Overview

People have been denied citizenship in America for many reasons. Would it surprise you to learn that four of those people were denied because they were conscientious objectors to war? The government believed that because they were not willing to bear arms in defense of the country, they were not attached to the principles of the Constitution, as required by naturalization law. Ironically, none of these people were eligible for military service because of their age, and two of them were women. Furthermore, when both women were denied citizenship it was during a period when women could not serve in the military. Following overviews of the history of immigration and pacifism in America, chapters are devoted to the four different forms of conscientious objection: philosophical absolute pacifism, religiously informed absolute pacifism, selective conscientious objection, and conscientious cooperator. Each chapter discusses the individual, the arguments for their claim to citizenship, the government's arguments against them, and an analysis of the Supreme Court Opinion in their case. In short, each chapter gives a comprehensive treatment of the personalities and the issues involved. A fascinating and informative read for theology and law students, scholars and for those intrigued in immigration and/or pacifism.

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9780810845442

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Reviews

To Defend the Constitution is a welcome addition to the literature on the relationship between religion and civil authority in the United States. . . . While Flowers's book is decidedly a scholarly work produced by a very fine scholar, a more general audience can also read it with great profit. Flowers has built his treatment around four persons-Rosika Schwimmer, Douglas Clyde Macintosh, Marie Averil Bland, and James Louis Girouard--all of whom were denied citizenship because they had conscientious objection to war or, at least, to combatant status. He tells their stories with grace and drama, and the result for anyone is a wonderful reading experience that combines pure enjoyment with profound illumination. Flowers has supplemented his fine narrative with 28 appendices-cases, testimonies, oral arguments, media accounts, reactions of organized religious groups, and other documents-that help the reader to see the stories of these four brave persons in the larger context of the evolution

Author Information

Ronald B. Flowers is Professor of Religion, Texas Christian University. He has served on the Editorial Council of the Journal of Church and State. He has authored many books including That Godless Court?: Supreme Court Decisions on Church-State Relationships (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994).

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