Conscientious Objection: How can Quaker Meetings support our youth? A Conversation Circle

January 21 and 23, 2025

F

OR A MEETING, CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION IS HOW THE PEACE TESTIMONY MANIFESTS IN ITS TEENS. There are two main reasons: First, U.S. Selective Service registration, required of all 18-year-old males and perhaps females in the future, is a person’s first contact with military induction. The teen years are the best time to discern and start documentation for a possible CO claim, particularly as a precaution should a draft be re-instated. Beyond that, and perhaps more importantly, the peace testimony is central to Quaker identity, so education about conscientious objection for Quaker teens is paramount. Regardless of a future draft, laying seeds of peace in youth has long-range benefits.

This conversation circle will explore conscientious objection for Quaker teens. Curt Torell, author of Conscientious Objection: Is this for You? will present the current state of U.S. Selective Service registration and how a CO claim can be made. Participants will engage in conversation, sharing their own experiences based on the queries below.  Curt will then share curriculum ideas from his soon-to-be released revision of, Conscientious Objection: Is This for You? Discerning, Deciding, Documenting, and Defending a CO Claim with Selective Service. The curriculum is published through Quaker House, a peace witness in Fayetteville, NC, where Curt has served on the board for a number of years. In the early 70’s, Curt worked at a draft center in Rochester, NY.

QUERIES

• What does your meeting do to nurture the peace testimony in young people?
• In what ways does your meeting address conscientious objection?
• In what ways does your meeting support teens who are COs, and may not know it?
• What has been your, or your meeting’s experience with conscientious objection and teens?

CONVERSATION STARTER

• Curt Torell, PhD, Chapel Hill Meeting, Quaker House, NCYMC

FACILITATORS

• Sita Diehl, Madison Friends Meeting, NYM
• Andrew Wright, Durham Friends Meeting, NCYMC

RESOURCES

• Conscientious Objection: Is this for you?  Resource Guide, by Curt Torell, PhD, Quaker House.
• Study War Some More: If you want to work for peace By Chuck Fager, Quaker House.
• Extra Casualties: The Military Industrial Complex and the Uncounted Human Cost of War by Mia Austin-Scoggins, Quaker House.
• Quaker House, Fayetteville NC: https://quakerhouse.org/
• How to Become a Conscientious Objector, QuakerSpeak video with Curt Torell  
• Steps for Writing a Statement of Conscience, Friends Peace Teams.
• Conscientious Objection, Quakers in the World. Library of the Religious Society of Friends, London.

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