5b. Case Studies

We will turn now to some examples of Conscientious Objection from the early 20th century to the present. Some of these are religious in their motivation, while others are secular (non-religious). You will be directed to some individual stories of COs. 

Religious (First and Second World Wars)

As I said earlier, a religious conviction against participation in warfare was the main motivation for Conscientious Objection for most of history. The group of Christian denominations called the 'Historic Peace Churches' (introduced in Module 3) are frequently pointed to as examples of recognized Conscientious Objection in North America. These churches – Mennonites, Quakers, Brethren – have a centuries-old tradition of refusing to take up arms in wars of the state. Their reasoning for this arose mainly from their reading and interpretation of the Bible, particularly the New Testament scriptures. They held closely to the biblical call to “not resist an evildoer” but rather to “turn the other cheek,” to “love your enemies,” and of course the Old Testament commandment “do not kill.”¹ Their position on the separation of church and state (radical when these groups emerged hundreds of years ago) also prompted their refusal to take lives, or give their own, for governments. Their ideas were similar to that of Leo Tolstoy, who you learned about in the previous module.

In past centuries, COs were persecuted and imprisoned for this stance. However, in the late 19th century and since, they received special dispensation to exempt them from military service when governments enacted laws of conscription. The First and Second World Wars in Canada are good examples of this.

First World War

Canada

In the First World War, the issue did not become as difficult as it would during the next world war because the Canadian government did not implement mandatory conscription via the Military Service Act until 1917, a year before the war ended. In the Act, historic peace church members were exempted from military service because Conscientious Objection was recognized as an official doctrine of their church. There were about 7,000 COs in Canada during the First World War. They experienced public ridicule for their stance and a few were sentenced to prison terms.

United States and Britain

In the United States and Britain, treatment of COs was harsh. In the U.S., three Hutterite men (Hutterites were pacifists like Mennonites) were imprisoned in the notorious Alcatraz prison:

They refused to wear a military uniform and were denied other clothing. Hosed down in freezing weather, they contracted pneumonia, and they were shipped to Ft. Leavenworth. [Two of them] died. Their bodies were returned to their families, and when the coffin of one was opened he was dressed in the uniform that he had refused to wear in life.²

Second World War

In the Second World War, declaring yourself a Conscientious Objector in North America became more difficult than in the First World War. This war was considered ‘the good war’ because it was a war against Hitler, Nazism, and Fascism, and so there was little sympathy for individuals who refused to do military service once a mandatory call-up went out.

Canada

 

 

 

Relief work

During and after both world wars, the churches of religious COs performed a significant amount of relief work to aid war sufferers, both soldiers and civilians. This work included raising funds for food and clothing and medical supplies, and also sending material goods overseas for distribution among people impacted directly by the war. An 'absolutist' CO might consider contributing to wartime relief as participating in the war system itself, in that such activity helps to repair the damage of war and thus makes it possible to happen again. This is a controversial and extreme position to take.

Secular and Selective

Not all Conscientious Objectors adopted their stance for religious reasons. Throughout history there were many who objected to military service – and often war more generally – for reasons that were philosophical and based on morals and values, but were not necessarily religious in nature. That is why I am calling them ‘secular.’ Sometimes their anti-war views were political in nature and were based on their objection to participation in a particular war; so they would fit the ‘selective’ type of CO. Such COs often had a very difficult time getting exemption from military service because theirs was an individualistic stance and they were not part of a group recognized by governments for their CO position. Because they were often not viewed as ‘real’ COs, they are sometimes called Draft Resisters or War Resisters.

First World War

An important movement of non-religious war resistors goes back to the First World War. Strong resistance against joining the military in response to conscription arose in the United States, Britain, and some other European countries. At the time, other social movements and ideologies – first wave feminism and international socialism – aligned with the onset of a global war that many people felt was unnecessary and that supported the interests of imperialists and capitalists. As a result, there were a number of men, mainly in the U.S. and Britain, who chose to resist the draft because they objected to the war on philosophical and political grounds. They were often supported by women’s organizations that were simultaneously lobbying for the right to vote. Because these men were not considered legitimate Conscientious Objectors by the government, they were subject to arrest and often sentenced to prison terms.

After the war, an organization called War Resisters’ International was formed in 1921 to protect the rights of non-religious Conscientious Objectors and war resisters. This organization is still active today in advocacy against mandatory military service and for anti-militarist causes generally. You can find contemporary CO stories on their website: War Resisters' International.

American Wars in Vietnam and Iraq

Two more recent examples of draft and war resistance took place during the American War in Vietnam (mid-1950s to mid-1970s) and the war in Iraq (post-9/11). Both wars saw American men and women take stances as conscientious objectors, draft resisters, or war resisters.

You are probably familiar with the Vietnam War, during which as many as 40,000 American draft resisters – often called draft ‘dodgers’ – crossed the border to Canada because they refused to answer the call-up for military service. While many young men were exempted as religious COs who were members of historic peace churches, many more refused to fight because they considered the American war effort immoral, and so they ‘resisted’ the draft that was enacted in 1969. Facing imprisonment in the U.S., they came to Canada and were welcomed by the Canadian government. Many stayed and became permanent residents while others returned to the U.S. when amnesty was offered in 1977.

Others chose to evade the draft but remain in their own country, a risky thing to do. Another group – some estimates are as high as 500,000 – chose to be deserters which meant they went AWOL (absent without leave) and left their military postings. They made this choice for many reasons, a main one being disillusionment with the American military campaign. As the anti-war movement grew in the U.S. and around the world, public attitudes towards COs, draft resisters, and deserters shifted. For many people, they became heroes rather than villains.

The American War in Vietnam certainly represented a turning point in the popularity and acceptance of a stance against military service, that wasn’t only based on religious principles, but was secular and, for some, selective.

In your reading by Luke Stewart, "Rewriting History: Iraq War Resistors’ Struggle for Asylum in Canada and the Mythology of Vietnam," the above case is compared with a more recent one. After 9/11, a U.S.-led coalition of forces attacked Iraq in 2003. Like the American war in Vietnam, this military campaign initially had substantial public support in western countries including Canada. However, this declined as casualty rates rose and news emerged about atrocities committed by American forces towards Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

Although there was no draft in the U.S. at the time (unlike in the Vietnam War), hundreds of American soldiers developed moral stances against the war and deserted their posts. As Stewart outlines, about 200 deserters came to Canada beginning in 2004. Unlike the resisters and deserters who easily obtained permanent residency in Canada during the Vietnam War era, the Iraq (and some from Afghanistan) war resisters were not allowed to stay in the country as immigrants, but instead made a claim for refugee status on the grounds that they would be persecuted for their beliefs if they were sent back to the U.S. This has not been easy for these men and women. A few were deported back to the U.S. where they were imprisoned.

Contemporary

The focus on historic examples of Conscientious Objection, and the fact that there hasn’t been conscription in Canada for seventy-five years, can lead one to think that it isn’t a present-day issue. However, many countries in the world maintain some laws and expectations around mandatory military service. Some countries have ‘forced’ conscription for all male citizens. Some countries have a ‘selective’ form of conscription for certain categories of people. Some countries have a ‘mandatory’ military service that may not include a combat requirement, especially for women. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2019 there are sixty countries with active conscription programs, some of which include women.³

Today there are human rights codes that are used as guideposts in determining the rights of COs. For example, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights says nations should:

[Recognize] the right of everyone to have conscientious objection to military service as a legitimate exercise of the right of freedom and thought, conscience and religion as laid down in article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.⁴

War Resisters’ International monitors conscription and laws regarding conscientious objection around the world.

In countries where there is no active conscription program, anti-war activists sometimes express themselves by refusing to pay a portion of their income tax that supports military activity. This is the fifth type of Conscientious Objection noted at the beginning of this module.

Conscience Canada, founded in 1978, has the following goals:

• Increase Canadians’ awareness of the connection between taxes and war.
• Divert taxes away from war.
• Support creative nonviolent conflict prevention and resolution.
• Promote conscientious objection legislation.

Its main program is helping Canadians divert military taxes to non-violent security.