Our Board's Statements of Conscience
David Bassett, M.D.
A. Statement of Conscience with Particular Attention to Conscientious
Objection to War and to Payment for War.
David R. Bassett Oct. 15, 2007
I agree with the dictionary's definition of conscience as "a faculty, power, or principle conceived to decide as to the moral quality of one's own thoughts or acts, enjoining what is good." I recognize and respect the power of words. I take especial note of "to decide"; "acts"; "enjoining" ("enjoin" is "to command...or direct with authority"); "what is good". The dictionary also emphasizes the residence of conscience in individuals "(The) sense or consciousness of the moral goodness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character, together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good."
I recognize my conscience as an essential part of who I am. It has developed from all my experiences, including my religious training and beliefs, the influences of my parents and teachers (broadly defined), my reading and studies, my rational and feeling capacities.
My conscience derives from certain principles which I learned years ago, which I believe represent eternal truths – "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"; "thou shalt not kill"; "primum non nocere" (first, do no harm); "violence begets violence". I believe in the principles and testimonies of equality, peace and nonviolence, simplicity, stewardship, and integrity; and that friendship, love, and the capacity for forgiveness are essential for human communities. I believe in the existence of good and of evil, of right and wrong. My conscience impels me to adhere to the foregoing principles and testimonies, as one seeks to have good and right prevail.
My conscience is and should be the prime determinant of how I act. It should be recognized as a key component of religious belief and expression. The primacy of conscience in determining human action should be and has (variably) been recognized by national and international bodies.
My conscience is strengthened by knowing of great souls, whose lives have exemplified the principles I seek to follow. Among these are Jesus, George Fox, John Woolman, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Over time, there have been efforts to state a comprehensive listing
of principles aiming to create a peaceful, just, and beneficent worldwide
community. I believe that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
adopted in 1948, is a profoundly important statement, worthy of our careful
attention and adherence. (See www.un.org/Overview/rights.html).
I now turn to that specific area of conscience which pertains to war and peace, violence and nonviolence.
Violence begets violence, and should therefore be prevented. Warfare is the most extreme form of violence.
Within the last century, there has been increasing recognition of the ways in which wars, and the military oppression represented by colonialism, could be prevented. Nonviolent action has, on a number of occasions, either largely or partially brought about peaceful resolution of conflict. Recent reports of what has been accomplished by nonviolent action is recorded in works by Mohandas Gandhi1; Martin Luther King, Jr.2; Gene Sharp3; Ackerman and Duval4; Holmes and Gan5; Howard Zinn6; and others. It is reasonable and necessary for us to work for the prevention of warfare and terrorism by reliance on nonviolent methods, and by efforts to assure that the principles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights are widely adopted, and adhered to.
In conscience, I cannot support any form of warfare (or terrorism, which is a form of warfare.) I have been (certainly since young adulthood) a conscientious objector to performing military service. (My status as a conscientious objector was recognized by the US government in 1955, following which I performed alternative civilian service, working as a physician in the American Friends Service Committee community development project in Barpali, Orissa, India, in 1955-57).
Payment for war (or for military systems, which are the means by which warfare is conducted) is a form of participation in war. Since the Vietnam War era, I and my wife have been conscientiously opposed to paying military taxes. While the US government recognizes sincere conscientious objection to military service, it continues to require its citizens to pay for war, through federal taxes. This I cannot, in conscience, do. Thus I must (as my wife and I have done since 1970) act against the law (i.e., engage in nonviolent civil disobedience), by not voluntarily paying that portion of my (our) federal taxes which pays for the nation's current military expenses. Our government continues each year to extract those moneys, plus penalty and interest, from our financial accounts, in this way denying our freedom of religious expression. The principle of the freedom of religious expression is supposedly upheld by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and is called for by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, [entered into force in 1976.] (see www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm).
I am willing to pay the full amount of my federal taxes, if the government would provide that my tax payments will be used only for non-military purposes. My strong preference is to adhere to the nation's laws, so long as these do not cause me to act against my conscience. Since this is not at present possible, I and my wife began (in 1970), along with others in our community, (and now with others in this nation, and internationally), efforts to change the federal tax laws, to recognize the principle of conscientious objection to military taxation (COMT), thus extending the already-recognized principle of conscientious objection to military service (COMS). In the US, these efforts to change the tax laws are embodied in the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund (RFPTF) Bill (H.R. 1921, introduced in the 110th Congress on April 18, 2007; initially introduced in 1972.) The organization whose function it is to advocate for this legislation is the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund (NCPTF) (www.peacetaxfund.org). (The international organization working in this arena is Conscience and Peace Tax International (www.cpti.ws).
To establish the right of COMT, it will be necessary to persuade a majority (and, if there were a Presidential veto, a two-thirds majority) of those present in the House and Senate that the right of COMT is an inalienable right, just as is the right of COMS. We will need to persuade our fellow citizens, and our legislators, that those of us opposed to paying for war are at present required (ultimately, forced) to pay for war, in violation of our consciences, or to break the law and engage in war tax resistance.
The steps taken by the federal government to enforce the present laws pertaining to our payment of federal taxes represent a form of oppression.
Passage of the RFPTF Bill would correct this present wrong. This Bill, when passed, will inform citizens that the right of COMT is now recognized by this legislation. It will challenge all citizens to consider whether in conscience they can or cannot pay for war; it will provide a mechanism for informing Congress and the public of the public's viewpoint on this important question; and it will create a mechanism for providing "alternative service" for the tax dollars of those who are conscientious objectors to all war.
1. Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi's Autobiography; The Story of My Experiments With Truth. Public Affairs Press, 1948. Washington, D.C.
2. Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Harper & Row; 1967
3. Gene Sharp. Civilian-Based Defense; A Post-military Weapons System. Princeton University Press, 1990.
4. Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall. A Force More Powerful; A Century of Nonviolent Conflict. St. Martin's Press. New York. 2000. From this book, an important PBS documentary was made (with the same title).While one could originally learn about the documentary from PBS.org, the new website is aforcemorepowerful.org/films/afmp/index.php
5. Robert L. Holmes & Barry L. Gan. Nonviolence in Theory and Practice. 2nd edition. Waveland Press, Inc., Long Grove, Illinois. 2005
6. Howard Zinn. The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates
of Peace. Beacon Press, 2002.
B. Brief Statement of Conscience in Regard to Paying for War. David R. Bassett, July 23, 2007
Paying for war is a form of participation in war. Let us have the courage to face this as a fact; and the courage to find nonviolent ways to respond to this fact.
Back to the Board of Directors page.Jeffrey Bird
Statement of Conscience—April 15, 1998
I have been a member of Summit Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends for four years. During my years of attendance I have come to embrace the spiritual tenets of the Society. Among the principles most firmly and faithfully held by Friends is that of the Peace Testimony. It is my belief that it is morally wrong, for any reason, to take the life of another person. I believe this moral responsibility extends not only to my personal conduct, but to those social and political institutions that I support by taxes, tariffs and levies. Because I support government's role in an ordered and just society, I willingly support it by paying taxes. When government's activities conflict with the moral imperative of the Peace Testimony, I am compelled first to follow my conscience. It is for this reason that I cannot pay that portion of my federal tax that goes to maintain the military and related activities.
I have based my conscientious withholding on the Friends Committee On National Legislation's calculations. (See "How Much of Your 1997 Federal Income Tax Supports Military-Related Spending? G-829-BUD" accompanying this statement.) [More current information available on the FCNL Web site.] By these figures more than double my withheld witness was spent on the military and related items in 1997. The circumstances of my personal finances and the inflexibility of IRS taxing structure preclude me from withholding the full amount.
I feel it is the duty of enlightened government to accommodate its citizens in their acts of conscience. The United States has set a precedent for this by permitting conscientious objectors alternative forms of service. Similar concessions have not been extended to conscientious military tax objectors. Reason and compassion dictate that our government make this accommodation. A properly designed and executed law would permit the diversion of war taxes to a fund promoting peace and economic justice, thus providing relief to many people with a moral scruple against war. Such a proposed law, called the "Peace Tax Fund Bill," has been advocated by people of conscience for nearly thirty years. The bill has received a hearing in Congress, but it remains to be passed. I urge the passage of this bill. I further urge that it be given support by my Senators, my Congressman and by the administrators of the Internal Revenue Service.
Back to the Board of Directors page.William Galvin
Statement of Conscience
I grew up in Baltimore and received solid values from my parents and the Presbyterian Church. In eighth grade I felt called into the ministry, a calling which I never doubted until I was in seminary. And while my childhood instilled in me solid values, they were relatively abstract.
Going to Warren Wilson College in 1967 changed my life. Warren Wilson was an international, multicultural community, made up of mostly poor folks. There I developed very good friendships with people from Santo Domingo, Sao Paulo, Lebanon, Nigeria, Cuba, Japan, India, Vietnam, and many other places, and came to understand myself as a citizen of the world. There I saw more clearly the racial injustice and prejudice that so permeates our society. I was in the dorm room of a friend from Africa when I heard on the radio that Martin Luther King had been assassinated. At that moment my friend was ready to go home. And I will NEVER forget the chill I felt when we got the news about Kent State. (My God, now they've declared war on US!)
It was at Warren Wilson, while talking to a friend who was a conscientious objector, that I realized that's what I was. My draft board, in Catonsville, did not take too kindly to my CO application, and my claim was turned down. I now know that their denial was illegal, but at the time I was scared about what could happen to me. Of course I learned a lot from that experience, and that's why I remain a lifelong advocate for conscientious objectors. It was my draft board that first pointed out to me the inconsistency of seeking exemption from military service as a CO while paying taxes that support the war.
While I was a student at Princeton Seminary, I was part of a group that went to York, Pennsylvania, on December 18, 1972, and poured concrete on railroad tracks leading out of a bomb factory. (That factory was producing 4,000 to 6,000 anti-personnel bomb casings DAILY.) For the record, we did not wreck a train, nor did we intend to. Of course we spent a little time in prison (something I'd be happy to not do again), and we are convicted felons. We were a very dangerous group—four seminary students and a children's librarian.
From 1973 to 1976 I worked with the United Presbyterian Churches Emergency Ministry on Conscience and War, a special office that was set up during the Vietnam War. My primary focus was to work for amnesty for Vietnam War resisters, but my work included draft and military counseling, peace education and related issues. We also worked with Vietnam veterans struggling to put their lives back together.
I returned to seminary and graduated in 1978. My Master of Divinity thesis was on the United Presbyterian Churches Response to the Vietnam War. From 1980 to 1994 I was the field representative for the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors. During that time I traveled extensively in the United States and Europe, training draft and military counselors, training local groups to counter military recruitment in their schools, and leading workshops about conscientious objection, militarism, and related peace issues.
My conscientious objector beliefs have caused me to resist war taxes. Since 1983 I have not paid federal taxes nor have I filed.
During my years at CCCO, I got married and had children, which altered my personal priorities. Shortly after Christa's birth, I persuaded CCCO to let me work part time, but eventually I left CCCO, partly because of the impossibility of doing a full-time job on a part-time basis. Since the early 1970s I've been on the National Committee of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. In 1994 I spent a few months working for PPF trying to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas. For two years I served as Executive Secretary of PPF.
My other lifelong passion is riding roller coasters. There's nothing I enjoy more, and I'm currently the southern New Jersey representative for ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts).
Back to the Board of Directors page.John Little Randall
Statement of Conscience—July 28, 2005
A Christian follows the example of Jesus.
A Christian is not to kill another person.
If we find in our hearts not merely the words, but the spirit of "Love
thy neighbor as thyself," then we are not to help others to kill
or harm anyone.
Jesus, in his crucifixion, offers a model of the ultimate nonviolent
act: In response to violence, offer oneself as a possible casualty in
an attempt to end or transform the violence.
I cannot kill and do not wish to harm people.
Were I to kill a person, I believe that I would be irreparably harmed.
I do believe I might sometime be a casualty in support of nonviolence.
My grandmother, a Friend, worked against Universal Military Training.
My father was a CO during World War II.
As a child, I was not allowed to play with guns, but admit going to my
friend's house to watch The Lone Ranger.
I remember being told that when I grew up there would be no armies, but
rather an International Police Force.
I read Tolstoy's War and Peace, and it set my notion of the futility
of war.
I graduated from high school into a world full of the message of the
futility of war.
I knew that I would not go to war.
I applied for CO status. A Quaker, Stanley Robinson, gave me the form,
some oral advice, and read over what I had written.
Most important, he modeled for me that this was a perfectly proper thing
to do.
I did need to consider being a noncombatant.
The image of a factory, or cogs in a machine, was decisive in my inability
to accept such a status.
Were I to work as a noncombatant, I would be freeing up some other person
to go into combat.
Today I am a noncombatant, complicit in war, as I pay for war.
I am a casualty as I live, my conscience hurt.
But this is not the casualty I had in mind.
I work for the recognition of the human right not to pay for war.
Back to the Board of Directors page.L. William Yolton
Statement of Conscience
Why am I involved in the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund? The explanation requires both an interpretation of faith and an account of my attempts at faithfulness.
Early in the development of my belief, I was focused on trying to live "as Jesus would want me to live," and that youthful personal piety led me to a pacifism that was dependent in part upon a futile quest for personal perfection. In the intervening years, I learned a bit, and I have grown in my understanding of what God requires of me and of all believers. I'm now more focused on what I should be doing to participate in God's work of building a peaceable world. That work of forgiveness of sins makes good, beautiful, merciful order out of chaos. "To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God."
As I understand this gospel of peace, I believe that participating in war and in preparations for war is forbidden by God. But this prohibition is for the sake of a positive outcome, peace. An increasing part of my life has been spent in trying to help myself and others conform to this vision of shalom.
That commitment is rooted in understanding the believing community's knowledge of God, which has developed over the course of three millennia. The people of God moved from experiencing their god as the most powerful of the neighboring gods and a victorious warrior leader, to discerning God as the only true God and the redeemer of the poor, the suffering, the widow and outcast, who is drawing us toward a Jubilee of just restoration in whole community. The real God's holy, nonviolent "warfare" is against injustice, sorrow, deprivation, loneliness, and pain. We wrestle against principalities and powers, among which are some biological viruses, the virulent culture of affluence, the greedy economics of multinational corporations, and the system of warfare states.
In Jesus that development toward peace is unveiled. His ministry begins with Luke 4:18 and anticipates the Jubilee, "the year when people will find acceptance with God." Peter describes Jesus as the one who came "preaching the gospel of peace." The summary of his preaching provided in the Sermon on the Mount has a cumulative series of Jubilee images beginning with redeeming the times, i.e., "happiness" for the poor and culminating in happiness, beatitude, for the peacemakers, for they shall be called the "sons of God." This is a Messianic title. Jesus is so titled in the developing theology of the church, "Son of Man" and "Son of God." Those who are assembled into this identity are the kryiakon, the church. They are to be a community of caring and mutual love, living not for themselves, but for the life of the world. They will be the friends of God, companions in the Jubilee.
Let us not be deceived. The last beatitudes describe the persecution of those who do God's will. It will not be easy. And yet, though we may be only a remnant, we will make a difference.
I began my ministerial work among the poor in an industrial suburb of Boston, next in East Harlem, and then in Elizabethport, New Jersey. When serious mental illness affected family members, I sought work where they could be protected, and also began a lifetime of concern for mentally ill people and other "outsiders," sometimes bringing them into our household. My subsequent work with college students and with seminarians in the U.S. and in Australia has had a component of help for them to get involved in their concern for "salvation" to be understood literally as healing of wounds of individuals and society.
When I came to the staff of NISBCO, I had already been working on behalf of persons of conscience and saw the problem of paying taxes for war as an aspect of conscientious objection to participation in war and in preparations for war. It is not ordinarily perceived that way by COs. I regularly included that concern in the meetings and publications of NISBCO, hoping to build it into the understanding of COs and their supporters. I did not find establishing such a commitment to be easily done, even in the staff of the organization, let alone the members of the Board.
A brief period of personal tax resistance was abandoned when my wife's work as a lawyer was jeopardized. Now I have hopes in the enactment of the Peace Tax Fund Bill, however limited and partial that may be. For it is more than a beginning; it will be a sign for others.
The so-called "defense" budget, including those parts of our killing machine that are sequestered in other parts of the federal budget, is not only a monstrous offense because of the death threat and the waste it enables, but also (as Eisenhower has said) it is a theft from the poor. The "defense" budget is an offense against God. So, working in the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund picks up threads of my life and helps knit them together. It is an important knot in the fabric of the seamless garment of peace.
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