APF was formed by Anglican clergy and laity led by Sheppard who were intent on undertaking a torchlit peace march to Lambeth Palace in 1937 as the threat of a Second World War loomed on the horizon.
[9] Besides many priests and bishops, notable early members of the group included British Labour Leader George Lansbury and famous literary figure Vera Brittain.
In 2006, songwriter and fellow Anglican Pacifist Fellowship member Sue Gilmurray wrote a song in Brittain's memory, entitled "Vera".
[10] In addition to her famous novels, which were heavily imbued with pacifist ideology, Brittain was very much an active member of the "Ban the Bomber" campaign during the inter-war period, which sought to outlaw bomber aeroplanes as an illegal weapon of war, in recognition of the fact that they directly target civilian populations, beyond the frontline of conflicts and that they carry increasingly deadly payloads.
During the war, "as well as campaigning for peace at every opportunity, APF had a support role for conscientious objectors... Anglican pacifists [also] became involved in social projects as an alternative to military duties".
His efforts were, however, in vain, and most APF members now acknowledge that, to counteract Hitler by non-violent means, Governments should not have allowed the economic and political situation of instability in the Weimar Republic to arise in the first place.
Undaunted, she continued writing further tracts on the immorality of saturation bombing, as the British Royal Air Force undertook its campaign against target cities such as Dresden.
[17] During the war, APF supported conscientious objectors, and became involved in social projects to provide an alternative to military duties, including the Hungerford Club, which sheltered Londoners during the Blitz.
[19] Hinkes' "theology was conservatively Catholic in what he regarded as essentials, yet his parochial and pastoral practice was radically open, both to the working-class culture and the ethnic diversity of the people in the areas in which he served".
He worked with the then-President of the Fellowship, Gordon Wilson and APF counsellor Paul Oestreicher on many strident campaigns for peace, his motto being "we put the 'fist' into pacifist!
Much time is also spent lobbying bishops and politicians and promoting the pacifist viewpoint in public forum debates and on representational committees.
[39] Several prominent APF members, such as Gilmurray and scientist Dr Tony Kempster are also involved in the secular Movement for the Abolition of War.
His sincerity was accepted by the tribunal, and after a year of theology at Oxford he joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit as a driver - at first in England, and from 1945-47 in China.
[69] After working at the Cathedral and a girls' school for a long time, he was responsible for a large parish where he found fulfillment as a "mentor of many from all generations, especially the young.
[74] An ecumenist, Bishop Huggins has also served as the president of the National Council of Churches in Australia[75][76] and is a member of the Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Network (PIEN),[77] the Australian Intercultural Society and is co-Chair of Christian World Service Commission (ACT for Peace).
"[84] A former Australian Labor Party political candidate,[85] President of the National Council of Churches, and Director of the Centre for Ecumenical Studies[86] in 2019, Bishop Higgins was appointed APF Counsellor.
[88] A life-long, deeply devout Christian and conservative Calvinist from a very old French Huguenot family,[89][90] David Le Sage originally attended Saint Paul's Glenorchy in Tasmania, which had a very low church/Calvinist ethos.
[96] [97] David Le Sage had an affinity for the pacifist strain of conservative Calvinist thinking exemplified by André Trocmé and Jean Lasserre.
His Master's thesis was on the topic, “Is Jesus’ subversion of the messianic military expectations a sufficient basis for a normative Christian non-violent ethic?”[112] In 2017, Reuss became the rector of the Onkaparinga Valley Parish in South Australia.
[115] APF member Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng of the Diocese of Northern Uganda has helped to facilitate peace talks with rebel militia leaders and directly faced the problems of dealing with the Lord's Resistance Army and their kidnapping of youth to pressgang them into becoming child soldiers.
[116] In Zimbabwe, APF set up peace clubs in schools and youth centres to promote non-violence to settle disagreements before the 2018 general elections.
Indeed, Roberta Bacic, a survivor of the Pinochet regime in Chile and President of WRI, has worked closely with Fellowship members[124] and written for the APF newsletter.
Each newsletter explores a specific theme or current event and also contains a page depicting art, song lyrics and poetry that promote a culture of peace.
[127][128] Many of the educational pamphlets were written by Derek Savage, a prominent British poet, APF member and Second World War conscientious objector.
The pamphlet also notes that the Jews suffered horrific persecution under the Nazis during the 1930s, but the Final Solution could occur onlynunder the cloud of wartime activity.
Those who argue against fighting Hitler also note that the bombing of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant that the Allies sunk to the level of their opponents[citation needed], and a campaign of nonviolent resistance to any Nazi regime may have been more effective as such an overstretched empire would not be sustainable in the long run.
The pamphlet argues that if Germany had been treated with greater dignity and been helped to recover more quickly after its 1918 defeat, the conditions that led Hitler to rise to power would not have occurred.
Other notable tracts include: Combined, the texts explore many of the issues surrounding a pacifism and intellectually engage the spiritual and pragmatic consequences of the ideology.
The songs on the album promote pacifism and Christian fellowship by critiquing a number of issues and themes relating to war, arms manufacturing, American imperialism and corporate capitalism.
The album featured songs critiquing social issues such as the use of child soldiers in African combat zones and the depictions of violence in films and other media products marketed towards children.