Conscientious Objector

Conscience, an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. To be conscientious is the wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly. In the early 17th century, of persons, "controlled by conscience, governed by the known rules of right and wrong;" of conduct, etc.

Originally, the term “conscientious objector” was in reference to an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion, but is that legal?

In 1965, United States v. Seeger, the government ruled that a person can claim conscientious objector status based on religious study and conviction that has a similar position in that person's life to the belief in God, without a concrete belief in God. According to the common view, conscientious objection is grounded in autonomy or in 'freedom of conscience'. Consequently, conscientious objection is tolerated out of respect for the objector's autonomy, which is in turn linked to their ability to independently choose their beliefs and commitments.

Conscientious objection involves essentially an agent's refusal to comply with an authoritative standard or rule that applies to him/her because doing so entails betraying one or more of his/her deepest commitments.

-Busy Brain