Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan quickly ended speculation last week that he was linked with the Vietnam Summer project to organize massive opposition to the war.

The archbishop said he did not authorize the use of his signature on the Vietnam Summer advertisement which appeared in the New York times, nor was he linked in any way with an antiwar meeting at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta last week.

Archbishop Hallinan said he opposed a move for massive refusal to bear arms, but he called for Americans to respect both the honest conscientious objector and the honest soldier.

“I have heard some strange sentiments put forth lately in the name of peace,” the archbishop told the Associated Press. “The craven fear of death and apathy to moral evil or an indifference to faith and culture are unworthy credentials for those who sign up or speak up. We have had enough of that.”

He said he would hold to the right of conscientious objection just as the Church and “our country does,’ but added he would not endorse a campaign of mass refusal.

A handbill of the advertisement containing the archbishop’s name was shown at a meeting of groups seeking a united antiwar campaign in Atlanta at the Ebenezer church. It was exhibited by State Rep. Julian Bond.

Bond said at a news conference Friday that he regretted that Archbishop Hallinan was linked with literature at the meeting which suggests a draft-card burning.

In the interview with AP, the archbishop said he makes a distinction between the moral imperatives of peace and the political ways and means of carrying them out.

Moral principles, he said, would include the continued urging of the U.S. government to seek negotiations, to work through the United Nations and other international bodies.

He said moral principles were not subject to debate, but every person should follow his own best judgment about the political questions—such as when to arm or bomb or negotiate.

He said, “I can’t see the attempts to degrade the president. Nor do I think peace leaders should be degraded.”