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Religion, Practice and Science of Non-Violence
of this principle. He was the founder, with Garrison, of the Non-resistance Society and its president in 1843. He was active in this field for over fifty years. Defining his concept, he said1 "The term non-resistance itself. . . demands attention. It requires very considerable qualifications. I use it as applicable only to the conduct of human beings towards human beings, not towards the inferior animals, inanimate things, or satanic influences. If an opponent, willing to make me appear ridiculous, should say 'you are non-resistant, and, therefore, must be passive to all assailing beings, things and influences, to satan, man, beast, bird, serpent, insect, rocks, timbers, fire, floods, heat, cold and storm'-I should answer, not so; my nonresistance relates solely to conduct between human beings. This is an important limitation of the term. But I go further, and disclaim using the term to express absolute passivity, even towards human beings. I claim the right to offer the utmost moral resistance, not sinful, of which God has made me capable, to every manifestation of evil among mankind. Nay, I hold it my duty to offer such moral resistance. In this sense my very non-resistance becomes the highest kind of resistance to evil. This is another important qualification of the term. But I do not stop here. There is an uninjurious, benevolent physical force. There are cases in which it would not only be allowable, but in the highest degree commandable, to restrain human beings by this kind of force. Thus, maniacs, the insane, the delirious, sick, ill-natured children, the intellectually or morally non-compos mentis, the intoxicated and the violently passionate, are frequently disposed to perpetrate outrages and inflict injuries, either on themselves or others, which ought to be kindly and uninjuriously prevented by the muscular energy of their friends. And in cases where deadly violence is inflicted with deliberation and malice aforethought, one may nobly throw his body as a temporary barrier between the destroyer and his helpless victim, choosing to die in that position, rather than be a passive spectator. Thus another most important qualification is given to the term non-resistance. It is not nonresistance to animals and inanimate things, nor to satan, but only to human beings. Nor is it moral non-resistance to human
1 Ballou, Adin, Christian Non-violence.
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