Adin Ballou
Adin Ballou (April 23, 1803 – August 5, 1890) was an American proponent of Christian nonresistance, Christian anarchism and socialism, abolitionism, and the founder of the Hopedale Community. Through his long career as a Universalist and Unitarian minister, he tirelessly advocated for the immediate abolition of slavery, the principles of Christian anarcho-socialism, and promoted the nonviolent theory of praxis (or moral suasion) in his prolific writings. Such writings drew the admiration of Leo Tolstoy, who frequently cited Ballou as a major influence on his theological and political ideology in his non-fiction texts like "The Kingdom of God  is Within You," along with sponsoring Russian translations of some of Ballou's works. As well as heavily inspiring Tolstoy, Ballou's Christian anarchist and nonresistance ideals in texts like "Practical Christianity" were passed down from Tolstoy to Mahatma Gandhi, contributing not only to the nonviolent resistance movement in the Russian Revolution led by the Tolstoyans, but also Gandhi's early thinkings on the nonviolent theory of praxis and the development of his first ashram, the Tolstoy Farm. In a recent publication, American philosopher and anarchist Crispin Sartwell wrote that the works by Ballou and his other Christian anarchist contemporaries  like William Lloyd Garrison directly influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., as well. Biography. Ballou was born in 1803 on a farm in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Ariel and Elida (née Tower) Ballou. He was raised a Six-Principle Baptist until 1813 when his family was converted in a Christian Connexion revival. Ballou married Abigail Sayles in early 1822, the same year he converted to Universalism and became a preacher. His wife died in 1829, shortly after giving birth to a daughter. Later that year, Ballou suffered a life-threatening illness. He was nursed back to health by Lucy  Hunt, whom he married a few months later. Hosea Ballou II performed the ceremony. Of four children born to Ballou, only Abbie Ballou reached adulthood. Ballou was a prominent local historian for Milford, writing one of the earliest complete histories of the town in 1882, "History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881". Ballou died in Hopedale in 1890. Lucy Ballou died the following year. Religious ideology and social issues. Ballou was a philosophical anarchist who opposed all methods of violence against the state, as per the main principle of Christian anarchism taken  from the Gospel of Matthew, verse 26:52, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Ballou and other Christian anarchists centered their intentions for socio-political revolution on Christian love, or cultivating compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation towards others. Ballou remained a life-long advocate of Christian nonresistance and, despite being an abolitionist, was opposed to the Civil War and the armed struggle for black liberation, fearing the retaliation of former white slave owners against freed black Americans. However, his advocation of nonviolence became unpopular at the outbreak of the Civil War and lost its relevance in American  discourse by the end of the war. Restorationist. In 1830, Ballou aligned himself with the Restorationists, who were upset with the views among some Universalists, that complete salvation and no punishment would follow death. The Restorationists longed to return to the kind of Christianity as espoused by the early Christians and Jesus himself in the Bible, specifically before the conversion of Constantine and the subsequent establishment of the Christian church in the Roman Empire. Although Ballou served the Unitarian church between 1831–1842, Ballou continued to identify himself as a Restorationist. The Restorationists also believed that the spiritual growth of sinners  could be acclaimed only through God's justice, in the afterlife, before they could be restored to God's grace. As a Restorationist, Ballou agreed to edit and publish the "Independent Messenger". Ballou's views led to the loss of his pulpit in Milford, Massachusetts. In 1831, Ballou, along with seven other ministers, established the Massachusetts Association of Universal Restorationists. Abolitionism. In 1837, Ballou publicly announced he was an abolitionist. He made anti-slavery lecture tours in Pennsylvania in 1846 and in New York in 1848. Ballou's antislavery sentiments are exemplified in his 1843 Fourth of July address entitled  The Voice of Duty, in which he called on Americans to honor the foundations of the country by not being selective or hypocritical in their judgment of who should be free: "We honor liberty only when we make her impartial--the same for and to all men." Ballou also responded to those who claimed that abolitionists dishonor the U.S. Constitution, saying that he stood "on a higher moral platform than any human compact." Of the Founding Fathers Ballou stated: "I honor them with all my heart for their devotion to right principles, for all the truly noble traits in their  character, for their fidelity to their own highest light. But because I honor their love of liberty, must I honor their compromises with slavery?" Christian nonresistance. Ballou became a life-long advocate of Christian nonresistance by 1838. "Standard of Practical Christianity" was composed in 1839 by Ballou and a few ministerial colleagues and laymen. The signatories announced their withdrawal from "the governments of the world." They believed the dependence on force to maintain order was unjust, and vowed to not participate in such government. While they did not acknowledge the earthly rule of man, they also did not rebel or  resist any of their ordinances by physical force. "We cannot employ carnal weapons nor any physical violence whatsoever," they proclaimed, "not even for the preservation of our lives. We cannot render evil for evil... nor do otherwise than 'love our enemies.'" Starting in 1843, he served as president of the New England Non-Resistance Society. He worked with his friend William Lloyd Garrison until they broke over Garrison's support for violence in fighting slavery. In 1846 Ballou published his principal work on Christian pacifism, "Christian Non-Resistance". Ballou was also involved with the Universal Peace Union founded  in 1866. Practical Christianity. "Practical Christianity" was published in 1854 and served as a comprehensive text on the fundamental principles of practical Christianity (or the application of Christian ethics into daily life), with subsections like “Christianity and Socialism,” “Principles of Theological Truth,” “Principles of Personal Righteousness,” and “Principles of Social Order.” In addition, Ballou also discusses the “Constitution of the Practical Christian Republic,” which functions as a “how-to” guide to creating a Christian anarchist-socialist society like Hopedale. Hopedale Community. By 1840, Ballou wanted to create a Christian anarcho-socialist utopia that peacefully resisted government coercion and provided refuge  for other white Christian anarchists but especially for freed enslaved people. In 1841, he and other Christian anarchists purchased a farm west of Milford, Massachusetts and named it Hopedale. The community was settled in 1842. The early commune regularly hosted progressive seminars on the topics like free love and proto-feminism and had black abolitionists like Frederick Douglass give talks on the plight of enslaved people. As per the request of Douglass, the Hopedale Community harbored and protected a runaway slave for some time. The practical end of the Community came in 1856 when two of Ballou's closest supporters , Ebenezer and George Draper, withdrew their 75% share of the community's stock to form the successful Hopedale Manufacturing Company. George claimed the community was not using sound business practices. The community, however, continued on as a religious group until 1867, when it became the Hopedale Parish and rejoined mainstream Unitarianism. December 15, 1873, the Trustees of the Community conveyed all right, title, interest and control over to Community Square. Ballou remained as Hopedale's pastor throughout its transformation and finally retired in 1880. "Adin Street" and "Ballou Road" in the town of Hopedale, Massachusetts, are named after him. Adin