The Church of God and Military Service

During the course of life, a Christian must deal with significant issues that require wise counsel and seasoned thinking. One such issue is whether or not military involvement is acceptable.

The Church of God has within its constituency (as has the Christian faith throughout history) both those who accept and those who object to military service.

The purpose of this resource is to:

1. Answer some of the most frequently asked questions about military service.
2. Provide information for the searching person.
3. Present the support of the Church of God for people in their search.

The information contained herein is based on current laws and rulings and is subject to changes by the United States Congress.

The following pages are designed to assist men and women in their journey toward personal and conscientious action regarding military service. This document is motivated by the desire to provide support and counsel to young men and women regarding a most serious — and sometimes contentious — life choice.

• View or download a PDF version of the complete document.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

General Information about the Selective Service System and your obligations —

• Can I be drafted into the Armed Forces?
• Who must register for the draft?
• Must women register?
• Where and how do I register?
• What information do I give when I register?
• How will I know I am properly registered?
• What happens if I don't register?
• How will I know if I will be drafted?
• If the draft is reinstated, will my special circumstances be taken into account?
• Do you have any suggestions for making a responsible Christian decision about military service?

Questions about enlisting and objecting—

• What if I want to enlist in the armed forces? Will the Church of God be supportive?
• What is a military chaplain?
• What if I am a conscientious objector to war?
• What should I do if I believe I am a conscientious objector?
• What if I object to some wars but not to others?
• What if, in addition to being a conscientious objector, I decide that I cannot in good conscience even register for the draft?

HELPFUL AGENCIES

BOOKS AND MORE

STATEMENT OF CONVICTION

 General Information about the Selective Service System and your obligations —

Can I be drafted into the Armed Forces?
Conscription (the draft) ended in the United States in 1973. It could be reinstated, however, at any time by an act of Congress.

Who must register for the draft?
All male citizens and resident aliens are required by law to register with the Selective Service System during a sixty-day period that begins thirty days before their eighteenth birthday.

Must women register?
The Supreme Court ruled in 1981 that at the present male-only registration is constitutional. There are no plans to require women to register at this time. Congress would have to amend the law in order for women to be drafted. Under federal regulations (the Solomon Amendment), however, all female college students requesting federal financial aid for education must sign a statement that they do not have to register.

Where and how do I register?
Registration is accomplished by filling out a form at any local post office or overseas consular office. It is wise to make a copy of your completed registration form at the time you register as proof of registration until you receive official confirmation of registration from Selective Service.

What information do I give when I register?
Full name, sex, date of birth, social security number, current mailing address, permanent residence, and current phone number are required. You must also sign a statement affirming that the information is true. Postal officials may request that you present some identification, but presenting ID is not required. Selective Service is authorized to give the names and addresses of all registrants to military recruiters.

How will I know I am properly registered?
Registrants are to be notified within ninety days of their registration by a letter of confirmation. It may actually be delayed up to five months. That is why a copy of the completed registration form for your records is important. The confirmation letter should be kept in a safe place. It indicates what was recorded and has a tear-off section to carry with you. A form to report incorrect information is supplied, additional copies of which can be obtained at the post office.

What happens if I don't register?
It is a felony. The law provides penalties of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, or both, for failing to register. Anyone who does not register as required by law faces possible prosecution. The Solomon Amendment requires that young men be registered before they can be eligible for government-backed financial aid for higher education or job training programs. As stated earlier, women must certify that they are not required to register.

How will I know if I will be drafted?
If Congress passed legislation to resume the draft, there is a random selection process, commonly called a lottery, which would assign a number arbitrarily to the birth dates in a given calendar year. These assignments would take place in the year a person becomes nineteen. Those numbers would be well publicized. If you were not drafted by the year you turned twenty, your vulnerability to the draft would decrease each year thereafter.

If the draft is reinstated, will my special circumstances be taken into account?
There is a classification system that allows for deferments and exemptions for physical and mental health conditions, extreme hardship to dependents, ministerial students and ministers, and surviving sons whose father, brother, or sister was killed in action or died as a result of injury or illness incurred while on active duty. If you are the only child in your family, you are still subject to the draft. A special service category is provided for persons with moral, ethical, and religious objections to participation in the war. There are no student deferments, but your induction can be postponed until you complete the term or until you graduate if you are in the last year of school. There would be no classification before the induction orders would be issued. At that time, there would be an opportunity to claim all the classifications to which one is entitled.

Do you have any suggestions for making a responsible Christian decision about military service?
Prayer, study, reflection, sharing, and testing under the guidance of God's Spirit will lead you to faithful decisions.

• Begin to pray for guidance from God as you make your decision.
• Read the Bible to help you discern how your decision will lead you to doing God's will and to being a part of the Kingdom that Jesus describes.
• Talk with others about their experiences in military service and with those who oppose it; ask them about their decisions, their beliefs, and how they relate their decisions to faith in Jesus Christ.
• Talk with your minister, a counselor, your parents, or someone else that you trust who will listen carefully, help you consider the options, and help you to make a decision that is consistent with your faith.

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Questions about enlisting and objecting —

What if I want to enlist in the armed forces? Will the Church of God be supportive?
Yes, the Church of God recognizes that Christians can and do, in good conscience, enlist and serve in the military. Further, the church helps recruit, train, and support chaplains who provide for worship and pastoral care for members of the armed forces. The church also advocates that local congregations should support those in the armed forces with prayer and regular communication. If you are considering enlisting, you may wish to talk with a minister, counselor, family, or trusted friend about why you want to join the military in order to be clear with yourself about your reasons.

Talk to recruiters from each of the services. Examine the options they give you and choose the one that meets your skills, interest, and needs for joining the military. Get every promise of training confirmed in writing and signed by the recruiter.

If you are or will be a college student, you may wish to examine the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs available on some campuses. Large universities often offer ROTC programs from each branch of the armed forces. These programs provide officer training while you are in college. Many provide financial aid for schooling. Once you graduate, ROTC requirements completed, you will be commissioned as an officer (second lieutenant or the equivalent) and serve active duty for several years and then in the reserves. This approach may suit your style and schedule.

Whichever approach to military service you decide to take, do not be afraid to live out and share your faith convictions while serving within the military. As a Church of God military service member, you are expected to refrain from consuming alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs. If you feel you are ever being asked or ordered to compromise any generally accepted practice, standard, or element of your Church of God faith beliefs, seek out the counsel and support of your chaplain or of individuals higher up in your chain of command. If these avenues fail to help resolve the issue, then seek the assistance of the coordinator of Chaplain Ministries within Church of God Ministries.

While serving in the military, you are encouraged to continue to grow spiritually, and to maintain and carry out the practices and generally accepted holiness standards and beliefs of the Church of God reformation movement. You are encouraged to continue to maintain close ties with your family and your home Church of God congregation through regular correspondence and contact, a mutual covenant of prayer support, and financial support. Whenever you are stationed near a Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) congregation, you are encouraged to contact its pastor, attend its worship services and other related activities, become involved, and invite others to join you.

You are also encouraged to seek out the other Christians within your unit or command, offer them your friendship and encouragement, join with them in Bible studies and prayer fellowships, and offer your aid with various command humanitarian assistance projects.

If you are enlisted, connect with Christian Military Fellowship (CMF), PO Box 1207, Englewood, CO 80150-1207, 303-761-1959, or www.cmf.com. CMF supports military personnel and their families, worldwide, with prayer, Bible studies, local fellowships, conferences, referrals, free literature, correspondence, hospitality, and Christian resources.

If you are an officer, try to join or start a local Officers' Christian Fellowship (OCF) group. Further information on how to join or start an OCF group, the purpose and vision of OCF, its statement of faith, spiritual pillars, etc. can be found by writing to OCF, 3784 South Inca, Englewood, CO 80110, calling 800-424-1984, or visiting ocfusa.org.

If you become involved in any form of the military service, seek out a chaplain. Tell them that you are a Christian and ask for a schedule of worship services and other church-related activities. Indicate that you want to be involved.

What is a military chaplain?
Military chaplains are non-combatant commissioned officers endorsed by their particular religious bodies to perform ministry within the military. They provide for the religious needs of people within their faith tradition serving in the military in the same manner as they would as a pastor, priest, or rabbi ministering within their respective civilian communities. They develop and implement religious programs and activities, help facilitate the faith needs of others, and provide pastoral care and confidential counseling to all individuals and their dependents within the military. Chaplains also serve as advisors to military commanders on matters of religion, morals, and morale.

What if I am a conscientious objector to war?
The Church of God has a significant tradition as a peace church, and therefore, it supports individuals who register as conscientious objectors. Early documents of the church make strong statements regarding opposition to war and to participation in military service.

The present draft law limits the provision for conscientious objection to those who are opposed to participation in war in any form. This conviction must be based on religious training and belief; the Supreme Court has ruled that this includes deeply held moral or ethical beliefs as well.

Individuals who are opposed only to their personal use of weapons in war but would be willing to serve in the armed forces would be inducted and assigned to non-combatant service.

Those who are conscientiously opposed to any military service would be, instead of being inducted, ordered to alternative service. Such service would perhaps be in church-sponsored programs that meet the legal requirements of service in the "national health, safety, and interest." In current rules and regulations, alternative-service workers would serve just as long as those drafted into the armed forces, and rates of pay are recommended to be at the prevailing rates for such work.

It is important to know that the special benefits afforded to those who complete military service are not available to those who complete alternative service.

What should I do if I believe I am a conscientious objector?
Be clear in your own mind of your reasons for being a conscientious objector. Talk with your family, minister, counselor, or concerned friends about your beliefs and feelings. Contact a counseling organization for the latest materials on qualifying as a conscientious objector (see the list of organizations at end of this document).

Contact the Congregational Ministries Team, Church of God Ministries, PO Box 2420, Anderson, IN 46018-2420, 765-648-2107 or 800-848-2464, and request a CCCO Card (Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors). The CCCO is an agency for military and draft counseling. The card is a perforated, three-part document that is to be completed and mailed. One part is sent to the Congregational Ministries Team, Church of God Ministries, PO Box 2420, Anderson, IN 46018-2420. The second part goes to CCCO national office (address is included). And the third part is kept for your own records. The sooner this is done, the better. Some youth are undertaking this task as early as age fifteen or sixteen. The action states to the military that it is a matter of record that the conviction has been held for some time.

There is no charge for the CCCO application, and being on the CCCO mailing list supplies the applicant with a newsletter that keeps him informed of the latest military draft information. Start a file of thoughts and activities about peace and non-violence. Prepare practice answers to questions that may be asked by your draft board. Since you may later be required to substantiate your claim, these records together with some letters from those who can attest to your activity and sincerity will be important.

Send a statement of your beliefs to Congregational Ministries Team, Church of God Ministries, PO Box 2420, Anderson, IN 46018-2420.

What if I object to some wars but not to others?
Selective conscientious objection is objection to participation in a particular war or wars. Many Christians who claim selective objection base their claim on an understanding of the just war tradition. This term should never be construed as meaning 'righteous war' but should be understood closer in meaning to 'justifiable war' in the sense that armed conflict may be determined as the most responsible of various moral options in a given situation, such as:

• Exhausting all other means to resolve conflict before resorting to violence.
• A declaration of reasons for going to war (as in the Declaration of Independence).
• Having proportionality: that things should turn out better than if a nation did not go to war.
• Having morally just purposes (self defense).
• The actual declaration and conduct of the war must be subject to the restraint of legitimate political leadership.

These statements, adopted by and incorporated in international law, have been considered guidelines determining a nation's participation in war. Many Christians see them also as traditional teaching of the church. The restrictions of the traditional teaching about justifiable war are broad. Many others believe that few, if any wars, ever qualified, and virtually no future war as presently imagined would. While the law specifically excludes from CO status those who want to "choose their wars," the "selective objector" may qualify as a legal conscientious objector under present law. Such a person should keep a record of beliefs. Even if denied CO classification by a local board and having lost all appeals, the evidence of conscience and sincerity in the file might be a mitigating factor in any subsequent court case.

What if, in addition to being a conscientious objector, I decide that I cannot in good conscience even register for the draft?
Failure to comply with the law and regulations of the Selective Service System is a felony if convicted. Nevertheless, people are aware that their opposition to war may also include opposition to participating in preparation for war, and they feel that registration has those political and military purposes.

At present, only the most vocal or self-reporting non-registrants are being prosecuted, but if this is your stance, begin to prepare yourself spiritually and psychologically for possible trial and imprisonment. Gather support around you. Contact one of the groups listed in the back for referral to an attorney knowledgeable about current draft law. As described earlier, keep a record of your convictions and behavior accessible

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HELPFUL AGENCIES

American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org
General Offices: 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102; 215-241-7000
Central Region: 4211 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50312; 515-274-4851
The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, AFSC's work attracts the support and partnership of people of many races, religions, and cultures. AFSC's work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. The organization's mission and achievements won worldwide recognition in 1947 when it accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with the British Friends Service Council on behalf of all Quakers.

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) objector.org
1515 Cherry St, Philadelphia, PA 19102; 215-563-8787; Fax 215-567-2096
405 15th St. #205, Oakland, CA 94612; 510-465-1617; Fax 510-465-2459
E-mail for either location: info@objector.org
An agency for military and draft counseling. Aids individuals and groups on matters of conscience, war, and militarism. Trains and maintains a nationwide listing of draft counselors and attorneys who know draft law. Provides counseling and legal help to those who need discharge from the military. Educates potential recruits about numerous problems in military life that recruiters do not mention. CCCO supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war.

The Center on Conscience and War
(formerly the National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors [NIBSCO]). www.centeronconscience.org
1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009; 202-483-2220; Fax 202-483-1246
Formed in 1940 by an association of religious bodies. CCW works to defend and extend the rights of conscientious objectors. The center is committed to supporting all those who question participation in war, whether they are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, documented or undocumented immigrants—or citizens in other countries. Services are provided to the public at no charge. CCW participates in the G.I. Rights Hotline, a national referral and counseling service for military person-nel. In the event of a military draft, CCW will assist in the placement of conscientious objectors in alternative service programs. The center is opposed to all forms of conscription.

Church of God Peace Fellowship
1826 St. James Place, Anderson, IN 46012
Annual membership dues: $20, single; $35, couple; $10, student. Membership entitles you to the Peace Fellowship Newsletter, a resource to inform you about justice and peace issues worldwide, and conferences offered annually in June at the North American Convention of the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana.

The Selective Service System www.sss.gov
The mission of the Selective Service System is to provide manpower to the armed forces in an emergency and to run an alternative service program for men classified as conscientious objectors during a draft.

Selective Service would provide manpower to the military by conducting a draft using a list of young men's names gathered through the Selective Service registration process. Virtually all men—ages eighteen through twenty-five—must register. Only if there is high compliance with this law will a future draft be fair and equitable. The obligation of a man to register is imposed by the Military Selective Service Act, which establishes and governs the operations of the Selective Service System.

The alternative service program would provide public service work assignments in America's communities in lieu of military service for men classified as conscientious objectors to all military service.

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BOOKS AND MORE

Bainton, Roland H. Christian Attitudes Towards War and Peace. Abingdon.
Bainton examines the writings of the early church leaders and evolving Christian attitudes toward participation in war, showing how Christians came to terms with the state.

Bernbaum, John A., ed. Perspectives on Peacemaking—Biblical Options in the Nuclear Age. Regal Books.
Collection of writings representing many points of view.

Birch, Bruce C. Bible and Ethics in the Christian Life. Augsburg.
Helps to provide a process for ethical decision-making.

Callen, Barry. Following the Light: Teachings, Testimonies, Trials, and Triumphs of the Church of God Movement, Anderson, Indiana. Available from Warner Press at 877-346-3974; D8900.
A record of decisions, direction-changing events, and resolutions of the General Assembly of the Church of God; contains resolutions of the General Assembly regarding war, peace, conscientious objection, and support of both military and objectors.

Choice or Change?
A twenty-minute video that explores much of the advertising campaigns offered by armed services recruiters. Order from Registration Draft Media Project, c/o American Friends Service Committee, address above.

Clouse, Robert G., ed. War: Four Christian Views. Intervarsity Press.
Differing writers argue for biblical non-resistance (noncombat CO); Christian pacifism; just war or preventive war positions.

Culver, Robert Duncan. The Peace Mongers. Tyndale.
Discusses and rejects the pacifist position.

Seeley, Robert A Handbook for Conscientious Objectors. 13th edition. Order from CCCO, address above.
An excellent book for anyone facing draft registration or counseling someone who is.

Yoder, John Howard. What Would You Do? Herald Press.
An edited collection of pacifist responses to the question, What would you do if a loved one was being attacked?

STATEMENT OF CONVICTION

Editor's Note: The following statement of conviction is excerpted from a resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of God in regular session, June 16, 1966. The full resolution is available in Following the Light (see Books and More above). At the time of this resolution, it was not possible for women to participate in combat duty. Since that time, the restrictions on women serving in combat positions have been lifted. Therefore, in the following statement, the words men and his should be understood as inclusive of both men and women. While this statement of conviction focuses on conscientious objection, it should not be construed as a statement against military service. As stated below, the Church of God does not condemn or reject those who differ from this statement of conviction.

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