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Can love really overcome violence and hate? Reflections on Friends peace testimony.

Lord, Mary
June 4, 2015

Source: (2002) Speech presented at the Annual Meeting of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 March. Washington, DC: Friends Committee on National Legislation. Downloaded 3 September 04.

At the time of this speech, Mary Lord was beginning to serve as the Interim Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Peace Building Unit. Speaking some months after deadly terrorist attacks against targets in the United States (on September 11, 2001), Lord addresses issues of violence, hate, terrorism, war, and love. She expresses fear that, in the wake of the attacks and the U.S. response to them, a new global war may be imminent. This leads to her reflections on a number of issues: the U.S. decision to respond with military force rather than international law and policing; the question whether war works; faith in violence; faith in God; and peace-building actions Quakers can take in the midst of violence and hate.

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