The Church of the Brethren commitment to peace has manifested in many ways over the years and remains an important aspect of Brethren identity for many church members today. Historically, the Church of the Brethren has taken the stance that military service is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus\u2014a stance that commonly is called conscientious objection. Those who object to participating in
warfare commonly are called conscientious objectors, or COs for short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is important for Brethren to be aware of their options when it comes to engaging on issues of war and peace. Becoming a CO is a strong way to make such a witness. A CO is someone who is opposed to serving in the armed forces or the military, or objects to bearing arms or carrying weapons, on the grounds of religious or moral principles. Call of Conscience<\/strong> is the Church of the Brethren curriculum for senior high youth and young adults to explore their beliefs about peace and to understand conscientious objection. It focuses on developing a personal peace position based on biblical teaching and the traditions of the church. The curriculum is designed to be led by an adult and includes free downloadable session plans and resources, with a student workbook available to purchase from Brethren Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four sessions help participants think through the difference between allegiance to God and allegiance to the state; biblical teaching on war and peace; the church\u2019s historic and living peace position; and making a case for conscientious objection. A culminating project invites young people to compile a personal file of evidence that they firmly believe in the teachings of Jesus on violence and peace and demonstrate that they are conscientious objectors to war. The curriculum is a resource for young people to \u201cmake a defense for the hope that is within them\u201d (1 Peter 3:15) and prepare their heart, mind, and soul for the possibility of a military draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Call of Conscience from www.brethren.org\/peacebuilding\/co<\/a>. Purchase the student workbook The CO Journal from www.brethrenpress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another resource is the Center on Conscience and War<\/strong>, a nonprofit that got its start in 1940 as an initiative of the historic peace churches, including the Church of the Brethren. It advocates for the rights of conscience, opposes military conscription, and serves all conscientious objectors including those needing help to leave the military. Go to centeronconscience.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US government is in the process of making the most significant change to the process of registering young men for the military draft in a generation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[707,595,708,207,283,709],"class_list":["post-5310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections","tag-alan-stucky","tag-conscientious-objection","tag-draft","tag-messenger","tag-peace","tag-registration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5316,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5310\/revisions\/5316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
There are several Annual Conference statements that support conscientious objection to war, including \u201cStatement on War,\u201d 1970<\/a>; \u201cStatement on Obedience to God and Civil Disobedience,\u201d 1969<\/a>; \u201cStatement on Non-Cooperation,\u201d 1973<\/a>; and \u201cCall for a Living Peace Church,\u201d 2003<\/a>, among others. Go to www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/peacebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2018\/09\/callofconscience.jpg\")
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