“Three months clemency. Wow. I am truly astonished. Great for me? Sure. Great for future resisters? Even more so. I cannot believe that I told the Army ‘No,’ refused to deploy, pleaded not guilty, and then indicted the entire system and blamed my command in court, and still merited clemency.”

And here’s what he said back during his court-martial:

“As a real Christian, I must be opposed to all violence, no matter what, because that is what Jesus taught.”

While I applaud his feelings toward violence, I can’t help but feel strangely ambivalent about the case. The US Army is currently a volunteer outfit; there’s no draft involved. If Bishop felt this way all along, why did he join the Army in the first place?

The post The Conscientious Objector first appeared on What He Said: The Words of Jesus Christ.