One of the most important peace organizations is the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
The FOR started in 1914 in an attempt to stop World War I. During WWII, FOR encouraged nonviolent resistance, tried to prevent internment of Japanese by America, and rescued Jews and other political refuges.
In the 1940s, FOR pioneered Freedom Rides as a tactic to overcome racial oppression in the American South, encouraged the founding of the Congress of Racial Equality, and helped Martin Luther King develop non-violence as a strategy.
FOR founded the International Committee of Conscience on Vietnam, with 10,000 clergy, and sponsored a world tour by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk-peace leader.
FOR founded Dai Dong, an international scientific organization linking war, poverty, environmental degradation, and other social issues.
FOR helped train the Filipinos for the non-violent overthrow of the Marcos regime.
FOR sent peace activists and religious leaders to try to stop the first Gulf War, and started the Campaign to Save a Generation, an attempt to mitigate the devastation caused by the sanctions imposed on Iraq.
FOR has done many other things. Read more FOR history.
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Becoming a member of FOR requires signing a statement that renounces all violence.
I am not ready to do that yet. In addition to non-violent methods of ending war, I am exploring the possibility of a world military to enforce a ban on warfare.
But contributing to FOR and subscribing to their magazine, Fellowship, does not require signing the statement. I can do that.
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