Sharon Erickson Nepstad
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479885480
- eISBN:
- 9781479830862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479885480.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the pacifism of the early Christian church and how the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century led to the development of the just war doctrine. At the conclusion of ...
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This chapter explores the pacifism of the early Christian church and how the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century led to the development of the just war doctrine. At the conclusion of World War II, the advent of the nuclear arms race rendered some aspects of the just war doctrine obsolete. Pope John XXIII addressed these concerns in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, released in 1963. Numerous Catholic peace groups thought that the Vatican did not take a strong enough stance on war, militarism, and nuclear weapons. The Catholic Worker movement called for a return to pacifism and introduced the techniques of nonviolent noncooperation with civil defense drills in the 1950s. The chapter covers other Catholic peace movements and organizations, including Pax Christi, the Catholic Left that opposed the Vietnam War through draft card burnings and draft board raids, and the Plowshares movement, whose members damaged nuclear weapons to obstruct the nuclear arms race. Eventually, the US Catholic Bishops released the pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace, which condemned nuclear weapons and called for disarmament.Less
This chapter explores the pacifism of the early Christian church and how the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century led to the development of the just war doctrine. At the conclusion of World War II, the advent of the nuclear arms race rendered some aspects of the just war doctrine obsolete. Pope John XXIII addressed these concerns in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, released in 1963. Numerous Catholic peace groups thought that the Vatican did not take a strong enough stance on war, militarism, and nuclear weapons. The Catholic Worker movement called for a return to pacifism and introduced the techniques of nonviolent noncooperation with civil defense drills in the 1950s. The chapter covers other Catholic peace movements and organizations, including Pax Christi, the Catholic Left that opposed the Vietnam War through draft card burnings and draft board raids, and the Plowshares movement, whose members damaged nuclear weapons to obstruct the nuclear arms race. Eventually, the US Catholic Bishops released the pastoral letter The Challenge of Peace, which condemned nuclear weapons and called for disarmament.
Sharon Erickson Nepstad and Stellan Vinthagen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816672899
- eISBN:
- 9781452947174
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816672899.003.0012
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter analyzes the strategic choices of Swedish and British activists who imported the controversial tactics of the U.S. Plowshares movement. U.S. plowshares organizers were strongly ...
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This chapter analyzes the strategic choices of Swedish and British activists who imported the controversial tactics of the U.S. Plowshares movement. U.S. plowshares organizers were strongly influenced by Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, who established “houses of hospitality” that offered shelter and food to the poor. Priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan, however, introduced an even more controversial form of resistance—draft board raids—wherein activists would forcibly remove conscription files, drenching them in blood or burning them with homemade napalm. International media coverage of U.S. Plowshares actions caught the interest of activists abroad, who began experimenting with this radical approach. Swedish and British activists faced numerous choice points that led them to implement strategic changes which resulted to different consequences: the British Plowshares movement prospered, while the Swedish Plowshares movement struggled and collapsed.Less
This chapter analyzes the strategic choices of Swedish and British activists who imported the controversial tactics of the U.S. Plowshares movement. U.S. plowshares organizers were strongly influenced by Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, who established “houses of hospitality” that offered shelter and food to the poor. Priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan, however, introduced an even more controversial form of resistance—draft board raids—wherein activists would forcibly remove conscription files, drenching them in blood or burning them with homemade napalm. International media coverage of U.S. Plowshares actions caught the interest of activists abroad, who began experimenting with this radical approach. Swedish and British activists faced numerous choice points that led them to implement strategic changes which resulted to different consequences: the British Plowshares movement prospered, while the Swedish Plowshares movement struggled and collapsed.
