Two kingdoms, two loyalties

by Perry Bush

"For more than 300 years, Mennonites adhered to a strict two-kingdom theology, owing their supreme allegiance to the divine kingdom while serving as loyal, law-abiding subjects of the state in all matters that did not contradict their religious beliefs. Traditionally, Mennonites saw affairs of state as none of their business. In times of war, the Mennonite church counseled conscientious objection and spoke against military participation in either combatant or noncombatant roles. Mennonites did not serve in coercive government offices. Most refused to vote or sue in courts of law and held a generally negative view of active political protest. During World War II, however, the voluntary participation of Mennonites in conscientious objector labor camps pulled Mennonite youth out of rural isolation and raised their awareness of America's social ills and their own responsibilities as Christians. In the postwar era, Mennonites were no longer "the quiet in the land"; they began to articulate