Conscription

Conscription is a general term for involuntary labour demanded by some established authority, e.g, Old Testament commentaries use the term to describe the levies of labour used to build the Temple, but it is most often used in the specific sense of government policies that require citizens to serve in their armed forces. It is known by various names — for example, the most recent conscription program in the United States was known colloquially as "the draft". Many nations do not maintain conscription forces, instead relying on a volunteer, or professional military, although many of these countries still reserve the possibility of conscription for wartime and "crises" of supply.

Conscientious objection

"It is debasing human dignity to force men to give up their life, or to inflict death against their will, or without conviction as to the justice of their action." -- Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, et al, in the "Manifesto Against Conscription and the Military System"

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A conscientious objector is an individual whose personal beliefs are incompatible with military service, or sometimes with any role in the armed forces. In some countries, conscientious objectors have special legal status which augments their conscription duties. For example, Sweden allows conscientious objectors to choose a service in the "weapons-free" branch, such as an airport fireman, nurse or telecommunications technician. The reasons for refusing to serve are varied. Many conscientious objectors are so for religious reasons -- notably, the Quakers are pacifist by doctrine, and Jehovah's Witnesses, while not strictly speaking pacifists, refuse to participate in the armed services on the grounds that they believe Christians should be neutral in worldly conflicts (also see Conscientious objection).

Related Topics:
Conscientious objector - Military service - Sweden - Fireman - Nurse - Telecommunications - Quakers - Pacifist - Jehovah's Witnesses - Christian - Conscientious objection

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The provisions for conscientious objection to the draft have been viewed as unfairly discriminatory, favoring religious objection over non-religious objection, and favoring those who value peace and non-violence over those who value freedom. Alternative mandatory service can assuage objections based on peace and non-violence, but do nothing for those who objections arise from strongly held convictions about freedom.

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