Mennonite Weekly Review

Goshen (Ind.) College professor John Roth asserts that Mennonites need a sabbatical from politics. Conrad Kanagy’s research highlights that Mennonites are more polarized than ever on the political spectrum.

Stephen Kriss is a teacher, writer, pastor, student and follower of Jesus living in Philadelphia.

CNN has been on campus at Goshen to engage students about their political perspectives. The Democratic presidential candidates debated at Messiah College. Republican leaders are supported by Mennonite donors in Pennsylvania. From Barack Obama’s Web site you can link up with supportive Mennonites from Indiana to Mississippi.

Mennonites have often postured ourselves as apolitical. But we’re moving to a different stage and place. The political process is engaging Anabaptists — asking our opinions, capitalizing on our venues, speaking to our values, taking our contributions.

We find presidential candidates interested in our perspectives in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Maybe in our attempt to play hard to get, we’ve made ourselves the elusive date for the dance.

Last year Mennonite Church USA delegates urged a study of what it means to be a uniquely American church, shaped increasingly by the values of the red, white and blue.

Living in Philadelphia, it’s become obvious to me that Mennonites played a role in shaping the country. William Penn’s invitation to Swiss, German and Dutch faith-filled pacifists who’d commingle easily with the Quakers established Anabaptism within the early fabric of American history. Our presence opened possibilities for thriving communities of cultural and religious diversity into our present day.

Yet we’ve oriented ourselves outside of the American story in many ways. We’ve seen our connections as local and global but not national.

French writer-philosopher Bernhard Henri-Levy writes that our ability to exist within this national identity and not be overwhelmed by it could model what the very best of the American experiment might be.

Our task is to hold the tension of identity without assimilation. This was easy when we thought of ourselves as over and against, but tougher when we find ourselves within.

The American leviathan is ready to swallow us in assimilation — pacifism, martyr memories, capitalistic orientation, communitarian impulse and all.