INFORMATION on CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION (CO)

I wrote this for a thread on the draft in GD but thought others need access to this info.


It's been many, many years since I knew all the rules about conscientious objection but this site is good; it's the home of the Central Committee on Conscientious Objection (CCCO). Has a section on how to fill out a CO application, which is very important.

http://www.objector.org /

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has a page on CO but doesn't seem to have draft counseling online. Of course, right now, there is no draft and COs are people who have joined the military and then realized they don't want to kill, and/or people whose recruiters assured them when they joined that they'd never have to kill in the job they would work in.

http://www.afsc.org

Local Friends' Meetings will usually have a draft counseling committee, usually including men who were COs in previous wars. Look in your local phone book under "Friends." You don't have to become a Quaker to get counseling but you may have to go to their Meetinghouse on a Sunday to contact them -- small Meetings may not have anyone answering the phone during the week.

Here's a site for the draft counseling site of a local Friends' Meeting

http://www.quaker.org/visalia/CO /

Here you'll find info, including URLs, on the War Resisters League and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and much more.

They also link to the Selective Service page on CO. I tried to copy and paste some of that info but the formatting is very strange.

If you or a family member is draft age (which apparently will be 20-35), now is the time to explore your options. It has never been easy to get CO status but anyone who believes that he (or, perhaps, she) is a conscientious objector should definitely get more information now.

What you do NOW will affect whether or not you can get CO status LATER, so get busy reading.

Peace be with you all.
 

:kick:

have to have document proof that you don't want to fight in all wars with what a written essay stating your not for war. then people that could verify your story and then they still have to place that under review?
So what happens if you say I'm not fighting in this one get back to me when theres a legal war that wasn't started by an illegal president and you can go piss off.
I'm guessing that would be bad but how bad would it be.

At least it did when we had a draft before. But perhaps the Bush**istas will be easier on resisters. . .

Basically, what you have to do is just state your objection to war in terms of the present reality. In your interview, they will try to throw all kinds of theoretical situations at you, like, "What would you have done about Hitler?" or, "Would you have participated in a peacekeeping mission in Rwanda?" or the like. The best course is to simply explain that all of those are hypothetical situations, and we're not dealing with hypotheticals -- we're dealing with why I'm opposed to war, PERIOD.

That allows you to state everything in terms of the current conflict, because that is the only reality at hand. Of course, you still have to state your case in moral/religious, as opposed to political terms.

to my very healthy, intelligent 23 year old daughter and asked that she pass it on. Thanks for the links.

Jenn

:hi:

... unless/until there's actually a draft.

If there is, a sure bet is that the rules will be different.

Unless you're talking about fleeing the country now, meaningful means in accordance with the rules for conscienscious objectors.

I am predicting that in case of a draft, the rules will change.

will be radically different. The alternative to preparing now is being caught completely unprepared.

The Center on Conscience and War (http://www.nisbco.org)

The Quakers and Unitarians have advice for people seeking conscientious objection, even in the sense of preparing a packet in anticipation of a draft.

Certainly, the resources aren't as plentiful as if we actually HAD a draft, but they are certainly out there.

:D

about the draft that I thought some links would be helpful. It's not a concern for me or my family personally today but I remember the bad old days of Viet Nam when it was.