The Price of Non-Conformity
Reichart, William O.
They plainly did not know how to treat me ... for they thought that my chief desire was to stand on the other side of that stone wall. I could not but smile to see how industriously they...
...I could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditations, which followed them out again without let or hinderance, and they were really all that was dangerous...
...But more important to the Dotys' posi tion is the concept that men, whatever their race or religion, are somehow related to one another in spirit if not in fact...
...If the events that have already happened are any indication of things to come, Joel has little hope that he will be allowed to spend much of his future with his wife and two children, aged eight and twenty-two months...
...There is some question, of course, as to the propriety of the act whereby the Dotys were registered, against their will, by the prison authorities while serving their first prison sentence, as well as the way in which Joel has been treated...
...The right of the individual to object to military service on grounds of conscience stems from society's recognition of the fact that some religious groups are opposed on principle to participation in war, and that members of these groups should not be forced to act against their religious convictions...
...The Dotys maintain that the business of the soldier is the waging of war and not the preservation of peace...
...But as Patrick Murphy Malan, the executive secretary of the American Civil Liberties Union, says, "The sincerity of conscientious objectors should not be judged by the test of a religious formula so narrow as to exclude ethical or humanistic beliefs...
...The spirit of toler ation which is the hallmark of democracy is the common property of all of the community's members...
...Deny it to one and the pattern is established whereby it may be denied to others, with the result that the good faith necessary for the maintenance of democracy has been destroyed...
...Registered against their will by the prison authorities, the draft board at Pine Island, Minnesota, appeared to be anxiously waiting their release from prison so that it might order them to report for induction...
...The Dotys, judged by their expressed opinions, are most properly classified as practicing humanists...
...There is, in fact, a subtle, though not very real, difference between a refusal to register for the draft and a refusal to report for induction...
...One of the basic principles underlying their position seems to be that Chris tianity tends to border on hypocrisy if it is not rigidly applied in practice...
...His classification was changed from 2-A to 1-A about thirty days later so that he might be eligible for induction along with his brothers...
...As the law now stands, the individual is only permitted to object to military service if lie is a member of a recognized formal religion...
...For in Joel's case, according to Minneapolis attorney Chester W. Bruvold, the government acted "deliberately out of pique...
...Whatever stand one may personally take in regard to war and military serv ice, the member of a democratic society must recognize the dire consequences that flow from the suppression of a min ority point of view such as that repre sented by the Dotys...
...and however fine this distinction may be, it does not appear that the Dotys have been technically subjected to double-jeopardy...
...As FIRMLY AS THEY HOLD their convictions, the Dotys do not seem to be lacking in basic humility...
...Thus, like their father before them who had served a prison sentence during World War I for the same thing, the Doty brothers were made to pay the price of non-conformity...
...IT IS A WELL-ESTABLISHED axiom that a state must jealously guard itself against the large-scale disaffection of its citizens...
...It follows, for them, that formal church organization is superfluous...
...This accounts for their refusal to claim reli gious grounds as the basis of their ob jection to military service...
...As regrettable as this may be, they are nevertheless compelled to answer to their personal consciences before any other consideration...
...In this sense it is no exaggeration to say that in insisting upon the right to their own freedom of conscience, the Dotys have performed a service for us all...
...Those whose personal convictions have prevented them from adequately fulfilling their obligations to the state have often been punished as an example to others...
...The logic of this position is clear: to become a good citizen it is first necessary to become a good man, whereas the practice of citizenship without the prior development of one's personal moral character tends to be little more than a blind adherence to the bare letter of the law...
...Their refusal to report, of course, immediately led to the issuance of criminal charges, and they were subsequently sentenced to two years in prison which they are now serving in Texarkana, Texas...
...Joel, the oldest brother, was sentenced to two years in prison, while Orin, Paul, and Sid were sentenced to eighteen months each...
...THOREAU, Civil Disobedience...
...But here, too, there does not seem to be any clear-cut infraction of the law, however unjust its consequences...
...Joel, when released from prison, was one month short of his twenty-sixth birthday and thus would not have been subject to the draft thirty days later...
...The very act of putting on a military uniform, or even registering for military service, is tacit admission that the peace has been lost and that bloodshed is to follow...
...The history of the Doty brothers' plight starts in 1951 when they refused to register for the draft on the grounds that to do so would be a violation of their religious convictions...
...But the government's conception of religion is exceedingly restrictive...
...Given their philosophical position, it follows that the Dotys are unable to bring themselves to cooperate in any way with the military authorities...
...But his interest is academic rather than practical, for he already feels himself to be in communion with the adherents of every faith as well as those who profess no faith...
...They plainly did not know how to treat me...
...Joel displays an intense interest in the Quaker and Mennonite faiths...
...They understand that their extreme stand in regard to military service places them outside of society's pale, and that the a Priori nature of their position is antithetical to the "realism" practiced by the state...
...Unable to accept the argument that peace can be maintained through military strength, the Dotys have no other alternative than the one they have chosen...
...The POINT OF CONTENTION ill this case, then, is not legal but moral...
...In conversation, one is immediately impressed by the obvious sincerity of their moral convictions...
...But despite the fact that he was unemployed at the time, according to the Minneapolis Tribune, Joel was classified 2-A (employed in an essential civilian occupation) and thereby became subject to the draft until he passes his thirtyfifth birthday...
...Like Thoreau, the Dotys have placed society in a position in which it must re-evaluate its policy, forcing it to consider the degree to which it can insist upon conformity in its citizens against the dictates of their consciences...
...It is for this reason that they decline to take up membership in any particular church...
...for they thought that my chief desire was to stand on the other side of that stone wall...
...For there is the insurmountable moral problem that to train for war is to Iearn the art of killing one's fellow man...
...The "church," for the Dotys, is nothing less than the entire body of humanity...
...As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body...
...But their difficulties did not end with their release from prison...
...In obvious demonstration of this fact, the United States recently sentenced Minnesota's four Doty brothers to serve their second term in prison for their refusal to conform to the provisions of the Selective Service law...
...So far as the bare legal aspects of the case are concerned, there is little doubt that the government has remained within the strict letter of the law...
...Most insti tutionalized Christian groups, according to Joel, have directly or indirectly sup ported war at one time or another in violation of the commandment not to kill, and have otherwise shown them selves to be more concerned with the dogmas of Christianity than the faithful practice of its ethic...
...Their manner is mild and polite and there does not appear to be a trace of exhibitionism or hostility in their personalities...
...Iu applying the law, however, the government ohuously has been vindictive, laying itself open to the charge that it is more interested in blind conformity than in justice...
Vol. 2 • July 1955 • No. 3
