The History of Conscientious Objection

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A conscientious objector is a person who, on the grounds of conscience (primarily religious, not simple preference), stands firm against a person or influence—especially in regards to military service.

Conscientious Objector status has been granted to those who can prove by their convictions that they will not kill for any reason and are willing to undergo great hardships to avoid military service. In the past, they had to suffer ridicule, contempt, persecution, imprisonment, torture and even death.

Members of the Church of God do not claim any government of this world as their sole authority. Their citizenship is in heaven. Jesus stated in John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight…but now is My kingdom not from hence [here].”

Conscientious Objection can be traced back many hundreds of years. In A.D. 173, an official of the Roman Empire, referring to those who refused to serve in the military, stated, “If all men were to do as you, there would be nothing to prevent the emperor from being left in utter solitude and desertion and the forces of the empire would fall into the hands of the most lawless barbarians” (Catholics and Conscientious Objection, James H. Forest, 1981).

Conscientious Objection has been a long tradition in the Church of God. Before the United States was established, there were “historic peace churches” stemming from the Protestant Reformation. The most dominant were the Brethren, the Quakers, the Mennonites and the Anabaptists. Although the Church of God can trace its roots to well before this time, most historians group it with these other churches.

For the most part, these historic “peace churches” were small, unorthodox assemblies with an unvarying position against war. The Anabaptists (some of whom were members of God’s true Church) separated themselves from the concerns of the world, choosing to live away from the worldly activities of society. Because their ways were considered unorthodox, both Catholics and Protestants persecuted them. (For more information on who some of these Anabaptists were, read our book Where Is the True Church? – and Its Incredible History!)

Conflict arose between militias and pacifists shortly after the first Quakers landed in North America. The early colonial militias were run independently from each other. Members of the peace groups were anti-war and ran into trouble almost immediately with the local officials. Punishment for not joining the militia ranged from forced service, fines and/or imprisonment. For example, in 1666, the fine in Virginia was 100 pounds of tobacco (Conscience in America, Schlissel, p. 30).

When a group of Quakers was brought before George Washington for not complying with local authorities, he said, “They choose rather to be whipped to death than to bear arms.” Seeing their dedication and conviction, he released them (New Conscientious Objection, Moskos and Chambers, p. 27).

Among the early peace groups was the Rogerenes: “The divine commands regarding religion as set forth in the New Testament they would strictly obey, but they would, ‘for conscience’s sake’ obey no command of men in this regard. The purely civil laws they held themselves bound to observe, according to Christ’s command…At a period when no men were more in favour of war than those who preached—in parts—the gospel of Him who bade His followers to forgive their enemies, to love them and pray for them and to return good for evil, the Rogerenes stood for uniform peace and good will on the part of Christians, according to the spirit and the letter of the Master’s teachings…Driven by the tolerance of their times to protect their obnoxious sect from extinction at the hands of powerful enemies, as best they could, the Rogerenes employed, at critical periods, a peaceable yet effective mode of defence, in the line of the gospel testimony, which engaged their opponents while it kept them fairly at bay. This was the climax of their tolerance” (The Rogerenes, Anna B. Williams, pp. 12-13).

One of the earliest laws exempting men from combat on religious grounds took effect in Rhode Island, 1673. Those exempted had to serve in other ways, including taking care of “weak and aged impotent persons, women and children, goods and cattle.” However, this law was revoked four years later under a different government. In 1701, Quaker William Penn passed laws stating that no conscientious objector “shall be in any case molested or prejudiced” (New Conscientious Objection).

On Jan. 16, 1704, Prussia’s King Frederick decreed, “those persons…shall not be recruited by the regular army nor be pressed into service by the use of force or physical violence…nor also by any other means shall such be enlisted” (www.ncl.ac.uk).

The U.S. Civil War brought with it the first nationwide draft of its young men. With it came the need to address the Conscientious Objector issue on a national scale. In Iowa, a small Church of God congregation petitioned the state government for their church to be exempted from military service. Primarily due to this petition, a law was passed in their favour. This is one of many small groups to which the Church of God today can trace its roots.

From the early days of the U.S. to the Civil War, the conscientious objector was required to pay a fine or hire someone to serve in his stead. Imagine not wanting to kill, but hiring someone to kill for you! Many who viewed this as still contributing to the act of killing refused to pay fines or hire a substitute. Instead, they were imprisoned. However, some Advent groups did pay the fines in order to buy exemptions for their members.

On Feb. 24, 1864, an amendment providing for Conscientious Objector status was passed. It stated as follows: “Members of religious denominations, who shall by oath or affirmation declare that they are conscientiously opposed to the bearing of arms, and who are prohibited from doing so by the rules and articles of faith and practice of said religious denominations, shall, when drafted into the military service, be considered non-combatants, and shall be assigned by the Secretary of War to duty in the hospitals, or to the care of freedom, or shall pay the sum of 300 dollars” (Statutes at Large, 13, 1864).

This only allowed members of historic peace churches to claim Conscientious Objector status. Neither the North nor the South honoured any request from members of mainstream churches or for secular reasons. Members of churches that allowed for going to war and would not back up an individual’s request for exemption did not qualify.

On the night of April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. As the nation mourned, the Church thanked God that Lincoln had signed laws grant-ing Christians exemption from war!

At the beginning of the 20th Century, there was trouble in Europe. The U.S. again implemented the draft. The Draft Law of 1917 allowed exemptions for anyone from any religion as long as its “existing creed or principles forbid its members to participate in war in any form” (Statutes at Large, 40, 1917, p. 78). Again, this only applied to members of the historic peace churches. President Woodrow Wilson opened the door to others who claimed conscientious objection but could not claim association with one of these groups. Roughly 76.5% of those who applied were found to be insincere and did not qualify for exemption. (Conscription of Conscience: The American State and the Conscientious Objector, Mulford Q. Sibley and Philip E. Jacob, p. 12). Between 1940 and 1945, approximately 5,000 persons claiming conscientious objection in the U.S. were imprisoned. The Selective Service Act of 1948 stated that conscientious objection must be based on religious convictions and the belief in a Supreme Being. But in 1970, the Supreme Court removed that requirement. This allowed objection based on an ethical system with no reference to a Supreme Being. A 1971 ruling by the same court refused to allow an objection to a specific war. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 men left the United States in order to avoid serving in Vietnam.

The following occurred in Turkey, in May 1998: A Turkish citizen “is the first conscientious objector in Turkey openly to declare his refusal to perform military service for reasons of conscience…charging him with ‘desertion’ and ‘insubordination’…unless there is a change [he] will be condemned to endlessly repeated convictions for the same ‘offence’—effectively life imprisonment” (www.amnesty.org).

On Dec. 23, 1998, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to cease granting draft exemptions to thousands of ultra-Orthodox students. This was said: “The precedent-setting decision is likely to have a far-reaching impact on Israel’s delicate religious-secular balance of power. It is also likely to exacerbate the dispute between religious and secular leaders over the Supreme Court’s right to rule at all on controversial religious issues…Ultra-Orthodox leaders vowed to battle the decision …Should the Knesset…fail to pass such a bill, ultra-Orthodox youths would go to prison or leave the country rather than enter the military” (The Christian Century Foundation).

Once again, the U.S. is leaning in the direction of drafting young men, and possibly young women, into the armed services. If this happens, and because of the scope of uncertainty in the world, the exemption for conscientious objectors may be challenged. Governments may even do away with “alternative service” and simply throw individuals into prison—or worse!