The Mennonites are the largest and most significant group of
non-resistants. For over four hundred years they have maintained their
religious views, and applied them with remarkable consistency.[92] Their
church grew out of the Anabaptist movement, which had its origins in
Switzerland shortly after 1520. The Anabaptists believed in the literal
acceptance of the teachings of the Bible, and their application as rules
of conduct in daily life. Since they did not depend for their
interpretations upon the authority of any priesthood or ministry,
differences grew up among them at an early date. The more radical wing,
from which the Mennonites came, accepting the Sermon on the Mount as the
heart of the Gospel, early refused to offer any physical resistance to
evil.[93] Felix Manz, who was executed for his beliefs in 1527,
declared, "No Christian smites with the sword nor resists evil."[94]
Hundreds of other Anabaptists followed Manz into martyrdom without
surrendering their faith.
In a day before conscription had come into general use, the Anabaptists
suffered more for their heresy and their political views than they did
for their non-resistance principles. In their belief in rendering unto
Caesar only those things which were Caesar's and unto God the things
that were God's, they came into conflict with the authorities of both
church and state. The established church they refused to recognize at
all, and they came to regard the state only as a necessary instrument to
control those who had not become Christians. Far in advance of the times
they adopted the principle of complete separation of church and state,
which for them meant that no Christian might hold political office nor
act as the agent of a coercive state, although he must obey its commands
in matters which did not interfere with his duty toward God. On the
basis of direct scriptural authority, they placed the payment of taxes
in the latter category.[95]
The modern Mennonites are descended from the followers of Menno Simons,
who was born in the Netherlands in 1496. In 1524 he was ordained as a
Catholic priest, but he soon came to doubt the soundness of that
religion, and found his way into Anabaptist ranks, where he became one
of the leading expounders of the radical principles, placing great
emphasis upon non-resistance. In his biblical language, he thus stated
his belief on this point:
"The regenerated do not go to war, nor engage in strife. They are
the children of peace who have beaten their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks, and know of no war. They
render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the
things that are God's. Their sword is the sword of the Spirit which
they wield with a good conscience through the Holy Ghost."[96]
In time the followers of Menno Simons gained in influence, while
branches of the Anabaptist movement which did not follow the principle
of non-resistance died out. Here and there other non-resistant groups
such as the Hutterites and the Moravian Brethren continued.[97]
Ultimately the Mennonites found their way into several parts of Europe,
from the North Sea to Russia, in their search for a home where they
might be free from persecution. The founding of Germantown in the new
Pennsylvania colony in 1683 marked the beginning of a migration which in
the years that followed brought the more radical of them to America.[98]
With the coming of conscription in Europe, those who held most strongly
to their non-resistant principles came to the United States to escape
military service. Those who remained in Europe gradually gave up their
opposition to war, but those in America have largely maintained their
original position.[99]
Today they still refrain from opposing evil, and believe in the
separation of church and state, which to them means a refusal to hold
office and, in many cases, to vote or to have recourse to the courts.
They pay their taxes and do what the state demands, as long as it is not
inconsistent with their duty to God. In case of a conflict in duty,
service to God is placed first. Since they do not believe that it is
possible for the world as a whole to become free of sin, they maintain
that the Christian must separate himself from it. They make no attempt
to bring about reform in society by means of political action or other
movements of the sort which we have considered under non-violent direct
action.[100]
Since the term "pacifist" has come into general use to designate those
opposed to war, the Mennonites have usually made a distinction between
themselves as "non-resistants" and the pacifists, who, they claim, are
more interested in creating a good society than they are in following
completely the admonitions of the Bible. They also disclaim any
relationship to such non-resistants as Garrison or Ballou, even though
these men reached substantially the same conclusion about the nature of
the state, or with Tolstoy who even refused to accept the support of the
state for the institution of private property. The American
non-resistants they regard primarily as reformers of human society, and
Tolstoy as an anarchist who rejected the state altogether, rather than
accepting it as a necessary evil.[101] In so far as the Mennonites have
used social influence at all, it has been through the force of example,
and in their missionary endeavors to win other individuals to the same
high principles which they themselves follow.