WHEREAS the present Selective Service Act denies recognition to conscientious objectors whose claims are not based on "religious training and belief" and also denies recognition to those who distinguish, often on a religious basis, between morally acceptable and morally unacceptable warfare, and

WHEREAS some conscientious objectors also believe that cooperation with the draft law, itself, would violate their consciences, lend support to a morally repugnant war, and sanction- involuntary servitude in violation of the Constitution; and

WHEREAS as a result of this law thousands of Americans who have conscientiously resisted military conscription and service or engaged in nonviolent symbolic acts of protest against it are now in prison, awaiting trial, in voluntary exile, or suffering other severe handicaps; and

WHEREAS there is a precedent in the United States for amnesty to heal divisions and to restore persons to useful citizenship who have refused, for reasons of conscience, to cooperate with the Selective Service System or the armed forces; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 1969 Assembly of the American Ethical Union call upon the President of the United States to grant amnesty to all those who have for reasons of conscience engaged in non-violent symbolic acts of protest against the Selective Service System, refused to cooperate with Selective Service or refused induction into or continued service in the armed forces.

Source: Where We Stand ... 1969

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