Conscientious objector

A conscientious objector refuses military service because military participation conflicts with deeply held moral or religious beliefs. Legal systems may recognize the objection and provide alternative service.

Alternative civilian service: Public or community work performed instead of compulsory military service. Some states require recognized objectors to serve in civilian roles rather than enlist.
Desmond Doss: A U.S. Army medic and Seventh-day Adventist who served without carrying a weapon during World War II. His service illustrates how objection to bearing arms can coexist with noncombat military duty.
Religious Society of Friends: A Christian movement whose members are commonly known as Quakers and whose traditions emphasize peace. Quaker peace testimony has shaped religious objections to military service.
Pacifism: The conviction that violence and war are morally unacceptable, or should be rejected as a means of resolving conflict. Pacifism can motivate objection, but objectors need not oppose every war or all violence.
Nuremberg principles: Principles of international law affirming individual responsibility for crimes under international law. They raise questions about when moral duty may require refusing unlawful military orders.
Selective Service System: The United States agency that maintains records of people potentially subject to military conscription. Its rules describe how U.S. registrants may claim conscientious objection if a draft occurs.
Bayard Rustin: An American civil rights activist imprisoned during World War II for refusing military service. His case links conscientious objection to pacifism and racial justice activism.
Mennonites: A Christian Anabaptist tradition with communities that have often practiced pacifism and nonresistance. Mennonite communities have repeatedly negotiated exemptions from military service.
Selective conscientious objection: Refusal to serve in a particular war while accepting military service in other circumstances. Some legal systems recognize only opposition to all wars, excluding selective objections.
Freedom of conscience: The right to hold and act on beliefs about moral, religious, or philosophical questions. Legal protection for objectors is one application of this broader liberty.

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