| Description | In his response to Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's letter dated 13th September 1940, Heath responds to the comments made by Taylor Cadbury about the 'nebulousness' of Quaker faith, suggesting that this was 'a remnant of that nineteenth century liberalism' and expressing impatience at these views.
Heath also comments on the role of pacifism within Quaker beliefs, remarking that he thought it 'wholly wrong to make peace and war a sort of test dogma for membership'. Heath provides a very detailed insight into his own views of pacifism writing:
'I am a complete pacifist, not as the result of some dogma of the Quaker community but as a result of what I believe in my experience God to be, and the way of life of Jesus Christ'.
Heath also remarks that he was 'a deep radical opponent' to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. However, he expresses reluctance to accept Taylor Cadbury's ideas about the growing disatisfaction amongst Quakers concerning the centrality of pacifism within Quakerism amidst totalitarian war. Clarifying that a pacifist stance was not one of neutrality 'between Freedom and Hitlerism', Heath writes that his opposition was to 'the method the country is using' suggesting that military warfare was 'human sin' which would cause 'hate and poverty' for future generations. |