U.S. laws and Mennonites

In times of peace, Mennonites are seen as fine and upstanding citizens in the United States. We not only adhere to U.S. law, but we go above and beyond by voluntarily placing ourselves under more laws than are required by the U.S. government. 

A lot of the laws of the United States overlap with the religious laws we Mennonites read about in the Bible and try to live by. For example, there are U.S. laws against stealing and bearing false witness in court. We are accustomed to following these types of U.S. laws because they are also in the Bible.

Not only do we obey overlapping laws, we voluntarily live by additional laws that are in the Bible but are not U.S. law. Examples include striving to value family life, being honest in our business dealings, and being generous and charitable towards our neighbours. Americans are not required to obey these laws under U.S. law, but Mennonites voluntarily do because the Bible has demonstrated to us that these additional laws make our communities function well and make us good neighbors to those living around us.

In times of peace, our laws do not conflict with the laws of the United States. In fact, the practice of our laws benefits us and our neighbors. We won't be stealing from each other or from our neighbors. We won't be bearing false witness against each other or our neighbors. We'll be supportive of our families and those of our neighbors. We'll be honest in our business dealings with each other and with our neighbors. We'll practice charity among ourselves and our neighbors. Who wouldn't want to live near a community in which your neighbors are living by such values?

But this only works well during times of peace.

In times of war, there is one major conflict between Mennonite laws and U.S. law. We won't kill when the United States orders us to kill. The Bible has convinced us that killing when an ordered to by a country is immoral. Our neighbors think that killing Vietnamese, Iraqi, and other foreign people is morally justified when the U.S. orders its citizens to do so.

In times of war, the U.S. government and our U.S. neighbors will be pressuring our young men to join the military and to go abroad and kill non-Americans. Mennonites in the U.S. can't do that while holding true to our religious laws and beliefs. So when war happens, we need to find a way to avoid being ordered to kill.

Sometimes this is costly.

Sometimes we can seek exemptions by proving what good neighbors we are.

Sometimes we have to emigrate to another country; a country that both appreciates having us as neighbors and won't order us to kill.

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