June 22, 2009 issue
War-tax resisters differ on legislative strategies
National committee meets in Virginia
By Susan Miller For Mennonite Weekly ReviewHARRISONBURG, Va. — The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill is a cherished cause for many Christian pacifists.
It offers the hope that someday Congress might approve a legal way to opt out of paying for war.
But some war-tax resisters go further in their protest against military spending.
They don’t like the idea of asking the government’s permission to follow their consciences.
“We should not be granting our government the implicit authority to wage war by asking its permission not to participate,” said Ray Gingerich, a retired Mennonite theology professor, during a meeting of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, or NWTRCC.
“By requesting special privileges to be exempt from participation in waging war, we are implicitly saying to our government, … ‘We recognize and respect your authority and the right to wage war together with your gracious generosity to exempt us from participation in war.’ ”
Gingerich, professor emeritus of theology and ethics at Eastern Mennonite University, believes that “to be a Christian who claims an Anabaptist pacifist heritage and not do war-tax resistance is a categorical contradiction.”
He and his wife, Wilma, redirect the military percentage of their income tax each year and suffer the consequences of following their consciences.
“I don’t wait for the government to grant me the right to not participate in war,” he said.
Gingerich expressed his views during the May 1-3 biennial meeting of the NWTRCC at Community Mennonite Church. Participants came from 13 states and Washington, D.C.
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