The Peace Testimony is the belief held by Religious Society of Friends(Quakers) that all war is wrong. This core belief has led Quakers to be considered one of the traditional Peace Churches.
George Fox, considered the founder of Quakerism, first espoused the Peace Testimony in 1651:
- I told [the Commonwealth Commissioners] I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars and I knew from whence all wars did rise, from the lust, according to James's doctrine... I told them I was come into the covenant of peace which was before wars and strifes were. Fox 1651
The best-known version of this testimony was stated in a declaration to King Charles II of England in 1660. This excerpt us commonly sited:
- We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world. The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world. A Declaration from the harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers
The Peace Testimony has inspired Quakers to protest wars, refuse to serve in the armed forces if drafted and to seek conscientious objector status when available, and even to participate in acts of civil disobedience. However, not all modern Quakers embrace the testimony.
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