Conscientious Objection
(see also Military Recruitment, Christian Pacificism, Anti-War Movements Past & Nonviolence Movement)
Basics
Conscientious Objection (Reader's Companion to American History).
Nyack Declaration of Conscience & Courage (2005).
On the Web: Articles
Marine Who Said No to Killing On His Conscience. Duncan Campbell, Guardian (4/1/03).
The Conflict of Ages: A Treatise on the Dichotomy between Military Service & the Kingdom of God [1997]. Daniel H. Shubin (rev. ed. 2002).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
American Friends Service Committee National Youth & Militarism Program.
Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.
Committee Opposed to Militarism & the Draft. Opposes the institution of the military, its budget, its fraudulent recruitment practices, its effect on society, its role at home & abroad, & the racism, sexism & homophobia that inhere within it. Tracks legislation & carries out community education & direct action.
European Bureau for Conscientious Objection.
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR).
I Will Not Kill Campaign (FOR).
Jeff Paterson (ex-Marine who refused service in Gulf War).
Kevin Benderman Defense Committee (soldier who refused second tour of duty in Iraq).
National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund.
National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors. Counselling for those considering enlistment or non-registration with Selective Service.
Project on Youth & Non-Military Opportunities (YANO). Encinitas, CA.
Resource Center for Nonviolence (Santa Cruz, CA).
Selective Service Draft Registration Freeze Initiative Resolution Committee.
In the Library: Articles
Bielski, Vince. "A Marine no more," San Francisco Bay Guardian (1/9/91).
Lemke-Santangelo, Gretchen. "The radical conscientious objectors of World War II: wartime experience & postwar activism," Radical History Review 45 (1989):5-29.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Amnesty International. Conscientious Objection to Military Service (NY, 1991).
Axelrad, Albert S. Call to Conscience: Jews, Judaism & Conscientious Objection (Hoboken NJ: Ktav, 1986).
Barker, Rachel. Conscience, Government, & War: Conscientious Objection in Great Britain, 1939-1945 (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982).
Bennett, Scott H. Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League & Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963 (Syracuse NY: Syracuse U., 2003).
Brock, Peter (ed.) Liberty & Conscience: A Documentary History of the Experiences of Conscientious Objectors in America through the Civil War (NY: Oxford, 2002).
Chacham, Ronit. Breaking Ranks: Refusing to Serve in the West Bank & Gaza Strip (NY: Other, 2003).
Eller, Cynthia. Conscientious Objectors & the Second World War: Moral & Religious Arguments in Support of Pacifism (NY: Praeger, 1991).
Finn, James (ed.) A Conflict of Loyalties: The Case for Selective Conscientious Objection (NY: Pegasus, 1968).
Flynn, Eileen P. My Country Right or Wrong? Selective Conscientious Objection in the Nuclear Age (Chicago: Loyola U, 1985).
Foley, Michael S. Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War (Chapel Hill: U. North Carolina, 2003).
Forest, James H. Catholics & Conscientious Objection (NY: Catholic Peace Fellowship, 1969).
Frazer, Heather T. & John O'Sullivan. We Have Just Begun to Not Fight: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in Civilian Public Service during World War II (NY: Twayne, 1996).
Goodall, Felicity. A Question of Conscience: Conscientious Objection in the Two World Wars (Thrupp, Stroud: Sutton, 1997).
Goossen, Rachael Waltner. Women against the Good War: Conscientious Objection & Gender on the American Home Front, 1941-1947 (Chapel Hil: U. North Carolina, 1997).
Kohn, Stephen M. Jailed for Peace: The History of American Draft Laws Violators, 1658-1985 (Westport CT: Greenwood, 1986).
Moskos, Charles C. & John Whiteclay Chambers II. The New Conscientious Objection: From Sacred to Secular Resistance (NY: Oxford, 1993).
Noone, Michael F. (ed.) Selective Conscientious Objection: Accommodating Conscience & Security (Boulder: Westview, 1989).
Peterson, Carl L. Avoidance & Evasion of Military Service: An American History, 1626-1973 (San Francisco: International Scholars, 1998).
Schlissel, Lillian. Conscience in America: A Documentary History of Conscietious Objectin in America, 1757-1967 (NY: Dutton, 1968).
Sibley, Mulford Q. & Ada Wardlaw. Conscientious Objectors in Prison, 1940-1945 (Philadelphia: Pacifist Research Bureau, 1945).
__________. Conscription of Conscience: The American State & the Conscientious Objector, 1940-1947 (Ithaca: Cornell U, 1952).
Starkey, Pat. I Will Not Fight: Conscientious Objectors & Pacifists in the North West During the Second World War (Liverpool: Liverpool U, 1992).
Swomley, John M. Let's Take a Look at the Facts about Military Training & National Health (NY: Anti-Conscription Committee, 1945).
__________. Advocates of Universal Peacetime Military Training Say It's Not Conscription: But If It's Compulsory, It's Conscription! (NY: Anti-Conscription Committee, 1945).
__________. The Peace Offensive & the Cold War (Washington: National Council Against Conscription, 1954).
__________. We Denounced the Universal Conscription of the Axis Nations. Now Our Leaders Say the UN Must Have It! The Only Way Out is Through the International Abolition of Conscription (NY: Anti-Conscription Committee, 1945).
Tollefson, James W. The Strength Not to Fight. An Oral History of Conscientious
Objectors to the Vietnam War (Boston, 1993).
Wright, Edward Needles. Conscientious Objectors in the Civil War
(NY: A.S. Barnes, 1961).
In the Library: Fiction
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"The Good War & Those Who Refused to Fight It" [2000], dir. Rick Tejada-Flores & Judith Ehrlich, 57m. From Bullfrog Films.
"Thou Shalt Not Kill" [1961], dir. Claude Autant-Lara, 129m. In video stores. Trial of a French conscientious objector in World War II.