History

OUR PEACE AND JUSTICE HERITAGE

The first three editors of The Gospel Trumpet were pacifists. In 1883, D. S. Warner wrote: “Let all who would have a cloudless sky and an unruffled peace in the evening of life eschew war and every other sin and walk in the light of perfect holiness.”

A 1917 Declaration signed by all the ministers of the church affirmed: “I believe in being a loyal citizen and servant of the Government under which I live in so far as its requirements do not conflict with my duty to God as enforced by the law of my conscience…It is contrary to my religious convictions as a follower of Christ for me to take human life. My religion and my conscience forbid my taking up arms for the slaughter of my fellowmen.”

In the 1930s Russell Olt, Dean of Anderson College, and Adam W. Miller started the Interracial Fellowship, an annual gathering of pacifists concerned about eliminating racial prejudice and discrimination. A spin-off of the Interracial Fellowship was an Anderson Area Inter-Faith Fellowship, which included Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. Dean Olt was assisted in that endeavor by influential friends, including Judge Harold Achor, who later became Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.

In this fertile soil the Peace Fellowship was planted. As the dark clouds of World War II gathered, Dean Olt and Dr. Adam Miller headed an informal network of counselors who tried to keep abreast of Selective Service rules (which were never adequately publicized).

T. Franklin Miller was involved as secretary of the Youth Fellowship; Ida Byrd Rowe was supportive of the efforts, along with faculty members, including Val Clear, Carl Kardatzke, Anna Koglin, and Irene Smith. R. Eugene Sterner, Director of Church Service, diligently assisted about fifty conscientious objectors, who worked in alternative service camps.
In 1966 the Peace Fellowship elected Robert G. Hazen as chair, adopted the Statement of Purpose of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and became an affiliate member of the FOR. Hazen was succeeded as chair by H. L. Nelson and through the decades by a host of peacemakers including Robert H. Clark, Sharon Pearson, Mack M. Caldwell, James R. Cook, and Maurice Caldwell.