Ethical Culture is a religious Movement founded in America in 1876. It is organized in local Societies with full-time professional Leaders who perform services like those of ministers and rabbis. Its national organization is called the American Ethical Union.

Throughout the history of Ethical Culture its Leaders have taught that an ethical concern for the well-being of all mankind should be central in religion and in life -- that this concern should transcend the division of mankind in various races, religions and nations -- and that all human beings have a worth and dignity which must not be violated by treating them merely as means to our own ends.

These values have led many members and friends of Ethical Culture to a pacifist position on war, and many others with equally sincere convictions to a non-pacifist position. The American Ethical Union does not attempt to answer this question of conscience for its members, but it does declare the question of individual participation in or support of war to be a moral question of the highest order, a question which cannot be rightfully ignored.

When a young man who is liable for military service believes that war is wrong he has not only the moral right but the moral responsibility to announce himself as a conscientious objector. No matter whether such young men have grown up in our religious fellowship or have independently come to share our ethical-and religious values, we will endeavor to assist them in thinking through their conscientious positions and in securing their full legal rights.

We invite such young men, including those who are below draft age, to register their convictions with the Fellowship of Ethical Pacifists, 2 West 64th Street, New York, N.Y. 10023 and to call upon its services or the services of the Ethical Culture Leader in their community. The Fellowship of the Ethical Pacifists is a religious association within the American Ethical Union and an affiliate of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Source: Where We Stand ... 1969

Copyright © 2001 American Ethical Union.
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