Synagogue Council Urges Congress to Extend Concept of Conscientious Objection

The Synagogue Council of America, in what it described as a “major policy statement backing selective conscientious objection,” called on Congress today “to extend the concept of conscientious objection to individuals who object not to all wars but to a particular war only.” The Synagogue Council is the umbrella organization of the lay and rabbinical branches of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism in America. Its president, Robbi Solomon J. Sharfman, explaining the background of the policy statement noted that a recent decision by the Supreme Court has thrown the issue of conscientious objection once again to the legislative branch of government. “The action of the Synagogue Council of America is therefore particularly timely,” he said, “It will enable the Council to join with the National Council of Churches and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops who previously adopted similar positions, together to urge new legislation that will provide for selective conscientious objection.” The Synagogue Council’s statement said, “While there is no absolute right for any man to be exempt from the demands of the law, the gravity of the moral issues in war are such that it behooves a government as committed to the dignity of the individual as that of the United States to pioneer in this area of respect for the conscience of man.” The statement noted that the Jewish faith supports the extension of conscientious objection to those who object to a particular conflict on genuine grounds of conscience.