The ninth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace contains Dorothy Day‘s short 1942 essay Our Country Passes from Undeclared War to Declared War; We continue our Christian Pacifist Stand. This essay is the sequel to last week’s pre-WWII essay Pacifism.
From its title onward, the essay is directed to a Christian audience as it opens with “Dear fellow workers in Christ” The prior essay quoted the Pope. This essay quotes a priest named Father Orchard for 5 paragraphs.
This essay seems to refer to Christian imagery more to reassure Day herself of the righteous of her non-collaboration with the war efforts than to convince her audience. It is clear from the essay that Day’s work has suffered greatly from her pacifist stand in the face of overwhelming US support for entering the war:
Because of our refusal to assist in the prosecution of war and our insistence that our collaboration be one for peace, we may find ourselves in difficulties.
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I am constantly being aesuccd of being “pro-war” and, frankly, I’m fed up with it. There is a clear and distinct difference between being “pro-war” or “anti-peace” and “pro-victory” or “pro-military”. I’m tired of having to defend myself on this. What really gets my goat is when anti-war liberals use my stance as a way to force me to defend the war. War is war. I believe in the global war on terrorism and I support our troops. This in no way equals being “anti-peace”. What some fail to realize is that in order to bring peace, sometimes wars must be fought in order to achieve peace. Let us not forget the American Civil War. Fought in our country in order bring our nation together as United in democracy.Once again, great post!