Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 23
November 27, 2006
Conscientious objection critiqued by history conference
Winnipeg
When Canadian Major General La Fleche asked a delegation of Mennonites negotiating an alternative service program during World War II, “What will you do if we shoot you?” Jacob H. Janzen replied they could not be scared that easily.
He had “looked down too many rifle barrels” for that, Janzen said with some emotion. He had, in fact, twice faced a firing squad. “This thing is in our blood for 400 years and you can’t take it away from us like you’d crack a piece of kindling over your knee. We believe in this!”
Janzen’s words were recounted—and received with applause—at War and the Conscientious Objector, a history conference held last month at the University of Winnipeg. The two-day event featured a full program of diverse papers that illuminated the strength of historic Mennonite convictions about nonresistance, particularly in Canada during the Second World War.
More than 10,000 Canadian men served as conscientious objectors (COs) at that time, on farms, fighting forest fires, planting trees, and more. It was also noted that close to 40 percent of eligible Mennonite young men enlisted in the Canadian military.
Running through the well-attended conference was an undercurrent of anxiety that if “this thing” had once been thick in Mennonite blood, it might not be so any longer.
“I’m afraid many Mennonite churches [today] would not identify with this principle,” commented Harry Loewen, professor emeritus of the University of Winnipeg.
The conference considered past models of conscientious objection (absolutist or pragmatic, separatist or integrationist), government reactions and women’s responses to the war. The three major Mennonite groups in Canada—Swiss Mennonites, 1870s Mennonites and 1920s Mennonites—wished to present a united front, but reacted somewhat differently to the national challenges of war because of their own particular histories.
Mennonites were not the only conscientious objectors, however. Papers by several scholars about the Second World War history of the Doukhobors, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Quakers, as well as those influenced by the social gospel, gave a broader context to the experience of Mennonite COs. Keynote speaker Thomas Socknat, professor at the University of Toronto, further broadened the context by placing CO history into peace movements in Canada.
A session on the theological basis of conscientious objection was, as one person put it, “the real meat.” Tom Yoder Neufeld of Conrad Grebel University College showed that the distinctive peace position—historically a “reflex” rooted in an ethos of separation, ethnicity, obedience and “an unsophisticated use of Scripture”—faces major challenges today, with only the “dim memory” of conscription. Yoder Neufeld called for a theology not only of conscientious objection, but “conscientious engagement” in peacemaking.
David Schroeder, professor emeritus of Canadian Mennonite University, said, “We’re not called to make history come out right. [That’s] what Christ has already done. We’re called to be the church and to be Christian in the world.”
The event’s strongest contribution, perhaps, was its stories. Some were narratives that were so raw, moving, even guileless, that they could only be absorbed for further contemplation. [See story below, “Young CO left life as a U.S. marine behind,”.]
Sam Steiner’s account of being a draft dodger during the Vietnam War, for example, probed at tensions or ironies around the practice of conscientious objection. Contemporary situations needing peacemaking also emerged, including concerns about the “hawkish” views of Franklin Graham, who was holding an evangelistic festival in Winnipeg on the same weekend. [See “Mennonites lead protest of Franklin Graham Festival,” Nov. 13, page 18.]
The conference was hosted by the Chair in Mennonite Studies of the University of Winnipeg and sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Historical Society of Canada and Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.
Young CO left life as a U.S. marine behind
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For Christian Kjar, 20, a U.S. marine who went AWOL and took a bus to Canada in October 2005, the CO journey has been a long and lonely one. Still awaiting refugee status a year later, Kjar, the youngest speaker at the conference, shared his story simply, without notes, which was transcribed by Canadian Mennonite national correspondent Leona Dueck Penner.
“I was born and raised in Santa Barbara [Calif]. As a young kid I was always interested in developing a moral character. I also thought frequently of the military, which I thought stood for values and ideals.
“I registered for the marines in December 2004. On the wall of the registry office there was a motto: ‘Honour, courage, commitment, integrity.’ When I saw that, it felt like I was stepping into a church! Obviously, this was where young men and women go to serve the greater good.
“But from the onset [of boot camp in January 2005], I knew it was stupid and foolish and wrong. This was not the place to go if you value human dignity. Instead, it was an extremely violent atmosphere where they train you to change a human being into an object by using phrases like ‘communist bastards’ and singing about stamping on Iraqi children.
“It’s very difficult to go against the grain in that setting because it’s a group thing. So I kept trying to reassure myself that I could be a warrior. But I couldn’t let go of the fact that the intent was taking the life of a living breathing human being.
“When I was posted to Cherry Point [a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, in preparation for deployment to Iraq], it was eating me inside that I couldn’t express how I felt to others.
“Prayer and meditation were very important to me at that time. During a four-day grace period [before deployment], I had time to really reflect and come to grips with what my conscience was telling me. One day I opened the Bible at Deuteronomy 5 and read, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’
“After that I was honest with myself. I now knew what I didn’t want to be. Also, the just war thing didn’t work for me…. I knew there is no justice to be complicit in the suffering of people of differing faiths and origins, and was convinced that the U.S. government has failed utterly and miserably in preserving the dignity of human life in Iraq, where thousands of people have died.
“Now I’m in Toronto involved in the Franciscan life. Still fighting lots of battles, but they’re more joyful. Feeding the homeless in a soup kitchen I feel now that I’m taking a greater part in helping humanity.”
Soccer steers teens to Christ
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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The Mongolian team ran off the field in Gothenburg, Sweden, victorious.
A goal scored on a penalty kick helped it defeat Swedish team Söderbärke GOIF to land in the top 16 in the Gothia Cup, a prestigious worldwide youth soccer tournament.
For coach Jardel da Silva, however, the true victory was not on the field, but in the players’ hearts.
UB United, the first team from Mongolia ever to compete in the Gothia Cup, is part of an Ulaanbaatar soccer ministry through Joint Christian Services (JCS) International, the organization that enables Mennonite Church Canada Witness to send workers to Mongolia. Leaders have expanded the program, opening newer soccer clubs in the Xailastai and Sharhad districts of Ulaanbaatar and in Sukhbaatar Aimag, two days east of the capital. More than 150 youths are part of the soccer programs.
“Part of what we are teaching is ethics and character training,” says Marlow Ramsay, an administrator at JCS through Witness and its partner, Mennonite Mission Network. “That leads us to spiritual things: ‘Why should you have good character?’, ‘Why should you do the right things?’ There’s got to be a reason.”
The reason is Christ, says da Silva. “Our biggest goal is to lead them to Christ. Besides that, on the social part it’s to keep them away from alcohol and bad behaviour like addictions and fighting. We give them a purpose to live their lives as healthily as they can.”
The club offers Bible studies and English classes, inviting each participant to join. Not everyone comes, but playing time is not based on language study or on belief.
“They know we are Christian,” da Silva says. “We don’t force them to go to study or church.… This is a process. Maybe someday the seeds we plant will grow and bear fruit.”
Some youths already are blossoming. Ankhaa, 17, came from a rough area of Xailastai. The soccer club gave him somewhere to go and he took advantage of the teachings there—both on and off the field. One day on the street a fight started. Ankhaa was involved. Another boy was beaten badly.
The victim’s mother found Ankhaa at school. She threatened to call the police unless she was paid. Ankhaa had no money. But he had the soccer club. Club leaders decided to pay if Ankhaa agreed to work for the club, da Silva says.
Ankhaa was overwhelmed. He continued to return to the meetings and Bible studies and this time he truly listened. He became a leader, excelled in English class, and two years after soccer first drew him to UB United he decided to follow Jesus. He now attends a local church and plans to be baptized. He is an assistant coach and leader of the Xailastai club.
Other boys tell similar stories. B. Otgonpurev used to fight frequently. Now, instead of giving out bruises. he gives others news about Jesus.
The boys also spread interest in soccer. Their trip to Sweden this past summer has led to appearances on Mongolian television and radio stations, and increased interest in the club, especially when the team did well.