We Oppose Forcing Women into Military Service and Will Resist Any and All Efforts to Do So

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On Wednesday, July 21, 2021, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23-3 to send the The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022 to the Senate Floor. The vote took place behind closed doors. The $777.9 billion NDAA for fiscal year 2022 “Amends the Military Selective Service Act to require the registration of women for Selective Service,” just as all men in the US must now register when they reach 18 years of age.

We, the undersigned, are men and women who vehemently oppose any and all steps toward forcing women to serve in the military, including requiring women to register for a draft, in preparation for one if one ever is reinstated in the United States. An effective and efficient military is incompatible with compelling women to participate — and it is abundantly clear that military policy would force females to be involved at every level, including combat. The trajectory in this direction is unambiguous. Placing females in combat positions is opposed to the clear teaching of nature, common sense, and the teachings of many religious faiths, including Christianity. A large number of religious faiths, along with nature itself, teach clearly that although men and women are equal in value, they are not identical.

We are of various religious persuasions (our number includes protestants, Catholics, and Jews). The men in our number are stepping forward to say, “We will not allow the women for whom we are responsible to be forced to register for selective service. The teachings of our various faiths and, for those of us who are Christians and Jews, of the various of expressions our faith within the Judeo-Christian tradition, compel us to stand between the federal government and the women we love — our wives, daughters, and sisters.” The women among us are saying, “We are appreciative of the men in our lives and in our nation who are taking this stand. We will not be coerced to sign up for a military draft.” (Go here to access a page showcasing some of the biblical arguments against forcing women to register for a military draft and for military service.)

We who are Christians also emphasize: The stand we are taking to refuse to submit to governing authorities in this regard, and to protect our women from being forced to submit, is thoroughly biblical, even in light of the commands in Scripture to obey civil authorities (see Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17). Whenever any claim of the civil government contradicts the Word of God, Christians “must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29). Any civil authority requiring or compelling women to compulsory military service does so in violation of God’s Word — in particular the biblical doctrine of personhood, which is grounded at the most basic level in the sexual calling God gave each person when He made each one of us either male or female. As Jesus said, “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” (Mark 10:6; see also Gen. 1:27).

Our number also includes men and women of no particular religious persuasion but who believe the teachings of nature are crystal clear on this matter. Thus, their conclusions about forcing women to register for the draft and coercing them to be involved in military operations align with the conclusions of their religious counterparts who are taking this stand. Although they would not consider themselves to be people of faith, the men are are compelled to stand between the women in their charge and a federal government coercing its females, including its mothers, to register for military service that would inevitably place them in harm’s way. Likewise, the women agree that forcing females into military service ultimately 1) erodes the effectiveness of the military and 2) weakens the family, the basic unit upon which a nation relies for stability and strength. As social researcher Glenn Stanton has said, virtuous nations “and good soldiers protect women and children.…They don’t send their women off to battle.”

Therefore, we object to the use of women as military combatants, the conscription of women into the armed forces of the United States for either combatant or non-combatant positions, and the requirement that females register for potential conscription into military service. We refuse to submit to any governmental coercion compelling women to serve in or in any way subject themselves to potential conscription into the armed forces of the United States.

We will not hand over our wives, daughters, and mothers to the state; nor will we become the property of the state. It is our responsibility to defy such a law.

 

Principal writers: Brian Bailey, Tim Bayly, Michael Foster, Andrew Dionne, and B. Nathaniel Sullivan

A one-page PDF file of this petition is available here.

Copyright © 2021 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.

The Scriptures cited are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV). The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV® Text Edition: 2011. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

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An update was sent to the signers of this petition on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

JUL 28, 2021 — 

Copyright © 2021 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.