My repudiation of violence is not based on any conventionally or conveniently religious motivation. I cannot say that it is against God's will, since… - Juanita Morrow Nelson

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My repudiation of violence is not based on any conventionally or conveniently religious motivation. I cannot say that it is against God's will, since I do not know that there is a god, nor would I be able in any case to assume that I was conversant with his will. But I do not consider, either, that men are gods, that they should determine when another man should die. I do not consider that I am capable of such judgments, either of my own volition or at the command of others. Such behavior in others I abhor, but may not be able to affect. I can control my own behavior. And I do not think that my participation in stupid or immoral acts can add to my stature as an individual-I think, rather, that it might detract, take me even further afield from the discovery of myself.

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About Juanita Morrow Nelson

Juanita Morrow Nelson (August 17, 1923 – March 9, 2015) was a pacifist whose actions included desegregating restaurants and war tax resistance. She lived in the USA. She co-founded the group Peacemakers in 1948 and was the author of A Matter of Freedom and Other Writings (1988).

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Alternative Names: Juanita Nelson
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Additional quotes by Juanita Morrow Nelson

a group called Peacemakers was formed (in 1948). They saw nonviolence as a way of life, not just a tactic, or different campaigns, and one of the things that was a hallmark of Peacemakers was refusing to pay taxes for war, and so I say that that was a very pivotal year in my life, '48. Wally and I started living together; I became a tax refuser; we became tax refusers. You see, he spent thirty–three months in prison because he wouldn't go; how was he going to pay for somebody else to go and kill people? We just had no problem with that.

Clarence Jordan was very, very funny. I know that during those days before we came down there, somebody came around, like some of the Ku Klux Klanners came around and, once they came and—?cause blacks worked on the farm even before anybody moved there, and so they would eat lunch together, and one of these guys came and said, "Preacher, I don't wanna see the sun set on you havin' niggers here anymore." And Clarence reached out his hand and said, "Well, I'm so glad to know you, I'm so glad to know somebody who can keep the sun from setting." He was funny.

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