CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!
Mayer, Milton
Crucify Him! Crucify Him! By Milton Mayer THE COURT: "I have never had any cases that caused me more trouble than these cases have caused me trouble of heart and mind . . . He is not a criminal at...
...To say that a man could get away with murder by pleading religious belief is to overlook the fact that there is no warrant for murder in religion, and that therefore the man is either insane or insincere...
...Let him go, then, and when the Communists conquer us, they will have conquered a Christian country...
...IV Counsel for Cannon and Richter have "gone up," as we counsellors put it, on the single argument that Cannon's conviction, affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, clearly violates the Constitutional provision that Congress shall not abridge the free expression of religion...
...And in support of God, the Messrs...
...He that believeth in me," said the Rabbi Jesus, "the things that I do he will do likewise...
...Ill In the case of Herman Henderson, William Edwards, Richard Shufle-barger, and Charles Frantz, three of them Quakers, and one a member of the Church of the Brethren, it is the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit which does its bit, in upholding their conviction, to prove that the totalitarian state is the American way: "In these days of total war, war means just what the name implies, a war of all, as a unit, for the preservation of our Nation, our ideals and our freedoms...
...In the matter of the Nisei deportation—excuse me, relocation—from the West Coast, you will recall Justice Frankfurter's opinion, that "to find that the Constitution does not forbid the military measures now complained of does not carry with it approval of that which Congress and the Executive did...
...The man who is worthy of freedom chooses...
...It appears that the Court has not yet acted on the petition on behalf of Robert L. Cannon, whose judges' words led me to turn to Scripture at the opening of this article...
...he is always a volunteer...
...Either the Selective Service Act of 1948 is unconstitutional or the Constitution is unholy...
...Religion, in the Tenth Circuit, is all right as long as you don't live it...
...The Cannon-Richter petition—it was filed last June, but the Court hasn't acted on it yet—argues that the First Amendment means just this, that a man can not be convicted, whatever he has done, if his act is the expression of religion...
...I warmly approve of civil disobedience under Divine compulsion...
...Justices Black and Douglas do not seem to care much for crucifying, and Justice Jackson, after his Nuremberg debauch, shows signs of having had enough blood to drink for a while...
...The statute involved is the Selective Service Act of 1948...
...Then said Pilate, "I find no fault in him . . . ") The Court: "What is your verdict—Guilty or Not Guilty...
...The Court: Very well...
...20, 1948, as Dean of Blufton College, and there, and on that day, encountered for the first time in his life one of his students, Charles Rickert...
...But you never know, any more...
...The reason it is nonsense is that men are free in Russia providing they obey the law...
...And, lest butter melt in my mouth, let me say herewith, herein, and hereunder that, as President of the American Pawpaw Growers Association, I urge—the word "urge" is mine—the members of the Association to support Young Pawpaw Growers and others who express their opposition to conscription either by non-registration, or by registration as conscientious objectors...
...II On July 22, 1948, the Religious Society of Friends in the United States had urged—the word "urged" is theirs—their members, numbering some 100,000, "to support Young Friends and others who express their opposition to conscription either by non-registration, or by registration as conscientious objectors...
...Pilate marvelled . . .) The Court: "I hated to sentence him...
...saying, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend . . .") The Circuit Court of Appeals: "He is not a criminal at all . . . But he chose to violate the law . . . Judgment affirmed . . . Petition for MILTON MAYER, a regular contributor to The Progressive, lectures throughout the country for the American Friends Service Committee, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Jewish Peace Foundation, and the Great Books Foundation...
...And, though the son was under draft age at the time his father advised him to refuse to register, and though the son rejected his father's advice...
...Gara was not charged with having known or in any way communicated with Rickert at the time Rickert refused to register, nor was be charged with having said more to Rickert than, "Don't let them coerce you into violating your conscience," and this on Nov...
...Here appellant admits that he agreed in every way possible to assist and support non-registrants...
...Mr...
...and they cried out, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him . . . ") The Court: "It would be the simplest matter in the world and the happiest act I could do, to grant probation if he stood before the court and said: 'I see the error of my ways.' (. . . Then said Pilate unto him, "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee...
...and Pilate was afraid . . . ) The Court: "But I am bound by precedent to apply the law as it has been established...
...8, Charles Rickert was arrested, and Gara said to him, "Don't let them coerce you into violating your conscience...
...The Court: "It is difficult to understand...
...and Pilate said unto them, "What will ye then that I shall do unto him...
...He may not be a hero, but he is never an involuntary hero...
...Pilate took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it . . .") —United States v. Robert L. Cannon...
...If Justices Murphy and Rutledge were alive—above all, if Justices Clark and Minton had not taken their places—I might predict a close decision...
...We warmly approve civil disobedience under Divine compulsion . . ." It is irresistibly clear that, had Larry Gara blamed the urging of Religious Society of Friends for his offense, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals (for the Sixth Circuit) would have affirmed the conviction of the 100,000 members of the Society of Friends as soon as they were rounded up and convicted...
...or express my contempt of the Court if it upholds the judgment that there is no King but Caesar...
...Ten days earlier, on Sept...
...The members of this panel of this Court are of the opinion that the Justice Department of the National Government should carefully reexamine this case and all others of' like nature vyith a view of relieving young conscientious zealots from the overwhelming burden of carrying the felon's brand...
...This is particularly likely to be the case if Justice Frankfurter writes the Court's opinion...
...Wirt Warren, who was also convicted for "counselling, aiding and abetting," was not a dean advising a student, but a father advising his son...
...10, Rickert had appeared before his Draft Board and refused to register under the Selective Service Act and, later that same day, Sept...
...Thomas Aquinas ("human law does not bind a man in conscience"), the New Hampshire Constitution of 1784 ("among the natural rights, some are in their very nature inalien -able, because no equivalent can be given or received for them...
...The essence of freedom is choice...
...8, two months after Rickert refused to register and notified his Draft Board that his refusal was irrevocable...
...Larry Gara's offense, you will recall, was counselling non-registration...
...That is their business, not ours...
...Men are not free in Russia...
...Of this kind are the RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE"), and the Charter of the International War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg ("the fact that the defendant acted pursuant to orders of his Government or of a superior shall not free him from responsibility...
...What else does the First Amendment mean...
...The jury will so understand...
...Warren's conviction, and, though many Catholics strongly supported Dr...
...In affirming Gara's conviction, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals said: "We do not have a mere attempt on appellant's part to comfort or give moral support to someone who is paying the penalty for his refusal to register...
...If we choose God, we must deny Caesar, like the Founding Fathers of this Republic, and appeal, as they did in the Declaration of Independence, to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of our intentions...
...Larry Gara was indicted, tried, and convicted for having "counselled, aided and abetted one Charles Ray Rickert to refuse or evade registration...
...it is their Caesar against ours...
...he volunteers...
...It is nonsense to say that men are free in this country providing they obey the law...
...He does not wait to be conscripted...
...The Selective Service Act of 1948 enslaves men to the slaughter of the innocent...
...Keep away from the Tenth Circuit, my friends, or they'll hang you for a Christian...
...He is not a criminal at all," says the Court in each one of these cases...
...The case is a beaut, or so it would seem, because Caesar, in the modest person of U. S. District Attorney Johnson of the Southern District of California, Central Division, admits that the enemy is God: "The Court: Do I understand the stipulation is that the reason why the defendant did not register and has not registered under the Selective Service Act of 1948 was because of his religious beliefs and convictions...
...He volunteers for the war that is always going on against the social, economic, and political evils that beset every community, beginning with his own, and he fights all the time and on every front, and he does not delude himself that he can eliminate the evils by killing their victims...
...By Milton Mayer THE COURT: "I have never had any cases that caused me more trouble than these cases have caused me trouble of heart and mind . . . He is not a criminal at all...
...Johnson: Yes, your Honor...
...God, in the extremely modest person of Defense Counsel Wirin, Okrand, & Randies, replies: "Yes, the Constitution gives him that right...
...In the case of Robert L. Wixom, a teaching fellow at the University of Illinois, who, as a conscientious objector in the last war, submitted himself as a guinea pig for the study of deadly diseases, the distinguishing feature is the convicting judge, one Lindley, who explained to defense counsel (this same Heisler) that Heisler couldn't tell him anything about the Quakers—he, Lindley, was "brought up as a Quaker" himself...
...The essence of freedom is not law, but choice...
...As it happened, Gara blamed his offense upon the urging of Jesus Christ, Who was convicted outside the jurisdiction of the Sixth Circuit...
...Warren, I have not been able to discover that the Roman Catholic Church as such, in spite of its concern for the sanctity of the family against the encroachment of the state, was active in the case...
...His articles have appeared in Commonweal, Harper's, Fellowship, Negro Digest, and Life...
...As a cautious fellow, I would not presume to predict the outcome of the Gara case...
...That makes 100,001...
...The doctrine would require our society to discover —not to decide, but to discover— what religion is, but how can we prohibit Congress from restricting the free exercise of religion when we do not know what religion is...
...Caesar here relies upon the fear of the late Justice Cardozo, in Hamilton v. Regents, that a conscientious objector "might refuse to contribute taxes in furtherance of a war, whether for attack or for defense, or in furtherance of any other end condemned by his conscience as irreligious or immoral...
...The Supreme Court refused to review Dr...
...Warren, a physician, and a Quaker, was sent to the penitentiary and, I assume, was had up for expulsion from the practice of medicine because of his conviction for a felony...
...The fact, O my friends, is that we must choose, as a nation if possible, as individuals in any case, whether we shall serve Caesar or God when Caesar and God disagree...
...Larry Gara, a member of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, arrived in Blufton, Ohio, Sept...
...Now he's a judge...
...The Foreman of the Jury: "Guilty...
...If we choose Caesar, our quarrel with the Russians is superficial...
...The Supreme Court has refused, up to now, to hear a straight case of non-registration...
...The petitioners mentioned here, including Gara...
...The Selective Service Act of 1948 enslaves men to hatred of their fellow-men—"and the sooner you start hating," says General Roberts, the Commanding Officer of Ft...
...MacArthur, "the better"—and the jeopardy, therefore, of their souls...
...I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it . . .") Larry Gara was a dean who advised a student not to be coerced into violating his conscience...
...When the Court denies a petition, it doesn't have to say why, and in the non-registrant cases to date it hasn't...
...In the Warren case, it is the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, no less, that expounds the doctrine that we have no King^ but Caesar: "Morally a parent may entertain religious beliefs and teach these to his children, but he can not counsel non-registration, for freedom to believe is absolute, but freedom to act is not, and the man may not excuse his practices that are contrary to law because of his religious beliefs...
...Wirin, Okrand, & Randies cite a long line of precedents, including St...
...The Gospel according to SS-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John The Supreme Court of the United States, having in October heard Francis Heisler, who practices the profession, rather than the business, of law, has taken under advisement the case of Larry Gara, who, like Robert L. Cannon, has refused to render unto the United States the things that are God's...
...rehearing denied . . . There is room here, however, for executive action...
...The majority—if there is a split decision—may take whatever water that is handy, and wash their hands before the multitude, affirming the conviction on technical grounds, i.e., dodging the issue of the First and Fifth Amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion, and holding, instead, that it cannot overturn the conviction because the defendant signed his name in pencil instead of in ink...
...10, wrote his draft board that his refusal was irrevocable...
...The case of Cannon, joined with the identical case of Robert Richter, may be even more important than that of the dean who advised his student to be a man of conscience or the father who advised his son to follow Christ—both advices being illegal in the Sixth and Tenth Circuits of the United States...
...The things that are God's are the lives of men...
...This does not mean that the conscientious objector can refuse to carry his share of the taxes, but it does mean that his tax money shall not be used in violation of his religious conscience...
...We may succeed in Christianizing them, as the Prussians, whom we conquered, have succeeded in Prussianizing us...
...On Nov...
...who was denied bail, all went to prison...
...The Selective Service Act of 1948 enslaves men, not merely to the sacrifice of their lives and liberties, but also to the forfeit of their sacred honor...
...V Where the laws enslave, and men submit to their enslavement, no man is free...
Vol. 14 • November 1950 • No. 11
