What to Do Against a Strong and Violent Adversary

“When a position is taken against a strong and violent adversary, it will be necessary to be firm as a rock, fully prepared to suffer any consequence rather than yield to evil… Firmness, like that displayed by the early Christians and Friends and followers of Gandhi, is impossible in the presence of fear or doubt. It comes only from faith – the deep conviction that the position for which one stands is part of the eternal truth; that being true, it will survive and can be brought into expression by those who will uphold it at all cost. 

It must be a truth prized more highly than security, reputation, or, in extreme cases, even life itself. This is why we have said that Transforming Power is directly proportional to the weight of the concern. Gandhi thought it was the most powerful tool of man – much more powerful than violence in any form. This is true because it spreads from person to person, never surrenders and survives all fallacies… 

The weight of our common concerns as Friends must, as in the past, come out of our personal devotions and our meetings for worship, for it is only in the constant nurturing of the spiritual life that we can experience the tenderness, the courage and the faith to make Transforming Power a way of life to overcome evil.”

— Lawrence S. Apsey, 1960
Quaker writer