [[Amish]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish3.htm |title=The Amish: Massacre at the Amish school in Nickel Mines, PA |publisher=Religioustolerance.org |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref> [[Old Order Mennonites]], [[Conservative Mennonites]], [[Church of God in Christ, Mennonite|Holdeman Mennonites]], [[Hutterites]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hutterites.org/religion.htm |title=Religion |publisher=Hutterites.org |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511031317/http://www.hutterites.org/religion.htm |archive-date=2010-05-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Old German Baptist Brethren]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anabaptistchurch.org/anabaptists_today.htm |title=Anabaptists Today |publisher=Anabaptistchurch.org |date=2007-06-20 |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513044647/http://www.anabaptistchurch.org/anabaptists_today.htm |archive-date=2010-05-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Old Order River Brethren]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/riverbrethren/ |title=Old Order River Brethren |publisher=Geocities.com |access-date=2010-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027000245/http://geocities.com/riverbrethren/|archive-date=2009-10-27}}</ref> the [[Brethren in Christ]],<ref name="Thomas2014">{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Devin |title=Brethren in Christ Weren't the Only "Holiness Pacifists" in the Early 20th Century |url=https://bic-history.org/brethren-in-christ-werent-the-only-holiness-pacifists-in-the-early-20th-century/ |publisher=[[Brethren in Christ]] |access-date=24 July 2019 |date=18 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last = Wittlinger| first = Carlton| title = Quest for Piety and Obedience: The Story of the Brethren in Christ| publisher = Evangel Press| year = 1978| isbn =0-916035-05-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bic-church.org/about/issues/english/christians&war.pdf|title= Christians & War|access-date= 2009-06-28|publisher = The Brethren in Christ}}</ref> and others in the [[Anabaptist]] tradition; [[Doukhobors]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.doukhobor.org/Anastasia.htm |title=Pacifism and Anastasia's Doukhobor Village |publisher=Doukhobor.org |access-date=2010-05-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214064741/http://www.doukhobor.org/Anastasia.htm |archive-date=2009-12-14 }}</ref> [[Molokan]]s,<ref name="Moroi2008">{{cite book|last=Moroi|first=Yuichi|title=Ethics of Conviction and Civic Responsibility: Conscientious War Resisters in America During the World Wars|year=2008|publisher=University Press of America|language=en|isbn=9780761840794|page=54}}</ref> [[Dunkard Brethren]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dunkardbrethrenchurch.com/sections/beliefs |title=Dunkard Brethren Church |publisher=Dunkard Brethren Church |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728075127/http://www.dunkardbrethrenchurch.com/sections/beliefs |archive-date=2010-07-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Durnbaugh| first = Donald| title = Fruit of the Vine: A History of the Brethren| publisher = Brethren Press| year = 1997| isbn = 0-87178-003-8| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/fruitofvinehis00durn}}</ref> ''Dukh-i-zhizniki'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.molokane.org/taxonomy/index.htm |title=Taxonomy of 3 Spiritual Christian groups: Molokane, Pryguny and Dukh-i-zhizniki — books, fellowship, holidays, prophets and songs |publisher=Conovaloff, Andrei|access-date=2016-10-16}}</ref> [[Bruderhof Communities]], [[Schwenkfelder Church|Schwenkfelders]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/religion/brethern/brethkle.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802201356/http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/religion/brethern/brethkle.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-08-02 |title=Brethern, Schwenkfelders and Other Plain People |publisher=Horseshoe.cc |access-date=2010-05-02 }}</ref> [[Moravian Church|Moravians]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.moravianpeacebuilders.org/ |title=Moravian Peacebuilders |access-date=2008-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202111940/http://www.moravianpeacebuilders.org/ |archive-date=2008-12-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Shakers]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/shaker/shakers.htm |title=Essay on Shaker History – Shaker Historic Trail – National Register of Historic Places |publisher=Nps.gov |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref> and even some groups within the [[Pentecostal]] movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcpf.org/index.php |title=PCPJ – Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice |publisher=Pcpf.org |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref>  The largest [[Finished Work Pentecostal]] denomination, the [[Assemblies of God]], abandoned pacifism around the time of the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Alexander| first = Paul| title = Peace to War: Shifting Allegiances in the Assemblies of God | publisher = Cascadia Publishing House| year = 2009| isbn =978-1-931038-58-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.quaker.org/quest/issue-12-alexander-1.htm |title=issue-12-alexander-1 |publisher=Quaker.org |access-date=2010-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706163921/http://www.quaker.org/quest/issue-12-alexander-1.htm |archive-date=2010-07-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> These groups have disagreed, both internally and with each other, about the propriety of [[non-combatant]] military roles, such as unarmed medical personnel, or performing non-battlefield services that assist nations in wartime, such as manufacturing munitions. One position might argue that Jesus would never object to helping people who are suffering, while another might object that doing so contributes indirectly to violence by freeing other people to engage in it. Most peace churches support alternative service options such as service to refugees or in hospitals, as long as they are not associated with the military.

In America the first conference of historic peace churches was held in 1935 in Kansas.<ref name="Concise"/> Five years later in Canada, the Conference of Historic Peace Churches was formed in Ontario in 1940, headed by [[Harold Sherk]] to represent Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker churches as they sought exemption from military service.<ref name="BiographicalDictionary1985">{{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern Peace Leaders|last=Josephson|first=Harold|publisher=Greenwood|year=1985|isbn=0-313-22565-6|location=Connecticut|pages=878–9}}</ref>

At one time, active membership in and acceptance of the beliefs of one of the peace churches was required for obtaining [[conscientious objector]] status in the United States, and hence exemption from military [[conscription]], or for those already in the military, [[honorable discharge]]. But after a series of court rulings, this requirement was dropped. In the United States, one may now claim conscientious objector status based on a personal belief system that need not be Christian, nor even based on religion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sss.gov/FSconsobj.htm |title=Selective Service System: Fast Facts |publisher=Sss.gov |access-date=2010-05-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507211133/http://www.sss.gov/FSconsobj.htm |archive-date=2009-05-07 }}</ref>

Peace churches, especially those with sufficient financial and organizational resources, have attempted to heal the ravages of war without favoritism. This has often aroused controversy, as when the Quakers sent large shipments of food and medicine to [[North Vietnam]] during the [[Vietnam War]], and to U.S.-[[embargo]]ed [[Cuba]]. The [[American Friends Service Committee]] and the [[Mennonite Central Committee]] are two charitable denominational agencies set up to provide such healing.

In the 1980s, the Quakers, Brethren, and Mennonites came together to create [[Christian Peacemaker Teams]], an international organization that works to reduce violence and systematic [[injustice]] in regions of conflict.<ref>{{cite speech|url=http://www.cpt.org/about_cpt |title=About CPT &#124; Christian Peacemaker Teams |publisher=Cpt.org |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpt.org/about/history |title=History &#124; Christian Peacemaker Teams |publisher=Cpt.org |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref> This was motivated by the desire for Christians to take peacemaking as seriously as soldiers and governments take war-making.<ref name="sider">{{cite conference |last1=Sider |first1=Ron |title=God's People Reconciling |url=http://www.cpt.org/resources/writings/sider|website=Christian Peacemaker Teams |conference=Mennonite World Conference|access-date=28 June 2016|location=Strasbourg, France |date=1984  |quote=What would happen if the Christian church stationed as many praying Christians as the U.S. government has sent armed guerrillas across that troubled border? ... Do we not have as much courage and faith as soldiers?}}</ref>