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Dominic Nozzarella

October 25th, 2024

Blessed are the peacemakers: From Mennonite nonresistance, to nonviolence, to nonviolent resistance

0 comments | 7 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Dominic Nozzarella

October 25th, 2024

Blessed are the peacemakers: From Mennonite nonresistance, to nonviolence, to nonviolent resistance

0 comments | 7 shares

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Mennonites, pacifist children of the Radical Reformation, have historically maintained an outlook of “nonresistance” centred chiefly on conscientious objection. Over the past few decades, Mennonites have embraced more active methods to promote a global culture of nonviolence. Here, Dominic Nozzarella examines their recent accelerated involvement in innovations, action, and activism for social justice, and its relationship to Anabaptist peace theology, especially in light of the current war in Gaza.

Mennonite Action

On July 28th, a group of peace activists finished an 11-day, 135-mile journey on foot from Harrisonburg, Virginia, to Washington, DC. Their arrival in DC kicked off a multi-day campaign of protests and nonviolent civil action aimed at disrupting the lobbying efforts and conference of the US’ largest Christian pro-Israel lobbying organisation. The marchers, joined by activists from their community and pro-ceasefire Jewish and Muslim groups, occupied the Gaylord National Hotel, where the conference was being held, and the Hart Senate Office Building, where the lobby’s members were meeting with their representatives. Activists at the Senate offices engaged in a sit-in, with roughly 50 occupying the spacious floor of the building. Almost immediately, Capitol Police quickly surrounded the group, arresting the activists one by one and seizing their flags and banners. 

This action mirrors their first major campaign in DC, in which activists occupied the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in January of this year. Activists unfurled banners calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and sang peace songs while occupying the centre of the rotunda. They were all arrested. More activists held a religious peace service in the snow outside the building and greeted the arrestees with cheers when they were brought out by the police. 

Most of the activists behind these acts of civil resistance were Mennonites, who had come to DC from different parts of the US. Many of them had been arrested previously, and many of them had decades of engagement in civil disobedience and protest for different causes, such as the Vietnam War draft, the School of the Americas, and the US Invasion of Iraq. However, while they had all been involved in various causes as individuals or congregations, this was the first time they had been united under one common banner explicitly linked to their historical theology and identity. 

Both actions were live-streamed by Mennonite Action, a newly-formed pan-North American organisation that aims to mobilise the Mennonite community for peace activism on the Gaza war. Since January, Mennonite Action has engaged in hundreds of civil resistance actions across the US and Canada, with many more planned, given the increasing elusiveness of a ceasefire that activists seek. 

Mennonite Action and the Mennonite community’s response to the war in Gaza represents the newest development in the long, complex, ongoing process in which more liberal Mennonites have moved away from pacifistic “nonresistance” that has historically dominated the outlook of the Mennonite community. Since the mid-20th century, and especially in the mainline Mennonite Church USA (MCUSA) and Mennonite Church Canada, the dominance of nonresistance has begun to be usurped by an ideology of  “nonviolence” that emphasises actively promoting social justice, seeking to build peace and mediate conflicts, and dismantle systemic injustices. Mennonite Action arguably goes beyond even this, reaching new heights in Mennonite assertiveness on social justice issues. 

The Mennonites

Mennonites are children of the Radical Reformation’s Anabaptist tradition, particularly from the Swiss and southern German regions. In the US, where they have a significant presence (although they are even more numerous globally, especially in Africa), they are often associated with traditional agriculture and communal, austere living. Some conservative branches, such as the Old Order Mennonites, eschew modern technology to a degree similar to the Amish, though this is not characteristic of most Mennonite groups. All Mennonite and Anabaptist groups maintain a long, rich tradition of pacifism.

At the heart of the Mennonite pacifist tradition, the core of Mennonite peace theology, is that Christ’s example in the Gospels outlines an absolute rejection of violence, a focus on reconciliation, and stringent pacifism as righteous and obligatory for Christian life. A component of Anabaptist/Mennonite theology is the “Two Kingdoms” doctrine. Particular emphasis is placed on the idea that Christians should adhere to the Kingdom of Heaven and its principles, namely peace and forgiveness, over the worldly, violence-laden realities and tendencies of the Kingdom of Earth. 

This peace theology aligned with the historically normative form of pacifism that the Mennonites, and similarly Quakers and Brethren (the other “peace churches”), were traditionally defined by. The idea of living a lifestyle of Christian peace was primarily expressed through their conscientious objection to combat service during wartime. Mennonites and other peace church adherents either refused to join national armies or opted for non-combat roles if pressed. This form of pacifism has often been referred to as “nonresistance” and stresses the importance of personally refusing to engage in violence or warfare. Related to this sentiment was a high reluctance to vote in American elections and a general, pervasive sense that Mennonites should remain separate from and uninvolved in public life. 

A new way

The transition for many Mennonites away from strict nonresistance towards a more active, world-oriented “nonviolence” began during World War II. Thousands of Mennonites serving in the non-combat Civilian Public Service (CPS) as “Pax Boys” were exposed to the broader structural injustices of the wider world, the mass post-war deprivation in Europe, subtle influences from the earlier social gospel, and the later Civil Rights Movement. Due to these experiences, the (now disgraced) Mennonite peace theologian John Howard Yoder and more liberal-aligned Mennonites coalesced around a new, more active outlook for promoting an international culture of peace and dismantling institutional injustice. 

This more active “nonviolence” stresses efforts to actively promote peace and social justice rather than simply refusing to be personally complicit in the evil and violence in the world. Mennonite “nonviolence” has emerged into many different schools of thought among different thinkers and theologians, but generally outlines the idea that Mennonites must do more than simply refuse to fight. 

Historically, and even today, many Old Order and staunchly conservative Mennonites feel that attempting to address structural injustice is futile, given their faithful interpretation of Christian eschatology, the idea that departing from nonresistance is abandoning Biblical fidelity and tradition, and the fear of being mired in the world’s influences. Despite this, the transition from nonresistance has had widespread influence in peacebuilding and international development in the Mennonite world and beyond. 

Integral to this transition, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the premier Mennonite relief service and peace agency today, was created following the mass starvation of Mennonites in Ukraine in the 1920s. MCC’s role in international development and relief expanded dramatically after WWII, and has consistently punched far above its weight in its activities. While representing and drawing support and engagement from a broad array of Mennonite and Anabaptist bodies, MCC’s ideology is thoroughly intertwined with the ethos of active nonviolence. For decades, it has also been a leader in international peacemaking. Alongside the Quaker American Friends Service Committee, MCC has also spearheaded significant innovation in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, incorporating theory and peace theology from Mennonite thinkers and experiences from MCC practitioners in conflict zones, such as the famed John Paul Lederach. 

A natural offshoot of the evolution of Mennonite active nonviolence was the founding of Community (formerly Christian) Peacemaker Teams (CPT) by a few church groups in the wake of the 1984 Mennonite World Conference, in which evangelical peace theologian Ron Sider criticized adherents of the peace churches for their unwillingness to risk bodily harm for the sake of peace. CPT engages in “unarmed peacekeeping” and the recording and documenting of human rights violations in areas of conflict. It is most known for its almost 30-year-long presence in Hebron/Al Khalil, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. 

Rather than separating themselves from the world for fear of being corrupted by its evil, mainline Mennonites have attempted to alleviate its suffering and violence. The forms of service, the intricacies of the theory, and the peace theology underpinning them have varied. Still, mainline Mennonites have largely striven to “do no harm” in the world while aiding those suffering. 

Gaza and the future

Despite the wide-reaching transition away from old-school nonresistance, as seen in nearly every facet of Mennonite peace theology, conflict resolution, international development, and advocacy, many Mennonites still feel it is incomplete. The war in Gaza has exposed another vein in which many Mennonites believe that Mennonite institutions have not gone far enough openly to promote peace and social justice, or that longstanding tactics are insufficient, resulting in the establishment of Mennonite Action in November of last year.

Mennonite Action represents this long transition’s latest and arguably most aggressive development. Its confrontational civil resistance tactics, deep interfaith coordination with Muslim and Jewish peace groups, overt rhetoric on liberation and people power, and embracing nonviolent conflict to achieve its aims, all characterize the group as embarking on a new, more active (and overtly activist) path in the tradition of Mennonite nonviolence. Compared to the traditional Anabaptist/Mennonite nonresistance of the past, which is still practiced by many thousands of conservative and Old Order Mennonites, the praxis and ideals of Mennonite Action are an entire world away, yet retain undeniable elements of their historic peace tradition.

As younger, more progressive Mennonites continue to enter politics and activism, the dynamic relationship between Anabaptist tradition and pacifism is sure to continue evolving. Consequently, with injustice and violent conflicts worsening globally, these activists will likely adopt bold and innovative tactics to further promote the causes of peace and social justice. 

Photo by Mennonite Action

 


Note: This article gives the views of the author, not the position of LSE Religion and Global Society nor the London School of Economics and Political Science.  


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About the author

Dominic Nozzarella

Dominic Nozzarella holds a BA in International Affairs with concentrations in Conflict Resolution and Asia from the George Washington University. He has a keen interest in the religious dimension of conflict transformation, and served in the West Bank with a Mennonite peace organization in the summer of 2023.

Posted In: Featured | Religion in the US

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