This is the text of a sermon given at West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship, October 14, 2001.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer (Psalm 19:14). Amen."

I was thinking of entitling my sermon today "Never enthuse about anything to your pastor because you may end up preaching a sermon about it.' But actually, I am glad to be here with you in this capacity to share some thoughts and hopes about our history and future as an Anabaptist people.

Does anyone know who the first conscientious objector was in the Bible? The first ones that came to mind are Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were Jews who would not bow down to the ruling king's image. Instead they let themselves be thrown into fire and into a den of man-eating lions rather than forsake Yahweh. In their cases, God's deliverance of them was earthly and spectacular.

Another story of conscientious objectors is in the Book of the Maccabees from the Apocrypha, where seven brothers, along with their mother, were arrested. The king at the time had earlier decreed that the Jews must abandon their ancestral customs and no longer live by the laws of God, and that they were to dedicate the Temple in Jerusalem to Zeus. An order went out that those who would not voluntarily conform to Greek customs were to be executed. I was going to have this whole story read today, but the details of the torture and executions are quite gruesome, and there was no miraculous intervention on their behalf this time. Still, their story is worth relating. As each brother was tortured and killed at the orders of the king, Antiochus, they bore witness to their faith in God who was winning the ultimate victory. The fourth son, when he neared his end cried out, "Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men's hands, yet relying on God's promise that we shall be raised up by him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life." When it was the youngest one's turn to die, Antiochus "appealed to him not with mere words, but with promises on oath to make him both rich and happy if he would abandon the traditions of his ancestors; he would make him his Friend and entrust him with public office. But the young man said, 'What are you waiting for? I will not comply with the King's ordinance; I obey the ordinance of the Law given to our ancestors by Moses.... Our brothers already, after enduring brief pain, now drink of ever-flowing life, by virtue of God's covenant.' The king fell into a rage at this and treated the young man more cruelly than the others, for he was smarting at the young man's scorn. And so the last brother met his end undefiled and with perfect trust in the Lord. The mother was the last to die, after her sons."

Now let us swing forward in history a few thousand years to the birth of Anabaptism in Europe in the 1500s. When I read the story of the seven brothers, I thought it could just as easily have appeared in the Martyrs' Mirror, where so many similar stories of Anabaptist faith in the face of persecution have been preserved. In the 16th century, God's Spirit was moving in such a way that this believers' movement could not be stomped out no matter what evils were devised against them - banishment; confiscation of their homes and livelihoods; months and even years in cold, dank, infested dungeons; being torn away from loved ones; subject to endless questioning and attempts to make them change their minds; torture; and finally for many, execution.

These Anabaptists had a passion for God that did not fit into the confines of the state-sponsored church of the time. They wanted the freedom to live as the early church had lived, to follow Christ in all things. They took the Scriptures as their guide, shared their faith, baptized upon confession of faith, and gave to those in need. As the Jewish brothers had done, they too were conscientiously objecting to the status quo, and refusing to be swayed by the authorities. By not baptizing their children in the state church they were upsetting the control of those who used the church rolls to keep track of the populace and levy taxes on them. By not relying on priests or the Pope, they were interpreting the Scriptures themselves and thus could see the injustices and mishandled truths of the established church. By insisting on the separation of church and state and refusing to bear arms to help their country dominate other countries, they were re-introducing nonviolence as a way of life.

Let us swing forward in history again to the early years of the 20th century. America had become by this time the home of many people of Anabaptist descent, coming from Germany, the Netherlands, and other European countries, and in most recent years, a large influx from Russia - Mennonites who had been given the choice of either serving in the Russian military or exile. For these people especially, America represented a land of freedom, where one had the choice to not bear arms, and to make this choice without reprisals. This myth was exploded when the United States joined the fight against Germany in World War I and instituted a draft. Suddenly young men had to decide how to respond to the war. Approximately 4,000 men in the United States declared themselves to be conscientious objectors to war. At this time, the War Department had made no provisions for COs - as though they had never expected anyone to object to fighting the Kaiser. After all, in their minds of many, this was a holy war, blessed by God, a "War to End All Wars." To their shock and disgust, thousands of men disagreed with them.

The COs were sent to the army camps like all the other draftees. There they had to convince everyone that they were sincere in their convictions. The first COs especially were subjected to much heckling and to endless questioning. Some men were worn down by it all, and agreed to put on the military uniform, or to accept noncombatant roles in the army, though some were deferred for farm labor or to reconstruction work with the American Friends Service Committee. But for some COs, the uniform and noncombatant service were unacceptable, and no amount of persuasion could make them change their minds. They were not given the option of deferment.

In the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, I have files on several hundred COs from World War I, and have found their stories fascinating. We often hear in our country about the men who died in wars in order to ensure our freedoms. I'd like to share with you a few stories of men who were willing to suffer and even die rather than forsake their conscientious belief in the sacredness of life. I should make it clear that, opposed to what I heard as a child, not all COs were Mennonites, or even religious. Many absolutist COs were Socialists who had thought deeply about society and the value of human life. Some simply believed that war was a stupid way to resolve conflicts and that this war was being run by capitalists for their own benefit. Many COs were from religious faiths, such as Russian Molokhans, Christadelphians, Quakers, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Many more were faith descendents of Anabaptists.

The letters and reports written by these COs sometimes spoke of good treatment by their officers and the enlisted men, but just as often they told stories of abuse. George Miller, a Mennonite, refused to wear the military uniform and to drill in the army camp. One day he was given an order by a commanding officer, but he replied that he could not conscientiously obey it. At this, the corporal hit him in the face and broke his nose. The next night, after Miller was in bed, a mob descended on him and took him and four other COs to the shower room where they were deluged with freezing cold water. They said these showers would not end until the COs promised to put on the uniform. Miller's nightclothes were torn off of him and he was scrubbed with scrubbing brushes and hit with brooms. When he still refused, they held him upside down in a full tub of water. Then they took him to his bed and threw him down on the springs, having taken all his bedding and clothes away. It took three months for Miller to heal of this abuse. Later he wrote: "I am going through life with a physical defect which was caused by mistreatment in camp, but I am happy I was taught to uphold the principle of nonresistance as Christ taught and lived, and those of our heroes of faith who have gone before. Returning good for evil will still have its effect upon a nation and church if only put into practice."

Out of all the COs in WWI, 450 went to prison. The official procedure for COs who refused to obey military orders was to have them appear for courts-martial hearings. Some of the hearings were short and to the point - the point being that the COs were going to be sentenced to prison no matter what, so there was no reason to waste time questioning them. But at other military camps, the hearings went on and on, with the same outcome, of course. One hearing record went on for over forty typewritten pages!

In these longer trials, military personnel testified to the circumstances of the disobeyed order, the prosecutor would talk, the defense lawyer would talk, and then finally the CO would be questioned. Questions ranged from where the man grew up, whether he was married or not, his age, his church background, whether he'd become a member of an established peace church and had done so in order to get CO status easier, whether his siblings were Christians, whether he and his family read German newspapers, whether they wanted the Kaiser or the U.S. to win the war, whether if someone tried to rape their sisters they would intervene, whether they thought it was right to let the Germans continue to rape young Belgian girls and massacre villages (which was the current war cry), whether accepting a farm furlough instead of a prison sentence was a good Christian response, and on and on. A great deal of time went into establishing whether or not the CO was "sincere" which would supposedly mean a better sentence or deferment, though this never happened. It was especially impossible because of Lieutenant Woods, a psychologist hired, I think, by the United States government, who had interviewed some of the COs and used their answers as evidence in courts-martial hearings that they were insincere malingerers, cowards, mentally deficient, hypocrites, and showed a pathological heredity.

Some COs, especially the Socialists who had discussed the war and their response to it in detail, were able to defend themselves and answer the questions put to them with a great deal of aplomb. But many of these COs had had only a grade school education; most were farmers or laborers. Yet I was moved, often to tears, by their testimonies in the face of trial, remaining doggedly true to their convictions in spite of ridicule and even hatred. They were living out the verse in Luke 12:12: "when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say" and Hebrews 12:3: "Think of the way Jesus stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up from want of courage."

During his trial, Jacob Martins stated: "Confessing myself to be a follower of Christ and therefore conscientiously opposed to being connected with the military organization and its life, happiness and property destroying process in any way, and at the same time being a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church, a religious sect that is opposed to war and forbids its members to participate in war in any form ... it was impossible for me to perform the work [as ordered]. Christ expects his followers to put into practice all of his doctrines, not only those that are easy to perform but also the ones that are trying and difficult, such as the doctrine of non-resistance."

Maurice Hess, a Dunkard, told his judges: "I do not believe that I am seeking martyrdom. As a young man, life and its hopes and freedom and opportunities for service are sweet to me. I want to go out into the world and make use of what little talent I may have acquired by long and laborious study. But I know that I dare not purchase these things at the price of eternal condemnation. I know the teaching of Christ, my Savior. He taught us to resist not evil, to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and do good to them that hate us. Not only did he teach this, but he also practiced it in Gethsemane, before Pilate, and on Calvary. We would indeed be hypocrites and base traitors to our profession if we would be unwilling to bear the taunts and jeers of a sinful world, and its imprisonment, and torture or death, rather than to participate in war and military service. We know that obedience to Christ will gain for us the glorious prize of eternal life. We cannot yield, we cannot compromise, we must suffer.... I pray God for strength to remain faithful."

The COs who went through courts-martial hearings were all condemned to prison. The sentences ranged from two to twenty-five years, most being at the higher end. And this was for refusing to rake a pathway or drill with the soldiers or equally petty things - but, of course, they represented an entire refusal to allow the state to dictate over and above what their consciences would allow. Many of these men spent months, and even years in prison, before a general amnesty was allowed.

One of the best-known stories of WWI COs is of five Hutterites - four brothers named Hofer and Jacob Wipf. They had been sent to Alcatraz prison after their courts-martial, where they again refused to don the military uniform. The authorities put them in solitary confinement cells in the dungeon, which were dank, cold, dark, dirty and infested. The men were locked up wearing nothing but light underwear, and were given no blankets or beds. They had only the cement floor for a bed. They were given nothing to eat for the first four and a half days, and were given only half a glass of water every 24 hours. The last one and a half days they were forced to stand with their hands tied together crosswise above their heads so high that they could barely touch the floor with their feet. When they were finally released from solitary confinement, they were covered with a rash, badly bitten by insects, and their arms were so swollen they could not put their jackets on. They also had bruises from being beaten with clubs. Soon after they were again sent to their cells day and night, though not with their hands tied up. After four months, they were transferred to Fort Leavenworth. Upon their arrival, they were made to take off their clothes in order to put on prison uniforms, except that it took two hours for the uniforms to arrive, and the men had to wait outside in the freezing cold. Joseph and Michael Hofer became so ill that they had to be taken to the hospital, where they both later died. Jacob Wipf and David Hofer were put into solitary confinement cells because again they refused to do work assigned by the military. Their hands were stretched out through the iron bars of their cells and the wrists chained together. They were made to stand that way for nine hours a day, getting only bread and water. This lasted for two weeks.

Soon after his brothers died, David Hofer was suddenly released from prison, to his joy. The story of their treatment had been smuggled out of the prison by other COs, and had made national news. On December 16, 1918, the Secretary of War issued an order prohibiting the handcuffing and chaining of military prisoners, as well as other brutal punishments (so that not only were CO prisoners better treated thereafter, but also all federal prisoners). This was finally put into effect at Fort Leavenworth, and Jacob Wipf was released from his chains. He sent a message to his family that read in part: "Sometimes I envy the three who have already been released from this torment. Then I think, why is the hand of the Lord so heavy upon me? I have always tried to be faithful and hard-working and have hardly ever made trouble for the Brotherhood. Why must I go on suffering all alone? But then there is joy too, so that I could weep for joy when I think that the Lord considers me worthy to suffer for His sake. And I must confess that my life here, compared with our previous experiences [at Alcatraz], is like living in a palace." He was finally released from prison on April 13, 1919.

I think these experiences have real relevance for us today, not just in terms of how we should respond to war, but also in terms of really thinking hard about what our consciences will and will not allow us to do. Sometimes I think that all Christians are conscientiously opposed to obeying the speed limit - at least I see a great many cars with Jesus symbols on them whizzing around on the roads. We need to think about what kind of witness our objections give, and we need to do something positive whenever possible to reflect the fact that we are creators and not destroyers. What are we conscientiously in favor of? But when we do conscientiously object to something, we must be respectful and peaceful, even though our determination is so strong that we will suffer anything rather than give in.

I cannot make you all into conscientious objectors to war. But I do want to make clear that I believe that nonresistance is what we are called to as followers of Christ. I believe that our witness for peace is vital. Our country has declared that we are at war. As individuals and as a church body I hope that we can state emphatically that we conscientiously object to war with every fiber of our beings. I hope we will say that war breeds hatred and violence, not justice and peace. And I hope that we, like the COs who have gone before us, will risk anything rather than kill others to save ourselves.

Let me just mention that the War Department has recently declared that it does not plan to institute another draft. And we may be thinking, I'm not of draft age anyway. That may be, but it does not leave us off the hook. We still need to speak out and work for peace as part of our discipleship. One outcome of this is that our young people, if they ever are drafted, will have a grounding for developing conscientious objection to war and it will give them a recognizable peace background when they try to apply for CO status. I would encourage all of our youth and young adults to think deeply now about their beliefs, record them and file their position with MCC.

I'd like to close by asking all of you to read with me what is written on the front of your bulletins. We have been called to serve a Lord whose ways are different from the government; we belong to what Donald Kraybill has called the "Upside Down Kingdom." It seems entirely appropriate to me to read this quote and to mean every word of it, and for us to proclaim together that our consciences lead us to follow Christ, our King: "I pledge allegiance to the cross of Jesus Christ, and to the forgiveness for which it stands, One church under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" (Susan Clemmer Steiner).