US Attacks Iran 2026

[Judas Maccabeus]

Interesting how those with lots of opinions on the topic apparently don't know anything about how Selective Service is currently treating things with COs. I guess it's more fun to lob out political opinions (or condemn other people and act self-righteous compared to them) than actual take real, concrete steps to ensure one can be a conscientious objector.

It’s interesting how people who have never filed CO paperwork dismiss others opinions.
That’s all it is though, opinions as nothing current is assured of being future.
Ultimately though you either are a CO regardless of the consequences or you aren’t.

I actually filed such paperwork myself, in 1972. I remember making the "catalog" of people who had heard me express views that I believed war and killing in any form was a moral wrong. I was turned down, and appealed. Draft ended my year of eligibility.

My conference is actively engages in preparations in case a draft is restored. I have suggestions pending before the conference leadership, but ir moves slow.

[Soloist]

I actually filed such paperwork myself, in 1972. I remember making the "catalog" of people who had heard me express views that I believed war and killing in any form was a moral wrong. I was turned down, and appealed. Draft ended my year of eligibility.

My conference is actively engages in preparations in case a draft is restored. I have suggestions pending before the conference leadership, but ir moves slow.

This illustrates exactly what I was meaning. Would you have fought if they founded your appeal invalid? I assume no and thus you are still a CO and willing to pay the cost.

[Judas Maccabeus]

One of the more troubling things I see here is "you need to support political party X or political view Y, or otherwise you won't be able to be a CO".

That's, well, not how it works.

How is the above consistent with this?

Particularly if the loudest representatives of COs decide to align themselves wholly with whatever the Democratic Party wants.

Sounds like support of a certain party is necessary if you want exemption from military service.

[Judas Maccabeus]

And the American civil war. I have ancestors who sat in Confederate prison, condemned by their Presbyterian and Methodist neighbors for refusing the draft. There was an alarming amount of exchange between the army leadership and church leadership.

But not in the Korean War & Viet Nam, so I hope you’re not worried about nothing.
Let’s not promote ourselves as the persecuted church just yet. I’m sorry your people had to suffer in the past. It all comes down it seems to interpretation, but I don’t think there’s a draft until Jesus has His own army.

We shall see. I stand by my prediction, but it is just a guess.

I sincerely hope you are right. I fear that you are wrong. Immigrants and minorities make up a large percentage of the army. What if they stop volunteering? What if we wind up involved in a ground war? The answer is conscription.

[barnhart]

But not in the Korean War & Viet Nam, so I hope you’re not worried about nothing.
Let’s not promote ourselves as the persecuted church just yet. I’m sorry your people had to suffer in the past. It all comes down it seems to interpretation, but I don’t think there’s a draft until Jesus has His own army.

We shall see. I stand by my prediction, but it is just a guess.

I sincerely hope you are right. I fear that you are wrong. Immigrants and minorities make up a large percentage of the army. What if they stop volunteering? What if we wind up involved in a ground war? The answer is conscription.

Actually my prediction was a draft is unlikely but if Anabaptists are locked up for reasons of conviction, it will be at the hands of people who openly claim the name of Jesus.

The US seems to be following the playbook of Vladimir Putin fairly closely, demonize dissent, attack media, threaten media licence for dissent, meddle in others elections, discount elections as fraudulent, bomb or invade other nations to save them from bad people. Start war without clarity about how to end it, threaten neighboring nations, over estimate the power of military incursions to force other's behavior, etc... Maybe the US will also follow his example and increase the military signing bonuses to the point recruits will accept the elevated risk of death for the benefit to their families.

[JohnH]

Actually my prediction was a draft is unlikely but if Anabaptists are locked up for reasons of conviction, it will be at the hands of people who openly claim the name of Jesus.

And that's a pretty silly prediction. The overall trend in America is not towards more Christianity, but less. Secular government has been established for a long time.

The US seems to be following the playbook of Vladimir Putin fairly closely, demonize dissent, attack media, threaten media licence for dissent, meddle in others elections, discount elections as fraudulent, bomb or invade other nations to save them from bad people. Start war without clarity about how to end it, threaten neighboring nations, over estimate the power of military incursions to force other's behavior, etc... Maybe the US will also follow his example and increase the military signing bonuses to the point recruits will accept the elevated risk of death for the benefit to their families.

The U.S. isn't following in Putin's path at all. You really need to stop reading from what are effectively propaganda sources and try to read from a variety of viewpoints.

[JohnH]

One of the more troubling things I see here is "you need to support political party X or political view Y, or otherwise you won't be able to be a CO".

That's, well, not how it works.

How is the above consistent with this?

Particularly if the loudest representatives of COs decide to align themselves wholly with whatever the Democratic Party wants.

Sounds like support of a certain party is necessary if you want exemption from military service.

Being a CO is not based on support or lack of support for any political party or position.

Particularly in the current era. I would hope that you are up to date on being a CO as part of your duties to your congregation; are you aware of how the government currently views legitimacy of COs? Is there someone in your denomination who does or is in active contact with Selective Service?

[Judas Maccabeus]

I actually filed such paperwork myself, in 1972. I remember making the "catalog" of people who had heard me express views that I believed war and killing in any form was a moral wrong. I was turned down, and appealed. Draft ended my year of eligibility.

My conference is actively engages in preparations in case a draft is restored. I have suggestions pending before the conference leadership, but ir moves slow.

This illustrates exactly what I was meaning. Would you have fought if they founded your appeal invalid? I assume no and thus you are still a CO and willing to pay the cost.

My mother's plan was to pack me off to Canada, I have distant relitives in Drummondsville.

My preference would have been to stay and exhaust appeals. Jail was typically 3 years in a minimum security prison. One of my childhood friends did that.

[Jazman]

I have heard, from good sources, they are stop-lossing people. That is also a bad sign.

Could you explain stop-tossing... I'm afraid I don't know what that means.

And I want to publicly commend you and a few others for bringing up this christian nationalist militarist angle and the possibility that this admin and its base lead by leaders like Hegseth WILL NOT be amenable to conscientious objector people or branches of Christianity...

I've been around too many ex-Mennos who in the last 20-30yrs have gone 180deg away from anything Menno/Anabaptist and thrown themselves head over heals for God & Country/revere-the-military, etc. They talk and sound like Hegseth or Doug Mastriano... And the militancy is all mixed in with shallow megachurchy and/or charismatic evangelicalism (along with trumpism of course) and the one thing they loathe as much or more than libs or Dems... is peace-church/nonresistant Menno/Anabaptists, especially those non-voting, plain/conservative ones! I realize it's a reaction and even one that may be justified by our imperfections..., but a visceral, passionate reaction all the same, with a bite. There might be exceptions among family members who are at odds in this area, but I expect this admin will respond to the support and the beliefs of their base... and the ex-Menno types in this base that I know will practically rejoice and shout "Praise the Lord", if men like Hegseth would put the squeeze on conservative, military service refusing Mennos. They passionately believe that we/many of you here are false, heretical christians for your peace stance! They believe that men like Hegseth or Doug Wilson or all the other tough guy machine gun lauding christians are the real, Biblical, true followers of Jesus! We're the Pharisees in this paradigm and deserving of punishment and retribution for not joining their political and military causes these last few decades...
So yeah, good luck/beg-for-miracles time on trying to convince them to let you or especially your young sons off easy if things get desperate and they need cannon fodder... This admin is all about breaking precedents whenever, however they can. I fully expect them to consider the no-draft notion or associated past norms, in like manner.

Not letting people leave when their time is up. The ones I have heard of are pilots and other aviation people. Enlistment up? Tough.

Name comes from stopping the loss of “essential personnel.”

Ah, that makes sense now (and I meant to type stop-tossing...) Yeah, that ominous.

[Judas Maccabeus]

One of the more troubling things I see here is "you need to support political party X or political view Y, or otherwise you won't be able to be a CO".

That's, well, not how it works.

How is the above consistent with this?

Particularly if the loudest representatives of COs decide to align themselves wholly with whatever the Democratic Party wants.

Sounds like support of a certain party is necessary if you want exemption from military service.

Being a CO is not based on support or lack of support for any political party or position.

Particularly in the current era. I would hope that you are up to date on being a CO as part of your duties to your congregation; are you aware of how the government currently views legitimacy of COs? Is there someone in your denomination who does or is in active contact with Selective Service?

Far more that you could imagine. I am not on that working group, I am on another, but am aware of their activities at both the district and conference level. Ever hear of CASP? We have sent young men to that program. We have had mock “draft board” interviews at at least one of our functions. A discussion on “how to prepare “ will soon be in the conference newsletter.

Information from selective service is sparse, the best we can go on is what the process was for people who were not members of a “peace church” since if we understand correctly does not entitle one to 1-O or 1-AO status automatically. If they institute a draft, more details will emerge.

Since I doubt your conference has any doctors or nurses, considering the attitude towards higher education (unless they are converts) they might not be aware of this little gem in the federal register:

https://hasbrouck.org/draft/HCPDS-15AUG1989.pdf