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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 87

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

THEOLOGICAL MATTERS 87

spect to the draft laws of the United States, especially
insofar as these laws compel participation in the Amer-

ican intervention in Vietnam, which, in the eyes even of.

many whose Christian faith is unquestioned and whose
patriotism is impeccable, is immoral, unjust, and un-
wise; and

Wuereas, The church has as one of her responsi-
bilities in every generation to speak with a prophetic
voice to the authority of the state, and not always and
only to serve as “religious” legitimizer and defender of
the values of the status quo: therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod in convention assembled in Denver, Colo., in July
1969, officially affirm the ethical integrity and the theo-
logical validity of selective conscientious objection, spe-
cifically and explicitly as this involves the integrity of
those who object on the basis of conscience to the hos-
tilities in Vietnam, while not necessarily being opposed
for reasons of conscience to all war: and be it further

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod officially inform the President of the United
States, the Director of the Selective Service Commission
of the United States, the Secretary of Defense for the
United States, and the chairmen of the House and Sen-
ate Armed Services Committees in Congress of this
resolution, urging that the present Selective Service
law be amended in such a way as to recognize the va-
lidity of selective conscientious objection and to make
legal provisions for the nonpunitive exemption of se-
lective conscientious objectors; and be it further

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod petition the President of the United States for
amnesty for those young Americans who have cou-
rageously refused to serve in the armed services for
reasons of conscience; those presently imprisoned in
military or federal prisons in the United States, those
presently awaiting trial or sentence, those now in exile,
having been granted political asylum in Sweden, and
those now living in exile in Canada; and be it finally

Resolved, That the congregations of The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod be encouraged to provide
competent and capable counseling to those of their flock
or in their communities who agonize over the moral
issues involved in the draft and American military in-
volvement in Vietnam.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF PRINCE OF PEACE
Tulsa, Okla.

Tuomas Kirk, President

Dona_tp J. DALLMANN, Pastor

(2-41)

To Declare Church’s Position on
Selective Conscientious Objection

Wuereas, The present military draft policy of the
U.S. government gives consideration only to those ob-
jectors who, on the basis of conscience, oppose war
in any form (Military Selective Service Act of 1967),
thus applying only to the total pacifist, without recog-

nition of selective objection where the individual con-
science is convinced that the government is engaged
in an unjust war; and

Wuereas, This places the selective conscientious ob-
jector in many Christian denominations in an untenable
dilemma, since the mainstream Christian tradition, ex-
pounded by major Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed
theologians. acknowledges that political reality calls for
certain wars, limiting this, however, with the theory
of the just war and reserving the right of selective
conscientious objection on the basis of whether the war
meets the criteria of being just or not; and

Wuereas, The Lutheran tradition exhorts the Chris-
tian to honor and obey the government, and where the
Christian conscience impels a different course of action,
he should seek to modify or change governmental policy
through loyal and acceptable processes (Luther, Ex-
hortation Against Rebellion, LW 45, pp.62f.); and

Wuereas, The traditional Lutheran position holds
that the church has a prophetic task to speak out when
injustice is being perpetrated by government and so-
ciety, for silence against injustice is to be an accomplice
(cf. Luther, Sermon on the Mount, LW 21, p. 120:
Treatise on Good Works, LW 44, p.50), and that this
must be done boldly, without fear of dishonor or death
(Sermon on the Mount, pp. 54 ff.; p. 64); and

Whereas, Dr. Martin Luther encouraged a conscien-
tious and responsible form of “draft resistance” if the
individual is convinced that the government is em-
barking on an unjust war (Whether Soldiers Too Can
Be Saved, LW 46, pp. 130 f.), yet always held that where
conscience is not certain of the essential injustice of a
situation, then one can perform the duty with a clear
conscience; and

WuereEas, The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod,
in assembled convention, directed that a statement on
conscientious objection be drawn up (Proceedings of
the 42nd Regular Convention, Houston, 1953, pp. 743 to
744), and in its subsequent convention (Proceedings of
the 43rd Regular Convention, St.Paul, 1956, p. 571)
upheld such a statement (cp. L. W. Spitz, “A Christian’s
Attitude Toward War,” CTM, XXVI [Feb. 1955], 127 to
128), which in recognition of the difficulty of the ques-
tion said, in part: “Therefore the question whether in
a specific case the government is waging a just or an
unjust war is usually not for the church to determine,
but must be referred to the judgment of the individual
(Luke 12:14; Acts 25:11)” (p. 128); therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod, in counteraction to Resolution 2-35 of the New
York convention, which discouraged selective conscien-
tious objection (Convention Proceedings, 47th Regular
Convention, New York, 1967, pp. 96—97), reaffirm its
historical theological position whereby it recognizes that
selective conscientious objection by an individual Chris-
tian is a possible valid stance; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod declare that the church
and its ministry have the pastoral duty of counseling