Adin Ballou: Universalist Pacifist

A sermon by the Rev. Daniel Charles Davis

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem

August 7, 2005

At the turn of the 19th century, in 1803, Adin Ballou was born. A distant cousin, Hosea Ballou, was preaching Universalism, becoming its foremost proponent. Universalists believed that a loving God would not give eternal punishment in hell. When Adin Ballou was 19, he became convinced of this doctrine.

“In the year 1822, after much anxious inquiry, and many trying exercises of mind, I at length found repose in the full persuasion, that God through Jesus Christ will finally restore the whole human family to holiness and happiness.” [1] His conversion must have been powerful, for immediately he became a preacher. In 1823 the First Universalist Society in Boston hired him as an interim preacher and considered him for the permanent pastorate before giving it to a more experienced preacher.

In 1824 he went to nearby Milford and had a successful pastorate there until controversy broke out within the Universalist denomination. Some Universalists, like Hosea Ballou, were Ultra-Universalist, believing that the dead immediately go to paradise to be with God. Others believed that some punishment after death was necessary before souls could be restored to heaven. These were called Restorationists.

Adin disagreed with Hosea. He believed that people needed to be punished for their sins. He even started a newspaper to voice the views of the Restorationists. When he did this, in 1831, Milford fired him. Ultra-Universalism had won the hearts of most Universalists.

He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Association of Universal Restorationists (MAUR), and he took a new church at Mendon, Massachusetts, which was affiliated with the Unitarians.

It was during this time that he became friends with William Lloyd Garrison and took up the cause of abolition and pacifism. He rooted his pacifism in the biblical passage “Resist not evil but overcome evil with good.” It (Christian non-resistance) is simply non-resistance of injury with injury – evil with evil. [2]

The almost universal opinion and practice of mankind has been on the side of resistance of injury with injury. It has been held justifiable and necessary for individuals and nations to inflict any amount of injury which would effectually resist a supposed greater injury. The consequence has been universal suspicion, defiance, armament, violence, torture and bloodshed. The earth has been rendered a vast slaughter field. [3]

Non-resistance explodes this horrible delusion, announces the impossibility of overcoming evil with evil. [4]

By adhering to the law of love under all provocations, and scrupulously suffering wrong, rather than inflicting it, they shall gloriously overcome evil with good and exterminate their enemies by turning them into friends. [5]

Adin Ballou was so adamant about his pacifism that he even questioned the need for the Revolutionary War, indicating that slavery was prolonged and expanded by the compromises needed to win that war. He may have been right. Great Britain abolished slavery long before the U.S. did.

He was an active protester against the Mexican War along with Thoreau and others who thought it was a war to expand slavery into Texas.

He argued that the whole history of the world demonstrates that love begets love, war war, and peace peace. [6]

He kept this position even as the Civil War approached. He was a leader in the Christian Pacifist movement until 1859. Then John Brown attacked Harpers Ferry. The failed slave insurrection changed the opinions of the liberals. Thoreau praised John Brown in almost messianic terms.

Even Garrison relented and said force may be necessary to end slavery.

Ballou was alone in his resistance to civil war.

In his autobiography (1896) he wrote: “It was hard for me to understand how professing anti-war Abolitionists of long standing should so forget or ignore their former protestations against the use of violent means for carrying forward their work and freeing the bondsmen, as to be swept into the same foaming vortex of blood and death. As for me, I remained unmoved, except for sorrow for such a deplorable exhibition of mistaken ambition to promote a good end by evil means, and pity for the sufferer who had rashly plunged into a lion’s den (regarding John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry).”

He was a purist. He was ready to let the South secede. It is hard to imagine what would have happened in the United States if we had had no civil war.

Ballou believed that all governments were suspect because they were all supported by military might. Instead of participating in government, he set up an alternative community. Hopedale was founded in 1842 as a Christian Socialist community.

All property, being primarily the Creator's and provided by Him for the use of mankind during their life on earth, ought to be acquired, aided and disposed of in strict accordance with the dictates of justice and charity. Therefore the members of this Republic shall consider themselves stewards in trust, under God, of all property coming into their possession, and, as such, imperatively bound not to consume it in the gratification of their own inordinate lusts, nor to hoard it up as a mere treasure, nor to employ it to the injury of any human being, nor to withhold it from the relief of distressed fellow creatures, but always to use it as not abusing

it, for strictly just, benevolent and commendable purposes.

– The Constitution of the Practical Christian Republic 1854

Of the many Utopian communities formed in the mid-19th century, Hopedale was one of the most successful, flourishing for 14 years. Adin Ballou advocated socialism while respecting the entrepreneurship of individuals.

“As a Practical Christian Socialist, I propose a System of Society which keeps distinctly in view the preservation and promotion of all real human interests. It must not destroy, override or impair one of them. It must recognize, promote, secure and harmonize them all. Neither individual nor social good must be sacrificed. Both must stand together on a common foundation, upheld by common bonds.” [7]

It had a complex system of investments by members and was financially crippled when two brothers withdrew their stock. It then became an ordinary town. Ballou continued as minister in the Hopedale church until he retired in 1880.

In these times, when Christianity is equated with militarism and the expansion of capitalism, it is interesting to see a Bible-based Christianity that advocates peace and sharing the wealth. though we may differ with the theology and the particulars of the plan and its execution. Adin Ballou lifted a voice for peace and sharing wealth that has carried across the years.

Toward the end of his life Ballou corresponded with Leo Tolstoy, who wrote his own books about Christian pacifism. Gandhi was inspired by Tolstoy, and King was inspired by Gandhi.

A modern heir to Ballou’s legacy is Dr. Walter Wink, professor of biblical interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. Previously, he was a parish minister and taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1989-1990 he was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. He believes in non-violence and champions its successes.

"In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000 people experienced non-violent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations . . . If we add all the countries touched by major non-violent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa . . . the independence movement in India . . .) the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that non-violence doesn't work in the 'real' world." [8]

"The essence of Wink's thought revolves around 'redemptive violence,' the belief that 'violence saves.' The powers Wink engages are those which employ violence to maintain their dominance. This dominance of violence, ranging from literal torture and death to softer forms of humiliation and degradation, are described as the explicit focus of Jesus' life and message. His death, rather than being a violent appeasement of a blood-thirsty God, is revealed as the only non-violent means of defeating the powers - embracing the unjust suffering of violence as a means of bringing humiliation and reproach to the powerful." [9]

Ballou was convinced that Christian non-resistance came from God and was brought to earth by Jesus.

Modern Unitarian Universalists talk about affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Is this an avenue towards non-violence? How does killing ever affirm someone’s humanity?

We often have high ideals that we say we are protecting. Freedom, democracy, even peace are justification for war. We almost always condemn murder. But when it is done in large numbers by government, it somehow changes into heroism.

Ballou asks, “How many does it take to metamorphose wickedness into righteousness? One man must not kill. If he does, it is murder . . . But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and it is not murder. It is just, necessary, commendable, and right. Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent. But how many does it take?” [10]

This past week I had the Message of the Week printed in the Winston Salem Journal:

How do you live your beliefs?

Which statement most closely resembles your belief about God?

1.         There is one God, a personal being with whom I have a relationship. (Monotheism)

2.         There are many gods and goddesses representing different aspects of nature. (Polytheism, Paganism)

3.         God is the creator and process of creation. (Pantheism)

4.         God is the Mysterious Force of life within us and all around us. (Transcendentalism, Taoism, Mysticism)

5.         God is the force of nature. (Pantheism)

6.         God is only a metaphor for the highest human aspirations. (Humanism)

7.         There is no God. (Atheism)

8.         I do not know if God Exists (Agnosticism)

Can you imagine a world where people with such varied beliefs get along? I can. As minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem, I see it every day. A recent survey of our members found all these beliefs present in our congregation. We believe more than anything that every person has a right to his or her personal belief.

People can be motivated to do good works by a variety of beliefs. In his song “Imagine,” John Lennon sang:

“Imagine there’s no heaven, it isn’t hard to do,

Nothing to kill or die for, no religion too”.

The Christian hymn, God of Grace and God of Glory, contains the words:

Cure your children’s warring madness,

Bend our pride to your control.

Shame our wanton selfish gladness,

Rich in things and poor in soul

Both of these songs encourage peace. The hymn’s condemnation of selfishness is echoed by Lennon’s line: “Imagine no possessions.” The songwriters had different opinions about God, yet both songs advocate peacefulness and unselfishness.

People can be motivated to do evil works by a variety of beliefs. The former Soviet Union showed that some forms of atheism are warlike. Christians, Jews and Muslims all claim to be monotheists, but there is a long history of war between these groups.

What you believe is less important than how you believe. Does your belief inspire you to love your neighbor and the earth? If so, Unitarian Universalism may be the place for you to put your faith into action. Rather than dogmatically dividing people, Unitarian Universalists seek to unite people by their universal hopes for peace, love, justice and compassion.

After this was published, I received an email from a person who was praying for me and our congregation because of our confused belief. But I do not think our beliefs are confusing at all.

They are as simple as the words on a current country star's guitar: "Love everybody." What is confusing are all the barriers of politics, religion, rationalizations and bias that keep us from our simple duty to love everybody.

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1. “An Epistle General to Restorationists,” from the first issue of the Independent Messenger, 1

January 1831

2. Christian Non-Resistance 1846

3. ibid.

4. ibid.

5. ibid.

6. ibid.

7. Ballou, Adin, Practical Christian Socialism: a Conversational Exposition of the True System of Human Society. 1854.

8. Walter Wink http://www.blairingbush.fsworld.co.uk/peacequotes1.html

9. Peter A. Kindle (excerpt from a book review of The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium, by Walter Wink)

10. Adin Ballou, The Non-Resistant, 5 February 1845