Anthony Benezet, a Quaker social reformer, fought for education, abolition, temperance, and pacifism. In 1782, he published his anti-war tract, The Plainness and Innocent Simplicity of the Christian Religion. Rejecting the idea that Americans needed weapons and militias, he suggested they rely on the protection of God. Even a defensive war was unjustified, he wrote, since the greed of the leaders often cost the poor their lives. Benezet suggested that to live in true peace, people of African descent and Native Americans, who were equally open to salvation, should be treated as brothers and sisters.