Conscientious Objection: Your Right and Your Duty
By Joy Metzler
There are lots of different ways to interpret the term “conscientious objector.” When I first learned about conscientious objection, it was in the context of Desmond Doss, who used conscientious objection to fight for his right to practice his religion while serving in the military during WWII. While the story resonated with me, I never dreamed that conscientious objection could ever apply to me.
Come April 2024, encampments meant to pressure universities to divest from Israel popped up – and were subsequently and violently dismantled by police forces – across the country. One such encampment popped up at Emory University, a mere half an hour from me, and I went to some of their protests to offer my help. I didn’t know how; I just knew that what the US was doing to Gaza by providing funds to their genocidal oppressor went against everything I valued and had learned growing up. Here, I met VFP members from the Atlanta chapter, and they suggested conscientious objection to me. This chance occurrence began my journey of self-discovery and foray into the world of conscientious objection.
The process was long and difficult, and at many times, it was a lonely one. I derived as much strength from the people around me as I could – physically and virtually – but many times I encountered people who supported me but didn’t understand what I was doing. Some of them were my military leadership, some were my friends, and others were members of my own family. For some people, conscientious objection is reminiscent of “draft dodgers” from Vietnam. Others have never even heard of it. As strict as the definition of it is, the people I knew who had applied for it varied widely in ideology, character, and belief systems. So I had to decide for myself what being a conscientious objector meant.
As I reflect on it now, I believe conscientious objection goes beyond the textbook definition that the military sets for it. I am a conscientious objector because I reject war, sure. I reject war as a means of oppression, greed, and imperialism. But I also reject the notion that service members have no choice but to follow orders, and I reject any right that the government feels it has over service members to force them to betray their conscience. This conscientious objector’s day, let it serve as a reminder that a soldier’s right to answer to their own morals is a higher calling than any the US might ask of its people. Join me in rejecting the violence that the US perpetrates – today in Gaza and the Middle East, tomorrow in China or Russia or another country the US has labeled as its enemy – and stand with conscientious objectors who have found a way to individually stand against the endless cycle of war.
