I have recently started reading a book on Mennonite History. I became interested in this topic through my teaching in U.S. History on the different religious groups that migrated to the United States. I also gained interest because of a Mennonite pastor I have been listening to a lot, Shane Hipps. I wanted to understand a little more about the Anabaptist/Mennonite tradition and how it relates to the modern day issues.
To give a little background, the Anabaptists/Mennonite faith came around roughly the same time as the Protestant Reformation. Some would link them together with the other Protestant groups; however, they actually differed greatly on many issues (and were persecuted and killed by both Protestants and Catholics). One of the first issues that the Anabaptists stood for was peacemaking. At this time, people believed you needed to spread Christianity by the sword. You accepted the teachings of the church or you were persecuted. Other religions were seen as threats and also treated with great violence (crusades, inquisitions, etc.). Anabaptists had a radical idea that they were really supposed to be peacemakers and shun conflict. They refused to fight, and they even went as far as to refuse to pay taxes to governments that would support this use of force. The idea that the Christian faith cannot truly be expanded by the use of force seems obvious to us today, but at this time it was something very radical.
Another issue where the Anabaptists really led the way was the idea of the Separation of Church and State. This is another area that we often take for granted in our pluralistic society. However, at this time, this was something that had never really been given thought. The area you lived in was either Protestant or Catholic and you followed that religion whether you wanted to or not. The Anabaptists had the radical idea that church should be optional, only to those who chose to follow in that path. The government and state should separate.
The Ramifications for us in the 21st century are still large. Christians or at least evangelicals have not been seen as peacemakers in recent society. It is somewhat shocking to know that Evangelicals are one of the groups most likely to support U.S. military action. It would have been ironic for the early Anabaptists to think that it is the secular world who needed to lead the way in peacemaking rather than the church. Anabaptists should also help reinforce the beauty of the separation of church and state. It was only a couple of hundred years ago when we did not have this privilege and your freedom and often your life depended on you following the teachings of a particular church. In fact, I would contend that we owe this blessing in many ways to the Anabaptist and other groups such as the Quakers and Baptists who broke off from them. Many Anabaptists died for these beliefs, but the legacy that they have given us should cause us to reevaluate our own lives and our own values as a society, but even more importantly as individuals. Today, let’s make peace our goal and our way of being and let’s thank God every day that we no longer live in a “Christian” nation such as Lutheran Germany, Calvin’s Geneva, or Catholic Spain or Italy, but in societies where we can actually worship freely.
Essence Restored 