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A Statement
on Peace, War, and Military Service, 1937
Mennonite General Conference (MC) at Turner, Oregon, August,
1937
In view of the present troubled
state of world affairs, with wars and rumors of wars threatening
the peace of the world, we, the representatives of the Mennonite
Church, assembled in General Conference near Turner, Oregon,
on August 25 and 26, 1937, and representing sixteen conferences
in the United States and Canada, one in India and one in Argentina,
S. A., do desire to set forth in the following statement our
faith and convictions in the matter of peace and nonresistance
as opposed to participation in war and military service, earnestly
admonishing our membership to order their lives as becometh Christians
in accord with these principles.
In doing so we do not establish
a new doctrine among us, but rather give fresh expression to
the age-old faith of the church which has been held precious
by our forefathers from the time that the church was founded
in Reformation times in Switzerland (1525) and in Holland (1533),
at times even at the cost of despoiling of goods and exile from
native land, and in some cases torture and death. On a number
of former occasions since our settlement in America we have set
forth our non resistant, peaceful faith in memorials to officers
of state, such as the petition of 1775 to the colonial assembly
of Pennsylvania, and in ad dresses to the President of the United
States and to the Governor-General of Canada during and after
the World War in 1915, 1917, and 1919, and at other times, thus
testifying to our rulers and to our fellow citizens of our convictions.
Since our position has been fully and authoritatively expressed
in our confession of faith, known as "The Eighteen Articles,"
adopted in Dortrecht, Holland, in 1632 and confirmed at the first
Mennonite Conference held in America in Germantown in 1725, reaffirmed
in the declaration of the 1917 General Conference at Goshen,
Indiana, and in the statement of faith adopted by the General
Conference at Garden City, Missouri, in 1921, we do not consider
it necessary at this time to set forth our position in detail,
but rather merely to affirm in clear and unmistakable terms the
main tenets of our peaceful and non resistant faith as they apply
to present conditions.
Our Position on Peace and War
1. Our peace principles are rooted
in Christ and His Word, and in His strength alone do we hope
to live a life of peace and love toward all men.
2. As followers of Christ the
Prince of Peace, we believe His Gospel to be a Gospel of Peace,
requiring us as His disciples to be at peace with all men, to
live a life of love and good will, even toward our enemies, and
to renounce the use of force and violence in all forms as contrary
to the spirit of our Master. These principles we derive from
such Scripture teachings as: "Love your enemies"; "Do
good to them that hate you"; "Resist not evil";
"My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of
this world, then would my servants fight"; "Put up
thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword"; "Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves"; "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he
thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals
of fire on his head"; "Be not overcome of evil, but
over come evil with good"; "The servant of the Lord
must not strive; but be gentle to all men"; "The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal"; "Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who . .
. when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he
threatened not"; "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing
for railing: but contrariwise blessing"; "If a man
say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar . . . and
this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love
his brother also"; and other similar passages, as well as
from the whole tenor of the Gospel.
3. Peace within the heart as
well as toward others is a fruit of the Gospel. Therefore he
who professes peace must at all times and in all relations with
his fellow men live a life that is in harmony with the Gospel.
4. We believe that war is altogether
contrary to the teaching and spirit of Christ and the Gospel,
that therefore war is sin, as is all manner of carnal strife,
that it is wrong in spirit and method as well as in purpose,
and destructive in its results. Therefore, if we profess the
principles of peace and nevertheless engage in warfare and strife
we as Christians become guilty of sin and fall under the condemnation
of Christ, the righteous Judge.
Our Position on Military Service
In the light of the above principles
of Scripture we are constrained as followers of Christ to abstain
from all forms of military service and all means of support of
war, and must consider members who violate these principles as
transgressors and out of fellowship with the church. Specifically
our position entails the following commitments:
1. We can have no part in carnal
warfare or conflict between nations, nor in strife between classes,
groups, or individuals. We believe that this means that we cannot
bear arms personally nor aid in any way those who do so, and
that as a consequence we cannot accept service under the military
arm of the government, whether direct or indirect, combatant
or noncombatant, which ultimately involves participation in any
operation aiding or abetting war and thus causes us to be responsible
for the destruction of the life, health, and property of our
fellow men.
2. On the same grounds consistency
requires that we do not serve during wartime under civil organizations
temporarily allied with the military in the prosecution of the
war, such as the YMCA, the Red Cross, and similar organizations
which, under military orders, become a part of the war system
in effect, if not in method and spirit, however beneficial their
peacetime activities may be.
3. We can have no part in the
financing of war operations through the purchase of war bonds
in any form or through voluntary contributions to any of the
organizations or activities falling under the category described
immediately above, unless such contributions are used for civilian
relief or similar purposes.
4. We cannot knowingly participate
in the manufacture of munitions and weapons of war either in
peacetime or in wartime.
5. We can have no part in military
training in schools and colleges, or in any other form of peacetime
preparation for service as part of the war system.
6. We ought carefully to abstain
from any agitation, propaganda, or activity that tends to promote
ill will or hatred among nations which leads to war, but rather
endeavor to foster good will and respect for all nations, peoples,
and races, being careful to observe a spirit of sincere neutrality
when cases of war and conflict arise,
7. We ought not to seek to make
a profit out of war and wartime inflation, which would mean profiting
from the shedding of the blood of our fellow men. If, however,
during wartime, excess profits do come into our hands, such profits
should be conscientiously devoted to charitable purposes, such
as the bringing of relief to the needy, or the spreading of the
Gospel of peace and love, and should not be applied to our own
material benefit.
Our Willingness to Relieve Distress
According to the teaching and
spirit of Christ and the Gospel we are to do good to all men.
Hence we are willing at all times to aid in the relief of those
who are in need, distress, or suffering, regardless of the danger
in which we may be placed in bringing such relief, or of the
cost which may be involved in the same. We are ready to render
such service in time of war as well as in time of peace.
Our Attitude During Wartime
If our country becomes involved
in war, we shall endeavor to continue to live a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty; avoid joining in the wartime
hysteria of hatred, revenge, and retaliation; manifest a meek
and submissive spirit, being obedient unto the laws and regulations
of the government in all things, except in such cases where obedience
to the government would cause us to violate the teachings of
the Scriptures so that we could not maintain a clear conscience
before God. Acts 5:29. We confess that our supreme allegiance
is to God, and that we cannot violate this allegiance by any
lesser loyalty, but rather must follow Christ in all things,
no matter what it cost. We love and honor our country and desire
to work constructively for its highest welfare as loyal and obedient
citizens; at the same time we are constrained by the love of
Christ to love the people of all lands and races and to do them
good as opportunity affords rather than evil, and we believe
that this duty is not abrogated by war. We realize that to take
this position may mean misunderstanding and even contempt from
our fellow men, as well as possible suffering, but we hope by
the grace of God that we may be able to assume, as our forefathers
did, the sacrifices and suffering which may attend the sincere
practice of this way of life, without malice or ill will toward
those who may differ with us.
If once again conscription should
be established, we venture to express the hope that if service
be required of us it may not be under the military arm of the
government, and may be such that we can perform it without violating
our conscience, and that we may thus be permitted to continue
to enjoy that full liberty of religious faith and conscience
which has been our privilege hitherto,
Resolution of Appreciation
We desire to express our appreciation
for the endeavors of our governments, both in the United States
and Canada, to promote peace and good will among nations, and
to keep from war. In particular, do we desire to endorse the
policy of neutrality and nonparticipation in disputes between
other nations. We invoke the blessings of God upon the President
of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada as well
as upon the heads of state in the various lands in which our
missionaries are serving, in their difficult and arduous duties
as chief executives, and pray that their endeavors toward peace
may be crowned with success.
We cherish our native lands,
the United States of America, and the Dominion of Canada, as
homelands to which our forefathers fled for refuge in times of
persecution in Europe, and we are deeply grateful for the full
freedom of conscience and liberty of worship which has been our
happy privilege ever since the days of William Penn and which
is vouchsafed to us as well as to all our fellow citizens by
the national constitutions and the constitutions of the several
states and provinces. We pray that the blessings and guidance
of a beneficent God may continue to rest upon our nations, their
institutions and their peoples.
Adopting Resolution
We hereby adopt the above statement
as representing our position on peace, war, and military service,
and we instruct the Peace Problems Committee to bring this statement
to the attention of the proper governmental authorities of the
United States and Canada and other lands in which our missionaries
are laboring. We would likewise suggest to each of our district
conferences that they endorse this statement of position and
bring it to the attention of every congregation and of all the
members individually, in order that our people may be fully informed
of our position and may be strengthened in conviction, that we
may all continue in the' simple, peaceful, nonresistant faith
of the Scripture as handed down to us by our forefathers of former
times.
As a matter of practical application,
we request our Peace Problems Committee, as representing the
church in these problems, to carefully and prayerfully consider
the problems which may arise in case our members become involved
in conscription, giving particular attention to the proposed
legislation on this matter which is now before congress or its
committees.
A Statement of our Position on Peace, War and Military Service,
prepared by the Peace Problems Committee and adopted by the Mennonite
General Conference at Turner, Oregon, August 25-27, 1937, Proceedings,
pp. 123-126.
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