Conscience
Objection and Catholic Church Teaching
Conscience can be defined as an internal law that
is not self-imposed, but is written in the heart and
soul by God (paraphrased from The Church in the
Modern World). Conscience calls a person to search
for the truth, to love good, and to avoid evil. Conscience
recognizes a loyalty to God and God’s teachings
that is higher than loyalty to any person, institution
(including the military), or nation-state.
People who follow their consciences and refuse to
participate in wholesale killing are often called
traitors to their country and to freedom and justice.
But it is anything but unpatriotic to follow your
conscience; many people with sincere love for their
country and its people and a desire to see good come
from it have refused to participate in killing in
the name of their country.
For many, the teachings of Jesus are instrumental:
in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus laid out instructions
for how to live and how to treat one another. Jesus
called for a love that goes beyond family and friends
to include even those considered enemies.
But can war, especially modern warfare with its potential
for the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons
as well as massive bombardment with conventional weapons,
fit this example of love? Wars are no longer fought
primarily on battlefields between members of armed
forces; instead, today’s wars often target civilians
and the infrastructure on which their lives depend
(water systems, schools, hospitals, etc.) In fact,
by the 1990s, civilians accounted for 90% of war casualties.
The Catholic Church explicitly condemns this type
of warfare in The Church in the Modern World:
"Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the
destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along
with their population is a crime against God and man
himself [sic]. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating
condemnation."
The recognition that war and the very structure of
the military itself, with its emphasis on obeying
orders rather than following conscience, violate the
teachings of Jesus has led many Christians to be among
those who refuse to participate in war. The Catholic
Church recognizes that people have a right to conscientious
objection.
Catholic
Church Teachings
Catholic Church doctrine for many centuries advanced
"just war theory"- that wars could be
conducted if they met certain conditions. During
the twentieth century, when new horrors of absolute
warfare haunted the planet and killed tens of millions,
the Catholic Church acknowledged that Catholic faith
could lead one to reject war. Numerous statements
from the Vatican and the U.S. Catholic bishops have
asserted the right of conscientious objection for
those for whom military participation would be a
violation of "deeply held moral convictions."
U.S. military policy states that a conscientious
objector must reject all war. The Catholic Church
has gone further, calling for recognition of and
legal protection for selective conscientious objectors:
those who reject war or military participation under
certain circumstances (such as serving in a capacity
where one is responsible for using nuclear weapons)
or a particular war (such as a war of aggression
or one that does not meet just war criteria). (An
example of the latter might be the potential war
against Iraq, which the U.S. bishops in November
2002 said does not meet just war criteria (http://www.usccb.org/bishops/iraq.htm.)
The U.S. Bishops’ Declaration on Conscientious
Objection and Selective Conscientious Objection
(1971) states, "In the light of the Gospel
and from an analysis of the church’s teaching
on conscience, it is clear that a Catholic can be
a conscientious objector to war in general or to
a particular war ‘because of religious training
and belief.’ . . .we should regard conscientious
objection and selective conscientious objection
as positive indicators within the Church of a sound
moral awareness and respect for human life."
Over and over, this position has been reaffirmed,
including in the bishops’ November 2002 statement
on Iraq: "We also support those who seek to
exercise their right to conscientious objection
and selective conscientious objection."
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