Woman Being Denied Citizenship Because Her Morality Doesn’t Come From Religion
Margaret Doughty, a 64-year old woman from the UK
who has spent the past 30+ years in the U.S., is in the process of
applying for United States Citizenship and happens to be an atheist. She
is currently a permanent resident running non-profit adult literacy
organizations, doing her part to enrich the lives of American citizens.
In the process of applying for citizenship, all candidates are asked if
they’d be willing to take up arms in defense of the United States of
America. Ms. Doughty responded,
“I am sure the law would never require a
64 year-old woman like myself to bear arms, but if I am required to
answer this question, I cannot lie. I must be honest. The truth is that I
would not be willing to bear arms. Since my youth I have had a firm,
fixed and sincere objection to participation in war in any form or in
the bearing of arms. I deeply and sincerely believe that it is not
moral or ethical to take another person’s life, and my lifelong
spiritual/religious beliefs impose on me a duty of conscience not to
contribute to warfare by taking up arms…my beliefs are as strong and
deeply held as those who possess traditional religious beliefs and who
believe in God…I want to make clear, however, that I am willing to
perform work of national importance under civilian direction or to
perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States if
and when required by the law to do so.”
Despite being an atheist, Ms. Doughty was told that any conscientious objection must be based on religious grounds, not simply moral objections. So as someone who was not religious, and didn’t believe in a god, she had no basis for objecting. Her statement has been denied and she has been informed that to move forward in the process she must submit a letter from the elders of her church to prove her conscientious objections are religiously based.
continue to source article at
dividedundergod.com
Despite being an atheist, Ms. Doughty was told that any conscientious objection must be based on religious grounds, not simply moral objections. So as someone who was not religious, and didn’t believe in a god, she had no basis for objecting. Her statement has been denied and she has been informed that to move forward in the process she must submit a letter from the elders of her church to prove her conscientious objections are religiously based.
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