Political abstention is total and it is the practical reason the community exists as a named body at all. When the American Civil War brought conscription, exemption on religious grounds required membership of a recognised denomination, so in 1864 John Thomas registered the name Christadelphian — brethren in Christ, from the Greek — for people who had until then simply called themselves brethren. Christadelphians have appeared before conscientious objection tribunals in Britain in both world wars, in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and generally accepted non-combatant or civilian alternative service; some were imprisoned. The abstention extends further than most peace churches: members do not vote, do not stand for office, do not serve on juries or in the police, and do not join trade unions in some ecclesias. They pay taxes and obey the law, on the reading of Romans 13, while declining to participate in the government it comes from.