The Kingdom of God Is Within You, Chapter 7 summary
Chapter 7 of 12 · 24 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 7, the speaker argues that compulsory military service exposes a contradiction: the state demands sacrifices that destroy the security and common benefits it claims to provide. By making citizens enforce oppression, conscription forces each person to examine obedience, refusal, and the claims of conscience against state authority.
What happens
- The speaker distinguishes moral influence from authority, arguing that authority rests on physical force and depends on armies.
- Power corrupts rulers, while growing government oppression makes its supposed protection increasingly unnecessary.
- Caprivi’s statement about fighting socialism illustrates the argument that armies chiefly protect governments against their own subjects.
- Military rivalry produces universal service, making citizens uphold the oppression imposed on them and destroying the benefits government promises.
- The speaker rejects claims that government remains necessary for protection, social cooperation, or defense against neighboring peoples.
- Comparing obedience with refusal, the speaker favors refusal but identifies individual religious conscience as the decisive test of government’s existence.
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In this chapter
Quick check
According to Caprivi’s explanation, why are reliable noncommissioned officers needed?
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