Conscientious Objection...do you approve or not? and when?

[Cairycat]

29. I am a member of a religious denomination which conscientiously objects

to all wars ... I'm a Mennonite, but traditionally Church of the Brethren and Society of Friends (Quakers) are also conscientious objectors.

My understanding is that CO status was never automatic for members of these denominations. Young men who applied for CO status had to make their case the same as others. Members of these denominations ("Historic Peace Churches&quot often engaged in alternative service in WWII and Vietnam.

The Mennonite Church USA has a ministry reaching out to service members who become conscientious objectors during their enlistments. It's usually a far more complicated matter than somebody thinking the Army was like Boy Scouts on steroids and finding out different. Here is a link to an article about this: http://www.themennonite.org/issues/13-7/articles/Honorable_discharge_for_conscientious_objection

Personally, I could not participate in war making or being in a situation where that was a possibility. I find it impossible to reconcile loving God and following Jesus with harming another human being. It was with a heavy heart that I watched my older son register for the draft. He has not chosen to join the church, but considers himself a conscientious objector.

Another issues that lays heavy on my heart is taxes supporting the military. Without the draft, conscientious objection is moot. But our dollars are being drafted every day, used for killing and harming people. I hate that I either pay Federal taxes (not just income tax but in the form of taxes on telephone service, etc.) or go to jail. For many years there has been a campaign to have a Peace Tax, so people would not have to compromise their deeply held beliefs. If one opted to pay the Peace Tax, more actually would be owed, since there would be an administrative cost. It strikes me as very unfair that Catholics and fundamentalists can be taken seriously when they say the Affordable Care Act would infringe on their religious freedom by making them pay for contraception, yet religious pacifists like myself must support with our money that which we find just as objectionable. Here is a link about the Peace Tax: http://www.peacetaxfund.org/