US Army - What He Said: The Words of Jesus Christ https://whathesaid.com Making the words of Jesus Christ easy to read and explore Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:26:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 The Conscientious Objector https://whathesaid.com/2010/03/29/the-conscientious-objector/ https://whathesaid.com/2010/03/29/the-conscientious-objector/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:26:25 +0000 https://whathesaid.com/?p=392 Travis Bishop was released from a military brig last Thursday. He had been serving a 12-month sentence after being court-martialed for refusing to serve in Afghanistan. Here’s what Bishop had to say upon being granted a 3-month reduction in his sentence: “Three months clemency. Wow. I am truly astonished. Great for me? Sure. Great for […]

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

]]>
Travis Bishop was released from a military brig last Thursday. He had been serving a 12-month sentence after being court-martialed for refusing to serve in Afghanistan. Here’s what Bishop had to say upon being granted a 3-month reduction in his sentence:

“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.

]]>
https://whathesaid.com/2010/03/29/the-conscientious-objector/feed/ 1