Conscientious objection

Conscientious objection is refusal to perform military service or another duty because it conflicts with a person's moral, religious, or ethical convictions.

Alternative civilian service: Nonmilitary public service offered or required as an alternative to military service. It is a common substitute for military duties refused on grounds of conscience.
Religious pacifism: Opposition to war grounded in religious belief and a commitment to nonviolence. Pacifist traditions supplied enduring grounds for refusing military service.
Pacifism: The principle that violence and war are morally unacceptable, or that disputes should be settled without violence. Pacifism is a broader conviction that can motivate, but is not required for, objection.
Nuremberg trials: Postwar trials of major German leaders for crimes committed during the Second World War. The trials emphasized that following orders does not erase individual responsibility for crimes.
Selective conscientious objection: Refusal to participate in a particular war or military operation while accepting military service in general. It narrows objection from military service itself to specific conflicts or orders.
Anabaptism: A Christian movement originating in the sixteenth century that emphasizes adult baptism and includes traditions of nonviolence. Mennonite and related Anabaptist communities have long resisted military participation.
Freedom of conscience: The liberty to hold and act on moral or religious convictions without coercion. This broader right is the principle often invoked to justify conscientious refusal.
United States Supreme Court conscientious objection cases: A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting statutory claims to conscientious-objector status. These decisions shaped which beliefs and objections qualify for legal recognition in the United States.
Military conscription: Compulsory enrollment of people into a state's armed forces. Objection most often arises when conscription makes military service compulsory.
Quakers: Members of the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian movement with a historic testimony against war. Quaker opposition to war helped establish religious refusal as a public claim.

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