MENNONITES ON MILITARY SERVICE
A Statement of Our Position on Military Service as Adopted by The Mennonite General Conference,
August 29, 1917
Inasmuch as present war conditions call for an official utterance from our Church, we, the bishops, ministers, deacons and delegates of the Mennonite Church in General Conference assembled at the Yellow Creek Church, near Goshen, Indiana, Aug. 29, 1917, representing sixteen conferences in the United States, Canada, and India, desire to present the following as an expression on the doctrine of nonresistance as applied to present conditions brought on by the world war now raging.
Our Position Defined
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we interpret His command, "Resist not evil," by His other teachings on this subject; viz., "Love your enemies;" "Do good to them that hate you;" "Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you;" "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight;" "All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." The Bible also teaches us not to avenge ourselves (Rom. 12:17-21), that "the weapons of our warfare are not Carnal" (II Cor. 10:4), and that "the servant of the Lord must not strive" (II Tim. 2:24). Believing that the children of God should imbibe and practice these teachings, we hold that Christian people should have no part in carnal warfare of any kind or for any cause. Our attitude on the question of military service is correctly stated in that clause of the Selective Draft Law enacted May 18, 1917, which provides for exemption for members of every church "whose existing creed or principles forbid its members to participate in war in any form and whose religious convictions are against war or participation therein." We deeply regret, however, that this exemption is practically nullified (save in the matter of bearing arms) in
