A. J. Muste Day | Naming the Days

A. J. Muste, peacemaker, was born on January 8, 1885, and died on this present day in 1967. He was a vibrant instance of Christian nonviolence within the twentieth century. In 1909, he was ordained as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and in the course of the Nineteen Twenties, he was a commerce union activist. A. J. Muste grew to become Government Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), a spiritual pacifist group in 1940, a place he held till 1953.

“The way in which of peace is a seamless garment that should cowl the entire of life and should be utilized in all its relationships,” he wrote. In the course of the Sixties, Muste was a key organizer in a broad anti-war motion in response to the Vietnam Conflict.

As soon as a reporter requested him, “Do you actually suppose you’re going to change the insurance policies of this nation by standing out right here alone at night time in entrance of the White Home with a candle?” A.J. Muste replied softly: “Oh I do not do that to vary the nation. I do that so the nation will not change me.”

For him freedom of conscience was a figuring out issue within the high quality of life. Maybe his most well-known citation is — “There isn’t any strategy to peace, peace itself being the way in which.”

Web sites & Organizations

Be impressed by taking an extended have a look at A. J. Muste’s life and work.

Take a look at the work of the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute which has since 1974 supported organizations working for nonviolent social change, together with offering workplace area within the Muste Constructing in New York Metropolis, a.ok.a. the “Peace Pentagon.”

Books

Learn an essay by A. J. Muste in Peace Is the Means: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation edited by Walter Wink.

Take Motion

On the anniversary of Muste’s demise, do one thing to contribute to peace on this planet.