Marine Refuses to Use Guns ... Marine Cpl. Joel D. Klimkewicz converted to the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day saints while in the Marines, and now believes that killing is against Jesus' teachings. As such, he refused to train with a gun though he says he would be willing to clear mines and work the front lines. The result is that the military has jailed him for his religious beliefs, convicting him of disobeying a direct order. Anyone think that Bill O'Reilly is going to say the military is trying to destroy Christianity?
posted by nathanrudy
on Jan 1, 2005 -
71 comments
Dear Leo, Dear Mohandas "The longer I live -- especially now when I clearly feel the approach of death -- the more I feel moved to express what I feel more strongly than anything else... the doctrine of the law of love unperverted by sophistries. Love... the highest and indeed the only law of life".
The Kingdom of God Is Within You (full text available) is
Leo Tolstoy's tractatus of "
Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion but as a New Theory of Life", a primer of (among other things) the doctrine of
non-violence. Among the many
fans of the 1894 book was an
imprisoned Hindu barrister, a
"half-naked fakir" if you want, a certain
Mohandas K.
Gandhi who was fascinated by
"the independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness" of the
book. So he ended up writing fan letters to the great Russian man: who warmly wrote back to his young Indian "friend and brother". The old wise
Christian anarchist literary
giant and the shy, insecure
young man who sparked a revolution: to paraphrase another wise,
badly-dressed , pacifist old man, "Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such men ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."
posted by matteo
on Jun 17, 2004 -
16 comments
Advice for Conscientious Objectors in the Armed Forces (
html version). "A comprehensive, step-by-step guide to applying for conscientious objector status. This edition....builds upon a tradition which began in 1970 with the First Edition.
Advice has since reached over 40,000 military men and women who had decided that they could no longer in good conscience remain in the military. The 1970
Advice spoke to a generation troubled by the war in Vietnam. This generation of conscientious objectors, too, has seen war--most recently in the Persian Gulf, and before that in Panama. It has experienced the end of the Cold War and the flowering of hopes for peace; and it has watched as those hopes turned to disappointment in the chaotic, dangerous post-Cold War world." The
G.I. Rights Hotline has recently
reported they "fielded a record number of calls, mostly from military personnel and families seeking advice on conscientious-objector and other discharges."
posted by fold_and_mutilate
on Mar 14, 2003 -
7 comments
Show your openmindedness! In our extended discussion of the war, the (un)fairness of war, etc., it's been incredible how many MetaFilter regulars have changed their mind or reconsidered their opinions! (wink, wink) Here's something for those former pacifists. Now we need to find something for all those former hawks. [via
Instapundit]
posted by prodigal
on Oct 26, 2001 -
9 comments
On September 30th, there was a peace protest in Washington D.C. I'm surprised no one else linked to this -- about 50 students from
my college attended and joined the crowd of a few thousand. I would have gone, but I'm dubious about the efficacy of public protest despite the fact that I'm an affirmed pacifist. What do you folks think? Will a totally non-military action be an appropriate response? (And is there any possiblity of the US acting in such a way?) Is the loss of a single additional human life in this new war justifiable?
posted by tweebiscuit
on Oct 3, 2001 -
109 comments
