John Swomley, United Methodist peacemaker, dies at 95

Earlier this week, the world lost an influential figure in the peacemaking movement.  Rev. Dr. John M. Swomley, a United Methodist minister and pacifist Christian, died on August 16th, 2010 at the age of 95.  Swomley was the Executive Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and president of the Methodist Peace Fellowship.  He was perhaps best known has having helped influence Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “pilgrimage to nonviolence.”   In addition to teaching Christian ethics for years at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, MO and serving a period as head of the Society of Christian Ethics, Swomley released his memoir in 1998, Confronting Systems of Violence: Memoirs of a Peace Activist.

Please visit F.O.R.’s website to read a full tribute to his incredibly life here.