Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Official Report 903KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our leader today is Martin Mansell of the Glasgow Quaker Meeting.

What is peace? Mahatma Gandhi was once asked what he thought of western civilisation. He is said to have replied:

“I think it would be a good idea.”

Looking at the Ukraine war and the middle-east conflict, many people think of peace in the same way—as a good idea, but not just now.

Quakers have long been associated with pacifism and we acknowledge the dilemmas that it presents. Some Quakers believe that violence can be justified in extreme situations such as the second world war, when some even join the armed forces. Others see pacifism as absolute non-violence. Pacifism is more than just refusing to fight; it is about what happens before and after a war.

Quakers try to understand the underlying causes of violence and work towards reducing them. Behind the young man with a knife, for example, there is often fear, poverty and a childhood of everyday violence, so we work with groups such as the Alternatives to Violence Project Britain that help people to understand where violence comes from in their lives and what they can do about it.

We also work on an international level, through our United Nations offices in Geneva and New York, to try to defuse conflict—for example, by arranging informal off-the-record meetings between diplomats.

Although we accept the reality of evil and conflict, our pacifism is rooted in our belief that there is something of God in every human being. We are reluctant to divide people into good and bad in the way that our criminal justice system often does. I remember a social worker in Glasgow saying that if two young men go out for an evening with knives, one is likely to end up in hospital and the other in a police cell, and it is a 50:50 chance who ends up where.

Pacifists are often challenged to show how non-violence can deal with an aggressive dictator or an armed gunman. We are not naive enough to believe that appealing to something of God in a ruthless individual will be “successful”—I say that in quotes. Gandhi himself was assassinated, and Jesus—perhaps the ultimate pacifist—was also killed. However, we maintain that they did not fail. Their legacy of non-violence has been an inspiration to millions, in contrast to the hatred and devastation that always follow violence and war.

Ultimately, peace starts with each of us. We should all examine our lives for the seeds of conflict and try to heal them.

Thank you. [Applause.]