Why Mennonite Pacifists Hate on Israel
By participating in modern American life, while at the same time attempting to distance themselves from the violence used to create and protect this society, Mennonite practitioners of nonresistance have created a system of structural hypocrisy which requires them to betray the very principles they claim to affirm. If American society and the global economy are based on structural violence, as Mennonite peace activists have so often claimed, then how can they in good conscience enjoy the fruits of this society and economy, as they undeniably do? This contradiction, this unknown fault, lies at the heart of Mennonite identity like an asymptomatic heart defect that shows up during a high school basket ball game. Under normal circumstances, this fault remains hidden only to cause a collapse in times of stress. And Jewish and Israeli history reveals this fault.
In particular, Jewish and Israeli history challenges Mennonite assumptions about adult baptism – the sine qua non of Anabaptism – on its head. Under Anabaptist teachings, baptism is not administered at birth as it is with most other Christian groups, but is a rite only given to adults who have assented and committed themselves to a particular understanding of the Christian religion – especially adherence to radical non-resistance. Mennonites and other Anabaptists have held that this commitment must be made voluntarily by mature adults and cannot be thrust onto infants or children. Consequently, baptism is more than an initiation into the community of believers, but is a rite of passage from childhood into adulthood in the Anabaptist community – a sign of maturity and responsibility.