Editing Pacifism (section)

===Early traditions===
[[File:1871 Vereshchagin Apotheose des Krieges anagoria.JPG|thumb|[[Vasily Vereshchagin|Vereshchagin]]'s painting ''[[The Apotheosis of War]]'' (1871) came to be admired as one of the earliest artistic expressions of pacifism.]]

Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature.

====China====
During the [[Warring States period]], the pacifist [[Mohist]] School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states. They took this belief into action by using their famed defensive strategies to defend smaller states from invasion from larger states, hoping to dissuade feudal lords from costly warfare. The [[Seven Military Classics]] of ancient China view warfare negatively, and as a last resort. For example, the ''[[Three Strategies of Huang Shigong]]'' says: "As for the military, it is not an auspicious instrument; it is the way of heaven to despise it", and the ''[[Wei Liaozi]]'' writes: "As for the military, it is an inauspicious instrument; as for conflict and contention, it runs counter to virtue".<ref name="Johnston">{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Alastair I |title=Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1998 |pages=66–67}}</ref>

The [[Taoist]] scripture "''Classic of Great Peace'' (''[[Taiping Jing|Taiping jing]]'')" foretells "the coming Age of Great Peace (''Taiping'')".<ref>{{cite web |title=''Daoist Philosophy'' – 10. "Celestial Masters Daoism" |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/daoism.htm#H10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129182005/http://iep.utm.edu/d/daoism.htm#H10 |archive-date=29 January 2009 |access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> The ''Taiping Jing'' advocates "a world full of peace".<ref>{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.kaogu.com.cn/upload/200811191348384181.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228200813/http://www.kaogu.com.cn/upload/200811191348384181.doc |archive-date=28 February 2012 |access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref>

====Lemba====
The [[Lemba people|Lemba]] religion of southern French Congo, along with its symbolic herb, is named for pacifism : "''lemba, lemba''" (peace, peace), describes the action of the plant ''lemba-lemba'' (''Brillantaisia patula T. Anders'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Janzen |first=John M. |title=Lemba, 1650–1930 |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc. |year=1982 |isbn=978-0824093068 |location=New York |page=173}}</ref> Likewise in Cabinda, "''Lemba'' is the spirit of peace, as its name indicates."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Janzen |first=John M. |title=Lemba, 1650–1930 |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc. |year=1982 |isbn=978-0824093068 |location=New York |pages=303 (8)}}</ref>

====Moriori====
The [[Moriori]], of the [[Chatham Islands]], practiced pacifism by order of their ancestor [[Nunuku-whenua]]. This enabled the Moriori to preserve what limited resources they had in their harsh climate, avoiding waste through warfare. In turn, this led to their almost complete annihilation in 1835 by invading [[Ngāti Mutunga]] and [[Ngāti Tama]] [[Māori people|Māori]] from the [[Taranaki Region|Taranaki]] region of the [[North Island]] of New Zealand. The invading Māori killed, enslaved and [[Human cannibalism|cannibalised]] the Moriori. A Moriori survivor recalled : "[The Maori] commenced to kill us like sheep&nbsp;... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed – men, women and children indiscriminately."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diamond |first=Jared |title=Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |title-link=Guns, Germs, and Steel |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1997 |location=New York |page=53 |author-link=Jared Diamond}}</ref>

====Greece====
In [[Ancient Greece]], pacifism seems not to have existed except as a broad moral guideline against violence between individuals. No philosophical program of rejecting violence between states, or rejecting all forms of violence, seems to have existed. [[Aristophanes]], in his play [[Lysistrata]], creates the scenario of an [[Athens|Athenian]] woman's anti-war sex strike during the [[Peloponnesian War]] of 431–404 BCE, and the play has gained an international reputation for its anti-war message. Nevertheless, it is both fictional and comical, and though it offers a pragmatic opposition to the destructiveness of war, its message seems to stem from frustration with the existing conflict (then in its twentieth year) rather than from a philosophical position against violence or war. Equally fictional is the nonviolent protest of [[Hegetorides]] of [[Thasos]]. [[Euripides]] also expressed strong anti-war ideas in his work, especially ''[[The Trojan Women]]''.<ref name="fsn">"Peace, War and Philosophy" by F. S. Northedge, in [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]], ''The Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Volume 6, Collier Macmillan, 1967 (pp.&nbsp;63–67).</ref>

In ''[[Plato's Republic]]'' [[Socrates]] makes the pacifistic argument that a just person would not harm anyone.<ref name="Purshouse 2010 p. 20">{{cite book | last=Purshouse | first=Luke | title=Plato's Republic: A Reader's Guide | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | series=Reader's Guides | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4411-9339-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VImxAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 | access-date=13 December 2023 | page=20}}</ref> In [[Plato]]'s earlier work [[Crito]] Socrates asserts that it is not moral to return evil with further evil, an original moral conception, according to [[Gregory Vlastos]], that undermines all justifications for war and violence.<ref name="Cady 2010 p. 5">{{cite book | last=Cady | first=Duanne | title=From Warism to Pacifism: A Moral Continuum | publisher=Temple University Press | series=UPCC book collections on Project MUSE | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4399-0313-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRVFs85rPuAC&pg=PA5 | access-date=13 December 2023 | page=5}}</ref>

====Roman Empire====
Several Roman writers rejected the militarism of Roman society and gave voice to anti-war sentiments,<ref name="fsn" />
including [[Propertius]], [[Tibullus]] and [[Ovid]].<ref>''Restless Youth in Ancient Rome'', Emiel Eyben, Routledge, 2004 {{ISBN|0203168488}}, p. 194.</ref> The [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[Seneca the Younger]] criticised warfare in his book ''[[Naturales quaestiones]]'' (c. 65 CE).<ref>''Panorama of the Classical World'' by Nigel Spivey and Michael Squire. Getty Publications, 2011, {{ISBN|1606060562}} (p. 200).</ref>

[[Maximilian of Tebessa]] was a Christian conscientious objector. He was killed for refusing to be conscripted.<ref>''The Riddle of Saint Maximilian of Tebessa'' by Peter Brock. University of Toronto Press, 2000.</ref>

====Christianity====
{{See also|Christian pacifism}}

Throughout history many have understood [[Jesus]] of Nazareth to have been a pacifist,<ref name="weidhorn">{{Cite journal |last=Weidhorn |first=Manfred |year=2004 |title=Pacifism Lost |journal=International Journal of Humanities and Peace |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=13–18}}</ref> drawing on his [[Sermon on the Mount]]. In the sermon Jesus stated that one should "not resist an evildoer" and promoted his [[turn the other cheek]] philosophy. "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well&nbsp;... Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."<ref>{{cite web |title=oremus Bible Browser : Matthew 5<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213511/http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=19 October 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=oremus Bible Browser : Luke 6<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212929/http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+6 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=19 October 2006}}</ref><ref name="aqa">{{Cite book |last1=Cleave |first1=Joanne |title=GCSE Religious Studies for AQA Christianity: Christianity: Behaviour, Attitudes & Lifestyles |last2=Geddes, Gordon D. |last3=Griffiths, Jane |publisher=Heinemann Educational Publisher |year=2004 |isbn=978-0435307141 |location=Oxford |page=75}}</ref> He also believed that murder is a sin and repeated the commandment of "[[Thou shalt not kill]]".<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|5:21}} {{bibleverse|Mark|10:19}} {{bibleverse|Luke|18:20}}</ref> The New Testament story is of Jesus, besides preaching these words, surrendering himself freely to an enemy intent on having him killed and proscribing his followers from defending him.

There are those, however, who deny that Jesus was a pacifist<ref name="weidhorn" /> and state that Jesus never said not to fight,<ref name="aqa" /> citing examples from the New Testament. One such instance portrays an angry Jesus driving dishonest market [[Cleansing of the Temple|traders from the temple]].<ref name="aqa" /> A frequently quoted passage is Luke 22:36: "He said to them, 'But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must [[Sell your cloak and buy a sword|sell his cloak and buy one]].'" Pacifists have typically explained that verse as Jesus fulfilling prophecy, since in the next verse, Jesus continues to say: "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." Others have interpreted the non-pacifist statements in the New Testament to be related to [[self-defense]] or to be metaphorical and state that on no occasion did Jesus shed blood or urge others to shed blood.<ref name="weidhorn" />