The insight at the heart of nonviolence is that we live in a tragic gap – a gap between the way things are and the way we know they might be. It is a gap that never has been and never will be closed. If we want to live nonviolent lives, we must learn to stand in the tragic gap, faithfully holding the tension between reality and possibility in hopes of being opened to a third way.
We are two Quaker women who raised our families in towns dominated by the U.S. military. Rather than shun the military and look away, we have lived our witness amidst strong military presences. One thing about being in a military town is that you can’t look away from how big a machine the military is.
A history of the Quaker Peace Testimony from 1660 to the present day.
Excepts from several sources relevant to questions about Quakers and the military.
Notes of a conversation among Friends in the West and beyond, August 9, 2018, concerning ways that Friends meetings support -- and fail to support -- veterans and members of the military who join F
Recording of a conversation among Friends in the West and beyond, August 9, 2018, concerning ways that Friends meetings support -- and fail to support -- veterans and members of the military who jo
on one side
guns
on the other
lit candles
Claudette Cervinka is a member of Davis Meeting in California (PYM).
Transcription of the keynote talk presented to Pacific Yearly Meeting in 2017.
Coming Home
Written by Zachary Moon
Reviewed by James Summers
