Atheist denied citizenship unless she joins church

Start a petition to change the oath of citizenship so that newly minted citizens do not have to affirm that they will defend and protect the Constitution.

One can do that without killing.

I for one would refuse to kill on behalf of government.

You were born here, which means that as a citizen you are subject to a draft. When someone becomes a citizen they have to take an oath of citizenship one of the provisions is that you would take up arms in service to the government.

If we did not have such an oath, we would have millions of "citizens" who have no interest in defending the Constitution. But, there is an exception for religious teachings.

Exactly. The law is the law, and even the exemption for "religious teachings" is going too far, in my view. I think it dates back to the revolutionary war with certain religious minorities that were either a) legitimately "anti-war" by virtue of a deluded religious worldview, or b) unpatriotic scum who used their minority religious status as an excuse to avoid the burden of service by preying on the ignorance and generosity of the rest of the Americans.
 
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One can do that without killing.

I for one would refuse to kill on behalf of government.

You were born here, which means that as a citizen you are subject to a draft. When someone becomes a citizen they have to take an oath of citizenship one of the provisions is that you would take up arms in service to the government.

If we did not have such an oath, we would have millions of "citizens" who have no interest in defending the Constitution. But, there is an exception for religious teachings.

I find it funny that a country that espouses freedom of religion must force people to join a religion in order to have their moral beliefs recognized.

And If i were ever drafted I would not kill anyone on orders from some corrupt politicians.

Freedom of religion has nothing to do with a requirement to take an oath to defend the nation. She is given far too much leniency in being given the option to be exempt from the oath, as it is. There should be no exemptions for the oath based on religious grounds.
 
Margaret Doughty, Atheist Seeking U.S. Citizenship, Told To Join Church Or Be Denied

Margaret Doughty, an atheist and permanent U.S. resident for more than 30 years, was told by immigration authorities this month that she has until Friday to officially join a church that forbids violence or her application for naturalized citizenship will be rejected.

Doughty received the ultimatum after stating on her application that she objected to the pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation due to her moral opposition to war. According to a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by the American Humanist Association on Doughty's behalf, officials responded by telling her that she needed to prove that her status as a conscientious objector was due to religious beliefs. They reportedly told her she'd need to document that she was "a member in good standing" of a nonviolent religious organization or be denied citizenship at her June 21 hearing. A note “on official church stationary [sic]" would suffice, they said.

Her letter is at the link.

She is a moron.

If she truly wanted to become a citizen she would just affirm whatever she had to and come here and work towards changing that unreasonable requirement.

We don't need more stupid people in this country.
 
Consciencious objectors still have to serve if required to do so. They just don't have to serve in a combat capacity.
 
Margaret Doughty, Atheist Seeking U.S. Citizenship, Told To Join Church Or Be Denied

Margaret Doughty, an atheist and permanent U.S. resident for more than 30 years, was told by immigration authorities this month that she has until Friday to officially join a church that forbids violence or her application for naturalized citizenship will be rejected.

Doughty received the ultimatum after stating on her application that she objected to the pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation due to her moral opposition to war. According to a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by the American Humanist Association on Doughty's behalf, officials responded by telling her that she needed to prove that her status as a conscientious objector was due to religious beliefs. They reportedly told her she'd need to document that she was "a member in good standing" of a nonviolent religious organization or be denied citizenship at her June 21 hearing. A note “on official church stationary [sic]" would suffice, they said.

Her letter is at the link.

Your fucking president and his fucking administration. So what are you bitching about?

Exactly what I was thinking. Take this up with Moabama.
 
Margaret Doughty, Atheist Seeking U.S. Citizenship, Told To Join Church Or Be Denied

Margaret Doughty, an atheist and permanent U.S. resident for more than 30 years, was told by immigration authorities this month that she has until Friday to officially join a church that forbids violence or her application for naturalized citizenship will be rejected.

Doughty received the ultimatum after stating on her application that she objected to the pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation due to her moral opposition to war. According to a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by the American Humanist Association on Doughty's behalf, officials responded by telling her that she needed to prove that her status as a conscientious objector was due to religious beliefs. They reportedly told her she'd need to document that she was "a member in good standing" of a nonviolent religious organization or be denied citizenship at her June 21 hearing. A note “on official church stationary [sic]" would suffice, they said.

Her letter is at the link.

She is a moron.

If she truly wanted to become a citizen she would just affirm whatever she had to and come here and work towards changing that unreasonable requirement.

We don't need more stupid people in this country.

Yesterday I agreed with Lakhota, today it's Huggy... WTF is going on here? :lol:
 
How old is she? Why does she think she will be forced to take up arms? She clearly doesn't have a clue how this country works.

It's in the oath. There isn't a different oath for people of differing ages. It's the same oath.
 
How old is she? Why does she think she will be forced to take up arms? She clearly doesn't have a clue how this country works.

It's in the oath. There isn't a different oath for people of differing ages. It's the same oath.

She thinks she's principled. That's how precious and pretentious this granny communist is. Unreal how seriously she takes herself.
 
She claimed to be a conscientious objector. In order to make that claim, you can't just object to war, that won't work. You have to have a basis for your belief. It can't be your personal opinion. In order for her to make a legitimate claim, she has to belong to group that as a matter of belief, objects to war. The naturalization requirements include a pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation. She says she can't because as a matter of her belief she objects to war. She can't take the oath of citizenship. There is an exception for those who belong to a religion that forbids the adherents to be fighters. In order for her to come under that exception, she has to actually belong to one of those religions.

If she claims the Constitution, she better be ready to pick up a gun and fight for the Constitution. She says she can't because as a matter of belief, she is a consciencious objector. No go prove it.

--- by joining an organisation? What the fuck does joining some group have to do with a personal philosophy? You would have to arrive at the personal philosophy before you joined the group. Ergo, joining the group is superfluous.
 
She claimed to be a conscientious objector. In order to make that claim, you can't just object to war, that won't work. You have to have a basis for your belief. It can't be your personal opinion. In order for her to make a legitimate claim, she has to belong to group that as a matter of belief, objects to war. The naturalization requirements include a pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation. She says she can't because as a matter of her belief she objects to war. She can't take the oath of citizenship. There is an exception for those who belong to a religion that forbids the adherents to be fighters. In order for her to come under that exception, she has to actually belong to one of those religions.

If she claims the Constitution, she better be ready to pick up a gun and fight for the Constitution. She says she can't because as a matter of belief, she is a consciencious objector. No go prove it.

--- by joining an organisation? What the fuck does joining some group have to do with a personal philosophy? You would have to arrive at the personal philosophy before you joined the group. Ergo, joining the group is superfluous.

It's not about personal philosophy. The law (stupidly, IMO) permits exemptions on the grounds of religious belief, not "personal philosophy".
 
She claimed to be a conscientious objector. In order to make that claim, you can't just object to war, that won't work. You have to have a basis for your belief. It can't be your personal opinion. In order for her to make a legitimate claim, she has to belong to group that as a matter of belief, objects to war. The naturalization requirements include a pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation. She says she can't because as a matter of her belief she objects to war. She can't take the oath of citizenship. There is an exception for those who belong to a religion that forbids the adherents to be fighters. In order for her to come under that exception, she has to actually belong to one of those religions.

If she claims the Constitution, she better be ready to pick up a gun and fight for the Constitution. She says she can't because as a matter of belief, she is a consciencious objector. No go prove it.

This is all about the naturalization requirements it's not about religion.

Why does one have to belong to a group in order to believe that killing is wrong?

So let's just burn down the whole system of oath-taking for citizenship in order to appeal to people like this woman? She should not even be given the option to reject the oath, for ANY reason, in order to obtain citizenship.

As far as the "killing is wrong" position, that is a supremely immoral and juvenile position. We have a moral obligation, whether or not you realise or accept it, to defend ourselves, our families, and our nations. If people attack you and you family and the only way to practise effective defence is through the use of lethal force, you have a moral obligation to so. To do otherwise is not only cowardly, but supremely immoral and despicable. I suppose you are sympathetic to that immoral approach.

Utter complete unmitigated horseshit. Rationalizations like yours are what keeps war afloat.
 
Why does one have to belong to a group in order to believe that killing is wrong?

So let's just burn down the whole system of oath-taking for citizenship in order to appeal to people like this woman? She should not even be given the option to reject the oath, for ANY reason, in order to obtain citizenship.

As far as the "killing is wrong" position, that is a supremely immoral and juvenile position. We have a moral obligation, whether or not you realise or accept it, to defend ourselves, our families, and our nations. If people attack you and you family and the only way to practise effective defence is through the use of lethal force, you have a moral obligation to so. To do otherwise is not only cowardly, but supremely immoral and despicable. I suppose you are sympathetic to that immoral approach.

Utter complete unmitigated horseshit. Rationalizations like yours are what keeps war afloat.


Great argument, Pogo. You're a high-calibre poster!
 

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