Thanks for the inspired post.

But I think nonviolence *will* work. I take South Africa as an example. At the fall of apartheid, the angry oppressed black majority should have overwhelmed the white minority, taking revenge, taking back what had been taken away. But the very pacifist church in SA took a strong lead, preaching the same sermon in every church, joining the government in leading the transformation, creating an alternative to heal the wounds of the past.

There was no bloodbath. Words were flung instead of weapons. The television stations ran nothing but the truth commission for weeks on end. And the truth, not violence, set people free.

I think the sentence from the NZ Friends testimony that no end is worth these means sums it up very well. Nonviolence is not a dreamy ideal cut off from reality. It’s a very effective political tool. Those who promote violence as a solution to problems are the ones who are disconnected from reality: for when has violence ever solved any problems?

I have pondered what task the death of Tom Fox has given to me. I think that task is to work to make every church a peace church. The christian church needs to speak in one voice.