CASES OF CONSCIENCE

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 6

CASES OF CONSCIENCE

The Christehurch Presbytery, drafting an appeal to the Government in regard to. conscientious objections to military training, has declared that it is quite contrary to the principles of this Church "to have her divinity students regarded as a privileged class in the matter of military service." In our opinion, the Presbytery has misinterpreted the state* inent of Sir Joseph Ward on this subject, but we agree entirely with it that there should .be in such matters no discrimination between sects and no "preference treatment" for the divinity students of any one Church. The question still remains whether it is wise to consider "cases of conscience" by reference to the creed of the objector's religious denomination. The difficulties are obvious enough, and the Christehurch Presbytery suggests that "conscientious objectors" should be certified or guaranteed as to their sincerity by "trustworthy witnesses!" But even if this course were always practicable, it would still leave unanswered the question whether it is ever right for a man to disobey his conscience, and whether it is ever just or wise for the State to coerce him into subjection. It seems to us that the simplest way of getting out of the difficulty is to give all men of the prescribed age the choice between "military training" and "alternative service," without ever mentioning conscience. As we have repeatedly pointed out, most objections to war and military service are "conscientious" even if they are not based on strictly religious convictions. Those ,who for any reason object to military' training could be called upon to perform equivalent services, and it should be possible to graduate and adjust the various alternatives in such a way as to reduce the number of objectors to a minimum. But so long as conscience is accepted unconditionally as a valid ground for objection, the interpretation of the Defence Act must inevitably cause trouble.