Liberal arlts school in indiana. Im delighted to serve as moderator. Anyone who has taken a tour of the museum here has seen footage of the flag waving parades of enthusiastic young conscripts as they departed from military Training Camp in the summer of 1917. Might have the impression that support for the war and the United States entry into the conflict was universal. Yet those of us gathered here for the conference are keenly aware there were many voices of caution, of dissent. Of objection, and even open resis tense to the war fever that seemed to grip the nation. In the spring and summer of 1917. Adds we will hear in the days that follow, that dissent originated for dimpt sources and took many expressions. One of the lead edges of resistance to the war came from various religious groups. Mostly christian. Who couldnt in good conscience set aside the clear teachings of jesus that called his followers to love all people of the world. Including and perhaps especially their enemies. This morning we will hear from four groups. Still in existence today whose voices emerged with particular clarity in opposition to the war. And in defense of those individuals who for reasons of conscience could not participate. These four groups the british friends or quakers. The American Friends Service committee. The fellowship of reconciliation. And men nite Central Committee were by no means the only groups who organized in opposition to the war. But they have each demonstrated an amazing resilience through the years in their witness to rem silluation and peace. And all of them continue to give voice to conscientious dissent in the face of violence and warfare. That is so much a part of our reality today. The format of the session will be roughly as follows. Each of the panelist will first come to the podium and share a brief history. Not more than ten minutes of their organization with the particular focus of the nature of its witness in world war i. And the religious or faith elements that sustained that witness. I will follow up with one or two questions to the panelists from the table here. And then we will open it up to you the audience for additional questions. I encourage you as you form your questions to keep them focussed with the goal of including as many voices as possible. In the conversation. Im deeply grateful to each of the representatives of the organizations who have adpreeed to be with us. You will find in your programs on pages 23 and 24 a full biography of each of the presenters and a Short Description of the organization. So i wont repeat all of that here. And we will proceed in the following order. Jane dau son will introduce us to the british friends. Don davis will speak on behalf of the American Friends Service committee. Max hesz will speak about the fellowship of reconciliation. And james will describe the origin and work of mennen nite Central Committee. Thank you, panelists. Good morning, friends. The religious society of friends better known as the quakers. Im going to use the term quakers and friends interchangeably this morning. So please excuse me if you get confused. You are all our friends that some of those friends are quakers too. I also excuse me british accent. If you dont understand anything perhaps during the question and answer you can pick me up on that. So who are the quakers . The quakers have always believed in peace. But the root of our christian theology is that love is in the heart of all existence. We believe all humans are unique and equal. We believe in christian practice and christian experience of god. Versus dogma and theology. We are experson shl religion. We believe god is in every person. Many of you here will have heard of quaker peace testimony. And there are many versions. Im read a snippet from one of the versions of the quaker peace testimony. We utterly deny all out ward wars and strife. And fighting without weapons. For any end or under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the world. That version of the full version of that was presented in 1660. To the british monarch charles lt second. British quakers started around 1650. At a time of huge religious political turmoil in the country. The civil war there was a period where there was no monarchy. And a new restored monarchy. Many dissenters. Quakers wanted to set themselves apart and demonstrate that they were a peaceful people. And they published the peace testimony and presented it to charles the 2 to demonstrate they wouldnt take up arms in any situation. So you think the british quakers woud find it easy to come to unity when britain declared war. In 1914. However that was far from the case. Im going to read a quotation from our representative body. Known as meeting for sufferings. Meeting for sufferings was originally created to record the suffering the persecution of quakers in britain. We still have meeting for sufferings held over couple of months in london. In 1914 meeting for sufferings wrote, while as a society we stand firmly to the belief that the method of force is no solution of any question, we hold that the present moment is not one for criticism. But for devoted service to our nation. Thats quite a surprise. People often expect us to be pacifist. In fact in 1914, over 200 young men were the recruited into the armed forces and some were recruiters themselves. Theres also another group of young men who were alternativists. They joined or created the friends ambulance unit. And they went out to france and they set up with ambulances and they carried the wounded, the sick. They cared for them and looked after the corpses. And they did a remarkable job. The whole society wasnt with them at that time. Then there were quakers who were absolutely against the war. The society was not united. However by 1915, a year later, quakers in britain were the only church to publicly oppose the war. So what happened . As ever, were led to a disruptive idea in our religious thinking by young people. They challenged us. They took us out to the front and came back and told us the stories there. We heard the stories of people who were so opposed to the war they they wouldnt have any part in it. We also heard the stories of people who felt the war would be over quicker if we fought. It was a painful and difficult year. But what really happened at the center of the debate was a religious moment. A moment of finding who we were. We believe there is that of god in everyone. And if you believe that, not only can yo not kill somebody, but you cannot compel another person to kill somebody. We believe in individual conscience for all. And that is what united us. The fact that whatever your decision your personal conscience you cannot make anyone else kill on your behalf. We return to our radical roots. Yet we were still part of the establishment. In britain around the turn of the century about 1 of the population were quakers. We had Seven Members of parliament. Thats lawmakers. For the american audience. We were definitely one of the established church groups. However, conscription came in 1916 was the military service act introducing conscription for all young men. Conscription or the the draft was a shock to a lot of people. It wasnt something that the government at the time wanted. Until the quaker three of the mps felt we drafted something called the conscience clause. Britain eventually became the first country to inshrine in law Conscientious Objection to military service. We were able to to do this because the two quaker mps were there was a precedent already in british law. Had already been Conscientious Objection for on an individual ground. Against medical vaccination. And those two quaker mps that drafted the clause used that loophole. It was incredibly unpopular. Those mps lost their seats. And quakers went down in the public esteem. You have heard this morning if you were in the session this morning about the White Feathers. Given to men in the streets to publicly hue mill nate and shame them because they were not in military uniform. Quakers received many White Feathers. But so did men who were home on leave. And so did men who had medical exemption or in protected industries. It was an indiscriminate and appalling act. Heres a White Feather some of you might have picked up one of the bookmarks. Because Conscientious Objection in all its forms was so humiliating. Shameful. Peoples businesses were broken into it. Shop windows were smashed. Peoples hats were knocked off. People were tarred and had feathered. A time of great trama for anybody who opposed the war. We know those stories were not told in britain. So as quakers in britain, we decided that we would tell some of the hidden stories. And we created the White Feather diary. If you get a bookmark you can read in a lot more detail about quaker Conscientious Objector of many different hues. Thank you. I have already given you a sign post to the web site. A little tiny bit about something else. Before my time is completely up. I also know that those Untold Stories happened in my quaker meeting and my family. A member of my meeting was in prisoned in the cold, dark, really inhospitable med evil cell. And that story along with the story of one of the fellow Conscientious Objectors who appear in the White Feather diaries called Howard Martin tells of his story taken from north york shire. Sentenced to death and taken to the front line. I cant give you anymore than that. A taste of that story. If you want to find out how he was saved by a message in a bottle. Please go along and see and hear his film. Called the quiet heros. Its a fascinating story. I commend it to you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is don davis. For the American Friends Service committee. Position i have held for about eleven years now. And jane did a very good job of covering the quaker belief. So only thing i want to do to add to that is add a quote. One of the key organizers and the first chairman of the afsc. He wrote one of the quotes he wrote friends as religious people are concerned to live in simp simple. Quiet life and proclimb the faith by deeds and actions rather than words and phrases. In 1914, when the war in york begins american quakers took notice and were concerned for the potential for u. S. Involvement in the war. It was obvious to quakers that if the hostility didnt end quickly that the u. S. Would be drawn into the war. Friends and in the u. S. Pay particular interest to the actions of the british quakers and in particular the british conscious objectors to military service. Who had adopted various means by which they were able to contribute. Without being placed in a situation where they have to fight or be part of the war effort. Despite interest and concern american friends were neither prepared to offer physical aid nor united in a means of action in the early stage of the war. Since the early 1800s quakers in the United States had been dwighted. By a schism dividing them in into orthodox and the liberal side. And a splintering of the groups. Efforts have been made to bring the groups together and try to unite quakers from all sides. While full reunification was never achieved the movement helped young quakers. Of draft age. The young friends board in 1912 had gone onto include members across the United States from both conservative and liberal. In the years leading up to the u. S. Entry into world war i members of the young friends board had become more organized and understood that when the u. S. Entered the war they would be most at risk being of draft age. Members of the board measured materials and spoke to quaker meetings, on College Campuses and Community Groups about the alternatives to war. Conscious objection and the effort to create alternative service. In 1917, College Graduate member of the young friends board and the man who would be the First Executive secretary of the ifsc wrote an article, where shall the Conscientious Objector draw the line . He stated the opposition to war is fundamental than the objection to the act of killing. A conviction the whole military system the spirit a denial of the way of life presented by jesus christ. It seems therefore that any activity that is holy or chiefly dominated by the war purpose even though not a carp rat part of the army is within a Conscientious Objection to war. He goes on later to state that the only possible solution that a problem from the stantd point of government and Conscientious Objector as a service holy disassociated from the spirit of war and from military service. March of 1917 on the eve of the u. S. Entry into the war the frnds National Peace committee issued a statement that was published in many major newspapers and magazines in the United States. In the statement they said the alternative of the war is not inactivity and coward. It is the irresistible and constructive power of goodwill. Patriotism calls not for the methods of war. But invention of practice on new methods of altruistic service. The present and tolerable situation among nagtss demand an unprecedented expression of goodwill. It was this motivation to promote goodwill among nations sdp concern ore the plight of the young Conscientious Objectors. Which prompted members of the yearly meeting. Friend general conference. And the five years meeting. To meet at the young friends building in philadelphia on april 30 of 1917. And discuss the creation of an alternative form of service for young and development of a national headquarters. From that first meeting of what will be the american frebds Service Committee the following minute was approved. We are united nd exprszing love for our country and desire to serve her loyally. We offer our service to the government of the United States. And in any constructive work in which we can conscientiously serve humanity. The Service Committee began to recruit quakers and Conscientious Objectors. In a letter the Service Committee wrote you are a the standard bearers of the society of friends. This time of its dwraet crisis during the generation. We hope that you are so deeply grounded and christian principle has held by the society of friends that your conscious will lead you to act consistently with the principles. A Training Program was established on the campus and the summer of 1917. The lasted approximately six weeks. The unit initially consistented of 100 young people. Representing quakers. Principle work under taken by the unit was reconstruction relief with much of the work merged with similar work by the british friends. On september of 1917, the first group arrived in france and set about the First Mission of the American Friends Service committee. In the few minutes i have i want to touch on the little challenges that had come up over the years. One of them has to do with the idea that the staff changing from completely volunteer staff to one thats a little bit more professional in nature. All the work that was done in the early years up until the world war ii that there was some very stropg work that was done at that time. But it was done with a volunteer staff. And thats not to say they were not professional. Most were college educated. Had could speak several languages and owned businesses. Doctors, lawyers and specialist. One question brought up again and again and by numerous is the feeling the desire the not develop the culture of having a professional paid staff. They should remain a volunteer only organization. Part of the difficulty in encountered later on with a vol steer staff were appointments lasted maybe two, three years. Whats needed long term in the communities. In the 1946 board meeting, executive secretary at the time states that one of the biggest problems with the International Work is training, and continuity of the staff. And the specialized training and longer Term Appointments of several years or more would help Staff Experience the knowledge, to have a greater impact. The first acknowledgment where they you can see the work is shifting from one of relief work. To more comprehensive Development Work. Which required more level of stainability on the part of assisted communities and the adopted this. It was a difficult effort to do that. One of the other issues is the changing of the staff from becoming more representative of the communities being assisted. The took to hiring in the 1950s is really working in a lot of minority communities. African american native american. Latin o. And has took to hiring members from the communities in order to give them a better voice in the work that was being done at the time. The effort from going from the relief work to being organizations that try to promote change on the policy level, i think with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to quakers in 1947. And the establishment shortly after that of the quaker United Nation office. It gave the quakers more legit pla si and a platform to make the change happen. And these just three points i want to bring up. To show the evolution of the organization over the years. Challenges, evolution and reorganization. Over the past 100