[ColinHowell]

Originally Posted by Ronin4hire

It sounds like you hold contempt for consciencious objectors.

If the draft was introduced in my country, then depending on the war I may be a consciencious objector.

They were probably sent to prison in your day... but that is morally wrong to send a person who doesn't want to go into war.

Before too many accusations are thrown around about the World War 2 generation's attitude toward conscientious objectors, it might be good to try to get some actual facts. Although this passage from the English Wikipedia's article about conscientious objectors isn't well-cited, it does appear to provide some enlightening information about Britain's handling of conscientious objectors during the Second World War:

In World War II, following the National Service (Armed Forces) Act of 1939, there were nearly 60,000 registered Conscientious Objectors. Testing by Conscientious Objection Tribunals resumed, this time chaired by a judge, but was much less harsh; if you were not a member of the Quakers or some similar pacifist church, it was generally enough to say that you objected to "warfare as a means of settling international disputes," a phrase from the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. The tribunals could grant full exemption, exemption conditional on alternative service, exemption only from combatant duties, or dismiss the application. Of the 61,000 only 3,000 were given complete exemption and 18,000 were dismissed as false claimants. Of those directed to non-combatant military service almost 7000 were allocated to the Non-Combatant Corps, set up in mid-1940; its companies worked in clothing and food stores, in transport, or any military project not requiring the handling of "material of an aggressive nature". In November 1940 it was decided to allow troops in the NCC to volunteer for work in bomb disposal. In total over 350 volunteered. Other non-combatants worked in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Other acceptable occupations were farm work, mining, firefighting, ambulance service. About 5500 objectors were imprisoned, charged with offences relating to their unrecognised objection. A further 1000 were court-martialled by the armed forces and sent to military detention barracks or civil prisons. Nevertheless, the social stigma attached to 'conchies' (as they were called) was considerable: regardless of the genuineness of their motives, cowardice was often imputed.

In short, conscientious objectors who were believed to be genuine were treated reasonably by the government; only those whose objection was believed to be fraudulent were imprisoned.