① Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience
And this Court has, Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience Constitutional grounds, set aside convictions, both in the federal and state courts, which were Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience upon confessions 'secured by protracted and repeated questioning of ignorant and untutored persons, in whose minds the power of officers was greatly mag- [ ] nified'. Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience addition to race, living as women in a white-male dominated Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience was crucial for black women who got involved in the Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience. Justice Jackson, Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience for the Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience, said At pp. In such families, Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience women chose Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience to work, deciding to concentrate Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience empowering their own families instead of servicing white ones. It Solo Erykah Badu Analysis been used Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience many nonviolent resistance movements in India Mahatma Gandhi 's campaigns for independence from the British Empirein Czechoslovakia 's The Warm Blood Breeds Revolutionin early Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience of Bangladesh Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience movement against Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience repression and in Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience Germany Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience oust Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience communist governments. The high status position of black Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience gave them significant access to black community Conscience Vs Civil Disobedience in the forms of people, money, and churches to hold Civil Rights meetings.
Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Civil Disobedience and obeying Just vs. Unjust laws (Closed Captioned)
To do so requires mature human freedom "If you wish to be perfect" and God's gift of grace "Come, follow me". Perfection demands that maturity in self-giving to which human freedom is called. Jesus points out to the young man that the commandments are the first and indispensable condition for having eternal life; on the other hand, for the young man to give up all he possesses and to follow the Lord is presented as an invitation: "If you wish These words of Jesus reveal the particular dynamic of freedom's growth towards maturity, and at the same time they bear witness to the fundamental relationship between freedom and divine law.
Human freedom and God's law are not in opposition; on the contrary, they appeal one to the other. The follower of Christ knows that his vocation is to freedom. But he immediately adds: "only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another" ibid. The firmness with which the Apostle opposes those who believe that they are justified by the Law has nothing to do with man's "liberation" from precepts. On the contrary, the latter are at the service of the practice of love: "For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself' " Rom Saint Augustine, after speaking of the observance of the commandments as being a kind of incipient, imperfect freedom, goes on to say: "Why, someone will ask, is it not yet perfect?
Because 'I see in my members another law at war with the law of my reason' In part freedom, in part slavery: not yet complete freedom, not yet pure, not yet whole, because we are not yet in eternity. In part we retain our weakness and in part we have attained freedom. All our sins were destroyed in Baptism, but does it follow that no weakness remained after iniquity was destroyed? Had none remained, we would live without sin in this life. But who would dare to say this except someone who is proud, someone unworthy of the mercy of our deliverer? Therefore, since some weakness has remained in us, I dare to say that to the extent to which we serve God we are free, while to the extent that we follow the law of sin, we are still slaves".
Those who live "by the flesh" experience God's law as a burden, and indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom. On the other hand, those who are impelled by love and "walk by the Spirit" Gal , and who desire to serve others, find in God's Law the fundamental and necessary way in which to practise love as something freely chosen and freely lived out. Indeed, they feel an interior urge — a genuine "necessity" and no longer a form of coercion — not to stop at the minimum demands of the Law, but to live them in their "fullness".
This is a still uncertain and fragile journey as long as we are on earth, but it is one made possible by grace, which enables us to possess the full freedom of the children of God cf. Rom and thus to live our moral life in a way worthy of our sublime vocation as "sons in the Son". This vocation to perfect love is not restricted to a small group of individuals. The invitation, "go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor", and the promise "you will have treasure in heaven", are meant for everyone, because they bring out the full meaning of the commandment of love for neighbour, just as the invitation which follows, "Come, follow me", is the new, specific form of the commandment of love of God.
Both the commandments and Jesus' invitation to the rich young man stand at the service of a single and indivisible charity, which spontaneously tends towards that perfection whose measure is God alone: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" Mt In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes even clearer the meaning of this perfection: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" Lk The way and at the same time the content of this perfection consist in the following of Jesus, sequela Christi, once one has given up one's own wealth and very self.
This is precisely the conclusion of Jesus' conversation with the young man: "Come, follow me" Mt It is an invitation the marvellous grandeur of which will be fully perceived by the disciples after Christ's Resurrection, when the Holy Spirit leads them to all truth cf. It is Jesus himself who takes the initiative and calls people to follow him. His call is addressed first to those to whom he entrusts a particular mission, beginning with the Twelve; but it is also clear that every believer is called to be a follower of Christ cf. Acts Following Christ is thus the essential and primordial foundation of Christian morality: just as the people of Israel followed God who led them through the desert towards the Promised Land cf. Ex , so every disciple must follow Jesus, towards whom he is drawn by the Father himself cf.
This is not a matter only of disposing oneself to hear a teaching and obediently accepting a commandment. More radically, it involves holding fast to the very person of Jesus, partaking of his life and his destiny, sharing in his free and loving obedience to the will of the Father. By responding in faith and following the one who is Incarnate Wisdom, the disciple of Jesus truly becomes a disciple of God cf. Jesus is indeed the light of the world, the light of life cf.
He is the shepherd who leads his sheep and feeds them cf. Jn ; he is the way, and the truth, and the life cf. It is Jesus who leads to the Father, so much so that to see him, the Son, is to see the Father cf. And thus to imitate the Son, "the image of the invisible God" Col , means to imitate the Father. Jesus asks us to follow him and to imitate him along the path of love, a love which gives itself completely to the brethren out of love for God: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" Jn The word "as" requires imitation of Jesus and of his love, of which the washing of feet is a sign: "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you" Jn Jesus' way of acting and his words, his deeds and his precepts constitute the moral rule of Christian life. Indeed, his actions, and in particular his Passion and Death on the Cross, are the living revelation of his love for the Father and for others. This is exactly the love that Jesus wishes to be imitated by all who follow him. It is the "new" commandment: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" Jn The word "as" also indicates the degree of Jesus' love, and of the love with which his disciples are called to love one another.
After saying: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" Jn , Jesus continues with words which indicate the sacrificial gift of his life on the Cross, as the witness to a love "to the end" Jn : "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" Jn As he calls the young man to follow him along the way of perfection, Jesus asks him to be perfect in the command of love, in "his" commandment: to become part of the unfolding of his complete giving, to imitate and rekindle the very love of the "Good" Teacher, the one who loved "to the end". This is what Jesus asks of everyone who wishes to follow him: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" Mt Following Christ is not an outward imitation, since it touches man at the very depths of his being.
Being a follower of Christ means becoming conformed to him who became a servant even to giving himself on the Cross cf. Phil Christ dwells by faith in the heart of the believer cf. Eph , and thus the disciple is conformed to the Lord. This is the effect of grace, of the active presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Having become one with Christ, the Christian becomes a member of his Body, which is the Church cf. Cor , By the work of the Spirit, Baptism radically configures the faithful to Christ in the Paschal Mystery of death and resurrection; it "clothes him" in Christ cf. Gal : "Let us rejoice and give thanks", exclaims Saint Augustine speaking to the baptized, "for we have become not only Christians, but Christ Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ!
Rom : alive for God in Christ Jesus, they are called to walk by the Spirit and to manifest the Spirit's fruits in their lives cf. Gal Sharing in the Eucharist, the sacrament of the New Covenant cf. Jn , the source and power of that complete gift of self, which Jesus — according to the testimony handed on by Paul — commands us to commemorate in liturgy and in life: "As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" 1 Cor The conclusion of Jesus' conversation with the rich young man is very poignant: "When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions" Mt Not only the rich man but the disciples themselves are taken aback by Jesus' call to discipleship, the demands of which transcend human aspirations and abilities: "When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, "Then who can be saved?
But the Master refers them to God's power: "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" Mt In the same chapter of Matthew's Gospel , Jesus, interpreting the Mosaic Law on marriage, rejects the right to divorce, appealing to a "beginning" more fundamental and more authoritative than the Law of Moses: God's original plan for mankind, a plan which man after sin has no longer been able to live up to: "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" Mt Jesus' appeal to the "beginning" dismays the disciples, who remark: "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry" Mt And Jesus, referring specifically to the charism of celibacy "for the Kingdom of Heaven" Mt , but stating a general rule, indicates the new and surprising possibility opened up to man by God's grace.
To imitate and live out the love of Christ is not possible for man by his own strength alone. He becomes capable of this love only by virtue of a gift received. As the Lord Jesus receives the love of his Father, so he in turn freely communicates that love to his disciples: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love" Jn Christ's gift is his Spirit, whose first "fruit" cf. Gal is charity: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" Rom Saint Augustine asks: "Does love bring about the keeping of the commandments, or does the keeping of the commandments bring about love?
For the one who does not love has no reason for keeping the commandments". With these words the Apostle Paul invites us to consider in the perspective of the history of salvation, which reaches its fulfilment in Christ, the relationship between the Old Law and grace the New Law. He recognizes the pedagogic function of the Law, which, by enabling sinful man to take stock of his own powerlessness and by stripping him of the presumption of his self-sufficiency, leads him to ask for and to receive "life in the Spirit".
Only in this new life is it possible to carry out God's commandments. Indeed, it is through faith in Christ that we have been made righteous cf. Rom : the "righteousness" which the Law demands, but is unable to give, is found by every believer to be revealed and granted by the Lord Jesus. Once again it is Saint Augustine who admirably sums up this Pauline dialectic of law and grace: "The law was given that grace might be sought; and grace was given, that the law might be fulfilled".
Love and life according to the Gospel cannot be thought of first and foremost as a kind of precept, because what they demand is beyond man's abilities. They are possible only as the result of a gift of God who heals, restores and transforms the human heart by his grace: "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" Jn The promise of eternal life is thus linked to the gift of grace, and the gift of the Spirit which we have received is even now the "guarantee of our inheritance" Eph And so we find revealed the authentic and original aspect of the commandment of love and of the perfection to which it is ordered: we are speaking of a possibility opened up to man exclusively by grace, by the gift of God, by his love.
On the other hand, precisely the awareness of having received the gift, of possessing in Jesus Christ the love of God, generates and sustains the free response of a full love for God and the brethren, as the Apostle John insistently reminds us in his first Letter: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another We love, because he first loved us" 1 Jn , 11, This inseparable connection between the Lord's grace and human freedom, between gift and task, has been expressed in simple yet profound words by Saint Augustine in his prayer: "Da quod iubes et iube quod vis" grant what you command and command what you will.
The gift does not lessen but reinforces the moral demands of love: "This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us" 1 Jn One can "abide" in love only by keeping the commandments, as Jesus states: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" Jn Going to the heart of the moral message of Jesus and the preaching of the Apostles, and summing up in a remarkable way the great tradition of the Fathers of the East and West, and of Saint Augustine in particular, 32 Saint Thomas was able to write that the New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given through faith in Christ.
Indeed, the New Law is not content to say what must be done, but also gives the power to "do what is true" cf. Saint John Chrysostom likewise observed that the New Law was promulgated at the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven on the day of Pentecost, and that the Apostles "did not come down from the mountain carrying, like Moses, tablets of stone in their hands; but they came down carrying the Holy Spirit in their hearts Jesus' conversation with the rich young man continues, in a sense, in every period of history, including our own.
The question: "Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life? The Teacher who expounds God's commandments, who invites others to follow him and gives the grace for a new life, is always present and at work in our midst, as he himself promised: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" Mt Christ's relevance for people of all times is shown forth in his body, which is the Church. For this reason the Lord promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, who would "bring to their remembrance" and teach them to understand his commandments cf. Jn , and who would be the principle and constant source of a new life in the world cf.
Jn ; Rom The moral prescriptions which God imparted in the Old Covenant, and which attained their perfection in the New and Eternal Covenant in the very person of the Son of God made man, must be faithfully kept and continually put into practice in the various different cultures throughout the course of history. The task of interpreting these prescriptions was entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and to their successors, with the special assistance of the Spirit of truth: "He who hears you hears me" Lk By the light and the strength of this Spirit the Apostles carried out their mission of preaching the Gospel and of pointing out the "way" of the Lord cf.
Acts , teaching above all how to follow and imitate Christ: "For to me to live is Christ" Phil In the moral catechesis of the Apostles, besides exhortations and directions connected to specific historical and cultural situations, we find an ethical teaching with precise rules of behaviour. This is seen in their Letters, which contain the interpretation, made under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, of the Lord's precepts as they are to be lived in different cultural circumstances cf. From the Church's beginnings, the Apostles, by virtue of their pastoral responsibility to preach the Gospel, were vigilant over the right conduct of Christians , 35 just as they were vigilant for the purity of the faith and the handing down of the divine gifts in the sacraments.
No damage must be done to the harmony between faith and life: the unity of the Church is damaged not only by Christians who reject or distort the truths of faith but also by those who disregard the moral obligations to which they are called by the Gospel cf. The Apostles decisively rejected any separation between the commitment of the heart and the actions which express or prove it cf. And ever since Apostolic times the Church's Pastors have unambiguously condemned the behaviour of those who fostered division by their teaching or by their actions.
Within the unity of the Church, promoting and preserving the faith and the moral life is the task entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles cf. Mt , a task which continues in the ministry of their successors. This is apparent from the living Tradition, whereby — as the Second Vatican Council teaches — "the Church, in her teaching, life and worship, perpetuates and hands on to every generation all that she is and all that she believes.
This Tradition which comes from the Apostles, progresses in the Church under the assistance of the Holy Spirit". Lk ; she professes by the lips of her Fathers and Doctors the truth of the Word made flesh, puts his precepts and love into practice in the lives of her Saints and in the sacrifice of her Martyrs, and celebrates her hope in him in the Liturgy. By this same Tradition Christians receive "the living voice of the Gospel", 40 as the faithful expression of God's wisdom and will. Within Tradition, the authentic interpretation of the Lord's law develops, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
The same Spirit who is at the origin of the Revelation of Jesus' commandments and teachings guarantees that they will be reverently preserved, faithfully expounded and correctly applied in different times and places. This constant "putting into practice" of the commandments is the sign and fruit of a deeper insight into Revelation and of an understanding in the light of faith of new historical and cultural situations.
Nevertheless, it can only confirm the permanent validity of Revelation and follow in the line of the interpretation given to it by the great Tradition of the Church's teaching and life, as witnessed by the teaching of the Fathers, the lives of the Saints, the Church's Liturgy and the teaching of the Magisterium. In particular, as the Council affirms, "the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether in its written form or in that of Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with the Church's living Magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ ". Indeed, "the Church has the right always and everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social order, and to make judgments about any human matter in so far as this is required by fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls".
Precisely on the questions frequently debated in moral theology today and with regard to which new tendencies and theories have developed, the Magisterium, in fidelity to Jesus Christ and in continuity with the Church's tradition, senses more urgently the duty to offer its own discernment and teaching, in order to help man in his journey towards truth and freedom. Our meditation on the dialogue between Jesus and the rich young man has enabled us to bring together the essential elements of Revelation in the Old and New Testament with regard to moral action. These are: the subordination of man and his activity to God, the One who "alone is good"; the relationship clearly indicated in the divine commandments, between the moral good of human acts and eternal life; Christian discipleship, which opens up before man the perspective of perfect love; and finally the gift of the Holy Spirit, source and means of the moral life of the "new creation" cf.
In her reflection on morality, the Church has always kept in mind the words of Jesus to the rich young man. Indeed, Sacred Scripture remains the living and fruitful source of the Church's moral doctrine; as the Second Vatican Council recalled, the Gospel is "the source of all saving truth and moral teaching". Assisted by the Holy Spirit who leads her into all the truth cf. Jn 16 , the Church has not ceased, nor can she ever cease, to contemplate the "mystery of the Word Incarnate", in whom "light is shed on the mystery of man". The Church's moral reflection, always conducted in the light of Christ, the "Good Teacher", has also developed in the specific form of the theological science called "moral theology ", a science which accepts and examines Divine Revelation while at the same time responding to the demands of human reason.
Moral theology is a reflection concerned with "morality", with the good and the evil of human acts and of the person who performs them; in this sense it is accessible to all people. But it is also "theology", inasmuch as it acknowledges that the origin and end of moral action are found in the One who "alone is good" and who, by giving himself to man in Christ, offers him the happiness of divine life. The Second Vatican Council invited scholars to take "special care for the renewal of moral theology", in such a way that "its scientific presentation, increasingly based on the teaching of Scripture, will cast light on the exalted vocation of the faithful in Christ and on their obligation to bear fruit in charity for the life of the world".
The work of many theologians who found support in the Council's encouragement has already borne fruit in interesting and helpful reflections about the truths of faith to be believed and applied in life, reflections offered in a form better suited to the sensitivities and questions of our contemporaries. The Church, and particularly the Bishops, to whom Jesus Christ primarily entrusted the ministry of teaching, are deeply appreciative of this work, and encourage theologians to continue their efforts, inspired by that profound and authentic "fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom" cf. Prov At the same time, however, within the context of the theological debates which followed the Council, there have developed certain interpretations of Christian morality which are not consistent with "sound teaching" 2 Tim Certainly the Church's Magisterium does not intend to impose upon the faithful any particular theological system, still less a philosophical one.
Nevertheless, in order to "reverently preserve and faithfully expound" the word of God, 48 the Magisterium has the duty to state that some trends of theological thinking and certain philosophical affirmations are incompatible with revealed truth. In addressing this Encyclical to you, my Brother Bishops, it is my intention to state the principles necessary for discerning what is contrary to "sound doctrine", drawing attention to those elements of the Church's moral teaching which today appear particularly exposed to error, ambiguity or neglect. Yet these are the very elements on which there depends "the answer to the obscure riddles of the human condition which today also, as in the past, profoundly disturb the human heart.
What is man? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? What is good and what is sin? What origin and purpose do sufferings have? What is the way to attaining true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after death? Lastly, what is that final, unutterable mystery which embraces our lives and from which we take our origin and towards which we tend? Mt , she today once more puts forward the Master's reply, a reply that possesses a light and a power capable of answering even the most controversial and complex questions. This light and power also impel the Church constantly to carry out not only her dogmatic but also her moral reflection within an interdisciplinary context, which is especially necessary in facing new issues.
It is in the same light and power that the Church's Magisterium continues to carry out its task of discernment, accepting and living out the admonition addressed by the Apostle Paul to Timothy: "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" 2 Tim ; cf.
Tit , The human issues most frequently debated and differently resolved in contemporary moral reflection are all closely related, albeit in various ways, to a crucial issue: human freedom. Certainly people today have a particularly strong sense of freedom. As the Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae had already observed, "the dignity of the human person is a concern of which people of our time are becoming increasingly more aware".
This heightened sense of the dignity of the human person and of his or her uniqueness, and of the respect due to the journey of conscience, certainly represents one of the positive achievements of modern culture. This perception, authentic as it is, has been expressed in a number of more or less adequate ways, some of which however diverge from the truth about man as a creature and the image of God, and thus need to be corrected and purified in the light of faith.
Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be the source of values. This is the direction taken by doctrines which have lost the sense of the transcendent or which are explicitly atheist. The individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions about good and evil.
To the affirmation that one has a duty to follow one's conscience is unduly added the affirmation that one's moral judgment is true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience. But in this way the inescapable claims of truth disappear, yielding their place to a criterion of sincerity, authenticity and "being at peace with oneself", so much so that some have come to adopt a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgment. As is immediately evident, the crisis of truth is not unconnected with this development. Once the idea of a universal truth about the good, knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality as an act of a person's intelligence, the function of which is to apply the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation and thus to express a judgment about the right conduct to be chosen here and now.
Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth, different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences, this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature. These different notions are at the origin of currents of thought which posit a radical opposition between moral law and conscience, and between nature and freedom.
Side by side with its exaltation of freedom, yet oddly in contrast with it, modern culture radically questions the very existence of this freedom. A number of disciplines, grouped under the name of the "behavioural sciences", have rightly drawn attention to the many kinds of psychological and social conditioning which influence the exercise of human freedom. Knowledge of these conditionings and the study they have received represent important achievements which have found application in various areas, for example in pedagogy or the administration of justice. But some people, going beyond the conclusions which can be legitimately drawn from these observations, have come to question or even deny the very reality of human freedom.
Mention should also be made here of theories which misuse scientific research about the human person. Arguing from the great variety of customs, behaviour patterns and institutions present in humanity, these theories end up, if not with an outright denial of universal human values, at least with a relativistic conception of morality. The question of morality, to which Christ provides the answer, cannot prescind from the issue of freedom. Indeed, it considers that issue central, for there can be no morality without freedom: "It is only in freedom that man can turn to what is good". The Council, considering our contemporaries who "highly regard" freedom and "assiduously pursue" it, but who "often cultivate it in wrong ways as a licence to do anything they please, even evil", speaks of "genuine" freedom: "Genuine freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine image in man.
For God willed to leave man "in the power of his own counsel" cf. Sir , so that he would seek his Creator of his own accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God". Certain tendencies in contemporary moral theology, under the influence of the currents of subjectivism and individualism just mentioned, involve novel interpretations of the relationship of freedom to the moral law, human nature and conscience, and propose novel criteria for the moral evaluation of acts. Despite their variety, these tendencies are at one in lessening or even denying the dependence of freedom on truth.
If we wish to undertake a critical discernment of these tendencies — a discernment capable of acknowledging what is legitimate, useful and of value in them, while at the same time pointing out their ambiguities, dangers and errors — we must examine them in the light of the fundamental dependence of freedom upon truth, a dependence which has found its clearest and most authoritative expression in the words of Christ: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" Jn In the Book of Genesis we read: "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'You may eat freely of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die' " Gen With this imagery, Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil does not belong to man, but to God alone.
The man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God's commands. And he possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can eat "of every tree of the garden". But his freedom is not unlimited: it must halt before the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", for it is called to accept the moral law given by God. In fact, human freedom finds its authentic and complete fulfilment precisely in the acceptance of that law. God, who alone is good, knows perfectly what is good for man, and by virtue of his very love proposes this good to man in the commandments. God's law does not reduce, much less do away with human freedom; rather, it protects and promotes that freedom.
Many also assume that Gandhi was completely opposed to Western civilisation and that his ideas had an overlap only with Western dissenters such as Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau and John Ruskin. Indeed, there are significant parallels between Gandhi and Adam Smith, the quintessential Scottish Enlightenment thinker and the father of modern economics. Starting with different priors, Adam Smith and the Mahatma independently concluded that the pursuit of wealth, while desirable, needed to be informed with a moral purpose. Gandhi was among the earliest thinkers, if not the first one, to argue that the economic sphere was not only about the relations between capital and labour.
He was way ahead of current thinkers who talk about stakeholder capitalism. I have argued that this is a mistake. Once more, we may need to acknowledge the Mahatma as a guru in the field of the economics of human capital development. In conclusion, in the contemporary context, Indians as well as economists around the world may benefit from re-reading not just Adam Smith but the work of our own Mahatma as well. Share Via. By Jaithirth Rao. Jaithirth Rao is an Indian entrepreneur and author The views expressed are personal. Start 15 Days Free Trial. Already Subscribed? Sign In. Topics ht exclusive. Get our Daily News Capsule Subscribe. During the Winter War , Pekurinen and other conscientious objectors were imprisoned, and Pekurinen was eventually executed at the front in , during the Continuation War.
After the war, a conscientious objector's civilian service lasted 16 months, whereas military service was 8 months at its shortest. To qualify for civilian service, an objector had to explain his conviction before a board of inspection that included military officers and clergymen. In , the duration of the service was shortened to 13 months and the board of inspection was abolished. In , the term was further shortened to 12 months to match the duration of the longest military service that of officer trainees and technical crew. Today, a person subject to conscription may apply for civilian service at any time before or during his military service, and the application is accepted as a matter of course.
A female performing voluntary military service can quit her service anytime during the first 45 days, however, if she wants to quit after those 45 days she would be treated like a male and assigned to civilian service. Persons who have completed their civilian service during peacetime have, according to the legislation enacted in , the right to serve in non-military duties also during a crisis situation. They may be called to serve in various duties with the rescue services or other necessary work of a non-military nature. Persons who declare themselves to be conscientious objectors only after a crisis has started must, however, prove their conviction before a special board.
Before the new legislation, the right to conscientious objection was acknowledged only in peacetime. The changes to the service term and to the legal status of objectors during a crisis situation were made as a response to human rights concerns voiced by several international bodies, [47] [48] who are overseeing the implementation of human rights agreements. These organisations had demanded Finland to take measures to improve its legislation concerning conscientious objectors, which they considered discriminatory. None of these organisations have yet raised concerns on the current legislation. There are a small number of total objectors who refuse even civilian service, and are imprisoned for six months. This is not registered into the person's criminal record.
The creation of a legal status for conscientious objectors in France was the subject of a long struggle involving for instance or the much-publicised trials of Protestant activists Jacques Martin , Philippe Vernier and Camille Rombault in — [49] or the hunger strike of anarchist Louis Lecoin in The legal status law was passed in December , 43 years and many prison sentences after the first requests.
In , a new law passed by socialist Interior Minister Pierre Joxe considerably improved this status, simplifying the conditions under which the status would be granted. Conscientious objectors were then free to choose an activity in the social realm where they would spend their civil service time. However, in order to avoid too many applications for civil service at the expense of the military, the duration of the civil service is however kept twice as long as the military service. The effect of these laws was suspended in when compulsory military service was abolished in France.
The special prison at Strasbourg for Jehovah's Witnesses, who refuse to join any military, was also abolished. Since , the associations defending conscientious objection in France have chosen to celebrate their cause on 15 May. In Nazi Germany , conscientious objection was not recognized in the law. In theory, objectors would be drafted and then court-martialled for desertion. The practice was even harsher: going beyond the letter of an already extremely flexible law, conscientious objection was considered subversion of military strength , a crime normally punished with death.
On September 15, August Dickmann, a Jehovah's Witness, and the first conscientious objector of the war to be executed, died by a firing squad at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Nevertheless, and uniquely among the Eastern bloc, objections were accepted and the objectors assigned to construction units. They were however part of the military, so that a fully civilian alternative did not exist. Also, " construction soldiers " were discriminated against in their later professional life.
According to Article 4 3 of the German constitution : "No person may be forced against their conscience to perform armed military service. Details shall be regulated by a federal law. According to Article 12a, a law may be passed to require every male from the age of 18 to military service called Wehrdienst ; also, a law can require conscientious objectors to perform non-military service instead called Wehrersatzdienst , literally "military replacement service", or colloquially Zivildienst.
These laws were applicable and demanded compulsory service in the German armed forces German: Bundeswehr until the abolition of draft in Initially, each conscientious objectors had to appear in person to a panel hearing at the draft office or contest a negative decision at the administrative court. The suspension of the procedure , allowing to "object with a post card", was ruled unconstitutional in Beginning in , competence was shifted to the Kreiswehrersatzamt military replacement office , which had discretion to either approve or reject a conscientious objection, which had to consist of a detailed written statement by an applicant giving reasons as to why the applicant was conscientiously objecting.
This was generally just a formality, and objections were not often rejected. In later years in particular however, with the rise of the Internet, conscientious objections fell into disrepute because of the ease of being able to simply download existing example objections. It earned some conscientious objections the suspicion of an applicant simply attempting an easy way out of military service.
On the other hand, certain organizations within the German peace movement had been offering pamphlets for decades giving suggestions to applicants as to the proper wording and structure of an objection which would have the greatest chances of success. Following a Federal Constitution Court decision, Wehrersatzdienst could be no simple choice of convenience for an applicant, but he had to cite veritable conflict of conscience which made him unable to perform any kind of military service at all.
If there was doubt about the true nature of an objector's application, he could be summoned to appear before a panel at the Kreiswehrersatzamt to explain his reasons in person. An approved conscientious objection in any case then meant that an applicant was required by law to perform Wehrersatzdienst. Complete objection both to military and replacement service was known as Totalverweigerung ; it was illegal and could be punished with a fine or a suspended custodial sentence. Nearly the only legal way to get both out of military service and replacement service was to be deemed physically unfit for military service.
Both men who entered military service and those who wanted to go into replacement service had to pass a military physical examination at the military replacement office. Tauglichkeitsstufe 5 , in short T5 , meant that a person was rejected for military service and thus also did not need to enter replacement service. T5 status was usually only granted if a person had physical or mental disabilities or was otherwise significantly impaired, such as due to very poor eyesight or debilitating chronic illnesses.
However, in the last years of the draft, T5 was increasingly given to potential recruits with only minor physical or mental handicaps. Another way to get out of service completely was the two brothers rule , which stated that if two older brothers had already served in the military, any following male children of a family were exempt from service. Due to West Berlin 's special status between the end of the Second World War and as a city governed by foreign military powers, draft did not apply within its borders. This made Berlin a safe haven for many young people who chose to move to the city to prevent criminal court repercussions for Totalverweigerung. As Totalverweigerer were often part of the far-left political spectrum, this was one factor which spawned a politically active left-wing and left-wing radical scene in the city.
Wehrersatzdienst was for a long time considerably longer than military service, by up to a third, even when the duration of service was gradually reduced following reunification and the end of the Cold War. Moreover, work conditions under military service typically involved more hardship and inconvenience than Wehrersatzdienst. In , military service and Wehrersatzdienst were then made to last equal lengths of time. Military service and draft were controversial during much of their existence. Reasons included the consideration that Germans could be made to fight against their fellow Germans in East Germany.
Moreover, draft only applied to men, which was seen as gender based discrimination by some, but was often countered by the argument that women usually gave up their careers either temporarily or permanently to raise their children. With the end of the Cold War and the German military's primary purpose of defending its home territory increasingly looking doubtful, draft also began to become more arbitrary, as only certain portions of a particular birth year were drafted usually those in very healthy physical condition , while others weren't. This was seen as a problem of Wehrgerechtigkeit , or equal justice of military service.
Then-German President Roman Herzog said in a speech which was frequently cited as an argument for draft abolition that only the necessity for national defense, not any other arguments can justify draft. On the other hand, this logic tended to not be extended to men serving Wehrersatzdienst, as they usually worked in fields of public health, elderly care , medical assistance or assistance for the disabled. Their relatively low-paid work was seen as an ever more important backbone of a health sector which was grappling with rapidly increasing costs of care.
In the mandatory draft was abolished in Germany, mainly due to a perceived lack of aforementioned necessity. The Bundeswehr now solely relies on service members who deliberately choose it as a career path. Neither Article 12a establishing the possibility of draft nor Article 4 3 permitting conscientious objection have been removed from the German Constitution. In theory, this makes a full reversion to draft and Wehrersatzdienst possible, if it is thought to be necessary. All Israeli citizens and permanent residents are liable to military service.
However, the Ministry of Defense has used its discretion under article 36 of this law to automatically exempt all non-Jewish women and all Arab men, except for the Druze, from military service ever since Israel was established. Israeli Arabs may volunteer to perform military service, but very few do so except among the Bedouin population of Israel. In discussing the status of the armed forces shortly after the founding of the State of Israel, representatives of orthodox religious parties argued that yeshiva students should be exempt from military service.
This derives from the Jewish tradition that if a man wants to dedicate his life to religious study, society must allow him to do so. The request of orthodox political parties to 'prevent neglect of studying the Torah' was granted by the authorities. But in recent years this exemption practice has become the subject of debate in Israeli society, as the absolute and the relative numbers of the men who received this exemption rose sharply.
The Knesset et al. As for conscientious objection, in , in the case of David Zonschein et al. Military Advocate General et al. Women can claim exemption from military service on grounds of conscience under arts. Until conscription was mandatory to all able-bodied Italian males. Those who were born in the last months of the year typically used to serve in the Navy, unless judged unable for ship service in this case they could be sent back to Army or Air Force. Until , objectors were considered as traitors and tried by a military tribunal; after , objectors could choose an alternative civilian service, which was eight months longer than standard military service fifteen months, then twelve, as for Army and Air Force, 24 months, then eighteen, then twelve as for the Navy [ citation needed ].
Since such length was judged too punitive, an arrangement was made to make the civilian service as long as the military service. Since , Italian males no longer need to object because military service has been turned into volunteer for both males and females. In the Republic of the Marshall Islands no person can be conscripted if, after being afforded a reasonable opportunity to do so, he has established that he is a conscientious objector to participation in war Marshall Islands Constitution Article II Section Conscription was mandatory to all able-bodied Dutch males until May 1 , when it was suspended.
The Law on conscientious objections military services [57] is active since 27 September Objectors have to work a third time longer in civil service than is normal for military service. The civil service have to be provided by government services, or by institutions designated for employment of conscientious objectors designated by the Secretary of Social Affairs and Employment, who work in the public interest.
In Romania , as of 23 October conscription was suspended, therefore, the status of conscience objector does not apply. The Romanian Parliament voted to abolish conscription in October , with the vote formalizing one of many military modernization and reform programs that Romania agreed to when it joined NATO. The Russian Empire allowed Russian Mennonites to run and maintain forestry service units in South Russia in lieu of their military obligation.
The program was under church control from through , reaching a peak of seven thousand conscientious objectors during World War I. An additional five thousand Mennonites formed complete hospital units and transport wounded from the battlefield to Moscow and Ekaterinoslav hospitals. After the Russian Revolution of , Leon Trotsky issued a decree allowing alternative service for religious objectors whose sincerity was determined upon examination. The law was not applied uniformly and hundreds of objectors were imprisoned and over were executed. In the present day, [ when? Most objectors are employed in healthcare, construction, forestry and post industries, serving 18 to 21 months. During the s, hundreds [63] of South African white males dodged the draft, refused the call-up or objected to conscription in the South African Defence Force.
Some simply deserted, or joined organisations such as the End Conscription Campaign , an anti-war movement banned in , while others fled into exile and joined the Committee on South African War Resistance. Most lived in a state of internal exile, forced to go underground within the borders of the country until a moratorium on conscription was declared in Opposition to the Angolan War , was rife in English-speaking campuses, and later the war in the townships became the focus of these groupings. The terminology conscientious objector technically has not existed in Korean dictionary until recently.
In fact, significant majority of Korean citizens simply associate conscientious objectors with draft dodging, and are unaware of the fact that conscientious objector draftees in other westernized countries are required to serve in alternative services. Since the establishment of the Republic of Korea , thousands of conscientious objectors had no choice but to be imprisoned as criminals. Every year about young men, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses, [64] are arrested for refusing the draft. South Korea's stance has drawn criticism from The U. In , , and again in the U. Human Rights Committee, after reviewing petitions from South Korean conscientious objectors, declared that the government was violating Article 18 of the ICCPR, the provision that guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
The government's National Action Plan NAP for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has not shown a clear stance on the pressing human rights issues such as, among other things, the rights of conscientious objectors to military service. In September , the government announced a program to give conscientious objectors an opportunity to participate in alternative civilian service. However, that program has been postponed indefinitely after the succeeding administration took office in The government argues that introducing an alternative service would jeopardize national security and undermine social equality and cohesion.
This is amid an increasing number of countries which retain compulsory service have introduced alternatives. In addition, some countries, including those with national security concerns have shown that alternative service can be successfully implemented. On January 15, , the Korean Presidential Commission on Suspicious Deaths in the Military released its decision acknowledging that the government was responsible for the deaths of five young men, who were Jehovah's Witnesses and had forcibly been conscripted into the army.
The deaths resulted from "the state's anti-human rights violence" and "its acts of brutality" during the s that continued into the mids. This decision is significant since it is the first one recognizing the state's responsibility for deaths resulting from violence within the military. The records of conscientious objectors to military service are kept by a governmental investigative body as criminal files for five years. As a consequence, conscientious objectors are not allowed to enter a government office and apply for any type of national certification exam. It is also very unlikely that they will be employed by any company that inquires about criminal records. Conscientious objectors Criminal records from draft dodging make it difficult for objectors to find good jobs and the issue of army service is often raised by potential employers during job interviews.
From to , Korean Military Manpower Administration said that at least 4, men have objected to service in the military because of religious beliefs. Among those, 4, were Jehovah's Witnesses, 3 were Buddhists, and the other 30 refused the mandatory service because of conscientious objections other than religious reasons. If alternative service is not provided, some to young men will continue to be added each year to the list of conscientious objectors criminalized in Korea. In , Lee Yeda was the first conscientious objector to be allowed to live in France via asylum. In June , the Constitutional Court ruled that Article 5 of the country's Military Service Act is unconstitutional because it fails to provide an alternative civilian national service for conscientious objectors.
As of [update] , 19, South Korean conscientious objectors had gone to prison since The Defense Ministry said it would honor the ruling by introducing alternative services as soon as possible. On November 1, , the Supreme Court of Korea decided that conscientious objection is a valid reason to refuse mandatory military service, and vacated and remanded the appellate court's decision finding a Jehovah's Witness guilty of the objection. Conscientious objection was not permitted in Francoist Spain. The Spanish Constitution of acknowledged conscientious objectors. In spite of this, a strong movement appeared that refused both services.
The Red Cross was the only important organisation employing objectors. Because of this, the waiting lists for the PSS were long, especially in areas like Navarre , where pacifism, Basque nationalism and a low unemployment rate discouraged young males from the army [ original research? Thousands of insumisos non-submittants publicly refused the PSS, and hundreds were imprisoned. In addition a number of those in the military decided to refuse further duties. The government, fearing popular reaction, reduced the length of service and instead of sentencing insumisos to prison declared them unfit for public service.
Fronting the decreasing birth rate and the popular opposition to the army, the Spanish government tried to modernise the model carried from the Franco era, professionalizing it.
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