Clay v. United States

Essential Quotes

“In this Court the Government has now fully conceded that the petitioner’s beliefs are based upon ‘religious training and belief,’ as defined in United States v. Seeger.… This concession is clearly correct. For the record shows that the petitioner’s beliefs are founded on tenets of the Muslim religion as he understands them.”

“The Government in this Court has also made clear that it no longer questions the sincerity of the petitioner’s beliefs.”

“The Department of Justice was wrong in advising the Board in terms of a purported rule of law that it should disregard this finding simply because of the circumstances and timing of the petitioner’s claim.”

“The jihad is the Moslem’s counterpart of the ‘just’ war as it has been known in the West. Neither Clay nor Negre should be subject to punishment because he will not renounce the ‘truth’ of the teaching of his respective church that wars indeed may exist which are just wars in which a Moslem or Catholic has a respective duty to participate.”

“What Clay’s testimony adds up to is that he believes only in war as sanctioned by the Koran, that is to say, a religious war against nonbelievers. All other wars are unjust. That is a matter of belief, of conscience, of religious principle.”