Tue Oct 16, 3:32 PM ET



A U.S. soldier who said his Christian beliefs compelled him to love his enemies, not kill them, has been granted conscientious objector status and honorably discharged, a civil liberties group said on Tuesday.

Capt. Peter Brown -- who served in Iraq for more than a year and was a graduate of the elite U.S. military academy West Point -- said in a statement issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union that he was relieved the Army had recognized his beliefs made it impossible for him to serve.

"In following Jesus' example, I could not have fired my weapon at another human being, even if he were shooting at me," said Brown, who plans to continue seminary classes he began by correspondence while in Iraq.

While in Iraq, Brown processed insurgents and detainees, the NYCLU said.

Brown said he had no conflict between his faith and military service until after he graduated from West Point in 2004 and began to study scripture and his belief.

During his Iraq deployment he applied for discharge as a conscientious objector but the request was denied, the NYCLU said. In July 2007 the NYCLU and the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to order the honorable discharge.

"Before the court acted, the Army reconsidered the issue, this time granting Brown's request," said the NYCLU, adding it would now withdraw the lawsuit.

The U.S. Army was not immediately available for comment.

sounds like that guy was being a better christian than most

better christian than most of the war mongers that post here... that's for sure...

lizardking19,

Sounds like you are judging.

What it sounds like to me is that he has learned more about Christianity and what it means to be a Christian and that's wonderful. I'm glad he got his discharge, it was for the right reason.

War mongers? I thought they just wanted to see the end of the world and all it's inhabitants?

Reilgion is the problem, not the solution.

More people have been massacered in the name of the Christian God, Allah, or whicherever God is the flavor of the day than in all the natural disasters and wars that have ever occured...

My God is better than your God!!!

bibby7,

"More people have been massacered in the name of the Christian God, Allah, or whicherever God is the flavor of the day than in all the natural disasters and wars that have ever occured..."

That's not true, all evidence that we have shows you are wrong. More people have been killed by athiest dictators in the past 100 years than have been killed in all wars in human history combined. Murders in the name of any religion are terrible, they they are a tiny number when compared to the hundreds of millions racked up by athiestistic regemes. Please watch this video, he does a great job of showing how your claim is wrong (but commonly believed) with a book that you might even have in your house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAn70_-_QyE

Spider,
You might have forgotten inquisition and witch hunting, that counts too.

And don't tell people they are judging like you did in this post

lizardking19,

Sounds like you are judging.

You do that every day by labeling people in Christians and non Christians, or as you care to say non believers.

invisible,

Please show me one post where I said "non-believers".

And yes, I judge. But unlike so many others here, I am not ashamed to admit it. I'm human. I judge. But at least I don't lie about it and I'm not a hypocrite about it.

"You might have forgotten inquisition and witch hunting, that counts too. "

Those numbers are tiny. TINY. Compared to what China, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, etc did. The two things all those governments have in common is A) Secular and actively anti-religious B) Socialist.

War is good. It's mankind's built in method of population control.



half joke half serious there folks.

But all funning aside. your utopia is and always will be a pipe dream. just to many people with to many divergent thoughts and ways of life to have a utopia happen.
Besides then who gets to decide what this utopia believes and what rules it lives bt. The christians? The Muslims or the Bhuddists and which sect of said religion will choose the tennent of this utopia. Then again it could be the french or maybe the albanians. Either way a whole lot of people have to change a whole lot of things.


Ain't happening.



And to this soldier......freaking coward.


so go ahead and rip me for what i believe because it isn't meeting your approval. next time maybe i should seek your permission first before i speak.

Hanged,

Tell me, how is someone a coward when he fights for what he believes to be right?

I don't think he's a coward at all, it sounds like he was moved by the Holy Spirit and his desire to be a good Christian. I think what he did shows great courage, because many people look down on conscientious objectors.

Bull****, Spider!!!

bibby7,

Your eloquence is only matched by your love for the truth.

Invisible,

He's not fighting, he's running. If you see courage in running away so be it.
I find it not a slap in the face to the ppl who have given thiers in battles b4 this so he could "coscientiously object", but more of a knife in the back.
Ppl like this run around spouting of thier bravery while others give life and limb so they can. I find it pathetic.
It is not these "brave" ppl that have given us our right to object. It is those that do the "dirty" work.
Take your love of your enemies to thses animals who literally saw the heads off bound helpless human beings and see how far that will get you.
You can take all the weapons of this country and make of them plowshares but when the wolves come to your door will your love save you and your family? Or will give in to the animals and become one of them?
You can love them all you want but you still need to protect yourself from them at the same time. If no one is willing eventually that love will die with those that profess it.
So, yes he is a coward. His running is enabling his enemies.One less shield in the way along thier path of Jihad.

I think it very brave of him that he, despite people of your mindset, pursued what he thought was right.
If it makes him a coward in your eyes, so be it. It will make him a hero in others eyes.

Maybe it is the water.

in past wars, consiousious objectors were usually made into medics. They were universally loved by the troops for thier devoytion to duty. A lot were killed also. Takes a lot of guts to run around a battlefield exposing themselves to enemy fire without a weapon taking care of the wounded.
I also takes a lot of courage to make the stand that he did and i respect him.

i think this guy, by choosing not to kill is an example christianity should be

And yes spider i was judging, judging against the christianity that i see every day,which i see as a hate-spreading tool of wealthy white old people

There just may be hope for you after all, R ambill..