METHODIST LEADER

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24138, 3 December 1941, Page 8

METHODIST LEADER

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR UNSUCCESSFUL APPEAL [BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION'] WELLINGTON, Tuesday The president of the New Zealand Methodist Young Men's Bible Class Movement. Albert Gordon Worboys, a clerk in the Income Tax Department, was a conscientious objector appellant before the No. 4 Armed Forces Appeal Board in Wellington. The appeal was dismissed. The appellant said he could not find any justification on Christian grounds for taking part in warfare, irrespective of the purpose or grounds of expediency on* which such warfare might appear to be based. On the contrary there was a clear call to express love to one's neighbours and enemies alike in all circumstances. He had been closely associated with the Methodist Church all his life. Worboys said he saw no difference between combatant and non-combatant service. His attitude to a non-com- ! batant unit was that it was an .essential and integral part of the war machine, and, although jn some instances its work included 1 ministering to the sick and wounded, it was done primarily for the furtherance of the cause for which wholesale slaughter was being carried out. The appellant said he recognised and was concerned about his responsibility to the community, and also recognised his responsibility to the State, but on this particular issue the claims of God were in direct opposition to those of the State. He had no doubt as to where his first loyalty rested. The Crown representative, Mr. C. 0. Bell, pointed out to the appellant that his work was connected with tax collection, which was an importantfactor in financing the war effort, yet the appellant was prepared to continue this work, which he could have left at any time since the war began, but not to do anything else which would Le helping the war.