Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
a california woman applying for US citiship citizenship had her application
denied
because immigration officials refused to recognize her secular beliefs surnames
Adriana Ramirez
and she says that she objected to the pledge to bear
arms dealer her sincerely held moral convictions
but her conscientious objector status was rejected
because it was based on secular rather than religious beliefs now attorneys
from the American Humanist Association
say that immigration officials violated constitutional protections in denying
the application
and they say given the Supreme Court's unequivocal instruction
that to be consistent with the Constitution the government must
interpret
a statute permitting conscientious objection on the basis a religious
belief
to include a comparable secular moral views in other words
if in order to obtain conscientious objector status to something
you are allowed to do that based on religious beliefs if you have similar
moral convictions based
on abe religious beliefs it must also be
allowed Miller from the Amir American Humanist Association says that
there's no legal basis at all to deny citizenship because they're ethical
values
are secular this happened once before and it was ultimately overturned
and during the application process applicants are allowed to express any
objections that they may have to warfare which is connected to the this pledge to
bear arms that you take when you become a naturalized citizen
it makes it an optional part and
apparently this immigration official didn't like it that Adriana Ramirez said
no I object to warfare but it has nothing to do
with religion and this really made me think
above the following question if us-born citizens who are citizens by birth
rather than by naturalization were asked today
to take the oath to unconditionally bear arms if called upon to do so
how many actually would I think there are millions and millions of people in
this country
who for non religious beliefs would say their conscientious objectors to
right I think most people who object
something like that do not do it because if religious beliefs they probably do it
just because they are
non-violent worry I don't believe in the cause or don't believe in shooting
someone else
I which is pretty common I think ultimately this is going to be
overturned in Adriana Ramirez will have no problem at all