22. US v SEEGER
the
FACTS:
1. These three cases involve the exemption claims under section
6(j) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act of
conscientious objectors who did not belong to an orthodox
religious sect.
2. Section 6(j) of the Universal Military Training and Service
Act of 1958 offered an exemption from military service for
conscientious objectors, provided that their belief in a Supreme
Being requires duties that are superior to those arising from
commands of any human relation.
The Three Cases
A.) Seeger believed that "the cosmic order does, perhaps,
suggest a creative intelligence" and he criticized the tremendous
"spiritual" price man must pay for his willingness to destroy
human life. He was convicted in the District Court for the
Southern District of New York for refusing to register in the
Armed Forces. His conviction was reversed by the Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit.
B.) Jakobson believed in a "Supreme Being" who created
mankind, and in a "Supreme Reality" which resulted in the
existence of mankind. He was similarly convicted, and his
conviction reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit.
C.) Peter, although not sure of his belief in a "Supreme Being,"
stated that there was "some power manifest in nature ...
supreme expression" that helps man in ordering his life. He was
convicted in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California and his conviction was affirmed by the
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
ISSUE: WON their beliefs would fall under the exemption
mentioned in section 6(j) of the Universal Military Training and
Service Act of 1958
HELD: YES.
The test of religious belief within the meaning of the exemption
in 6 (j) is whether it is a sincere and meaningful belief occupying
in the life of its possessor a place parallel to that filled by the
God of those admittedly qualified for the exemption.
The exemption does not cover those who oppose war from a
merely personal moral code nor those who decide that war is
wrong on the basis of essentially political, sociological or
economic considerations rather than religious belief.
Local boards and courts are to decide whether the objector's
beliefs are sincerely held and whether they are, in his own
scheme of things, religious: they are not to require proof of the
religious doctrines nor are they to reject beliefs because they are
not comprehensible.
Under the broad construction applicable to 6 (j) the applications
involved in these cases, none of which was based on merely
personal moral codes, qualified for exemption.