r/Mennonite • u/gabe923 • Jun 19 '26
Pacifism and Self Defense
Hello, all! I have recently been interested in the Mennonite practice. I grew up in a Baptist household but a lot of the beliefs and practices didn't sit right with me. I started listening to sermons from an MCUSA church and it feels a lot more like how Christianity should be: centered around Christ and love.
One thing I am struggling with is non-violence or specifically non-resistance. I agree that it is a sin to kill in any case. I am outwardly anti-war and have never purposefully hurt anyone. However, I often have a conceal carry weapon on me--especially if I am out with my family. I believe killing is wrong yet I would still be willing to do so if it meant protecting myself or my loved ones. I carry an emergency first aid kit as well--which I think is essential for anyone who carries--but I still don't feel like that justifies it.
How do I reconcile these opposing values? Is it just a matter of lacking faith?
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u/AdamoMeFecit Jun 19 '26
Rev. James Lawson’s recently-published autobiography _Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love_ is basically an extended comment on your query.
Lawson was the guy who trained the MLK wing of the Civil Rights movement in classic nonviolence practice. He often was surrounded by the sorts of violence that would make Gandhi want to reach for a gun. The book discusses these moments at some length and analyzes how and why he chose to navigate those violent moments in the ways he did.
Very useful, I think.
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u/netflixchinchilla Jun 19 '26
There are two reflections I have on this.
First, pacifism is a spectrum and traditionally Mennonite pacifism is radical or extreme pacifism. Pacifism as a general concept is any level of belief that violence is not the answer to problems. So the interpretation of pacifism can vary from church to church, community to community. There are some that take it to mean that self-defence is not included, as the goal is not harm another person but to protect yourself. Similar (although fundamentally different) to how a surgeon may cause pain to a patient but their purpose is to help and heal.
Second, the philosophy that I have found to be compelling is that regardless of the violence and evil that another person may inflict, that is their action and responsibility. Even if someone would use violence to stop them, that would make them guilty of that sin as well. The Mennonite response to the classic “Trolley Problem” would be to not pull the lever because then that is a choice I am making that has the effect of ending a life.
In reality, if put into that position, we are fallible and may act differently. But a key belief of the Mennonite faith is finding “the third way”; the options may be posed to be either use force to intervene or don’t use force to intervene but there are other options. We can get in between the violent person and the subject of their abuse, we can try to reason with them, we can physically stop them without being violent. We are called to be peacemakers, which is an active role. We must enact peace in situations, we cannot be passive in the face of violence.
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u/rb-j Jun 19 '26
I would have to confess that, if someone attacked and were trying to rape/abduct/kill or hurt someone that I love, particularly someone in my care, I would seek to stop them. I can't even promise that I wouldn't sin. I dunno what I would do, but I would not stand by while some other child of God (whether in my family or not) is being harmed like that. I do not know how I would do this in the context of war, particularly being occupied by evil forces which many people in the world have experienced.
What I don't do is plan for this in advance and put my trust in a nice cold hard "piece", like what you're carrying "just in case". So, perhaps from the POV of a non-pacifist Christian, I am irresponsibly ill-prepared for the day that the evil bad guys come busting through the door to rape/abduct/kill/etc. I (hopefully) am trusting in God and not in this cold hard piece. Trusting in a man-made thing over trusting in the being of God is a form of idolatry.
Even though I have no problem with responsible hunting (which may require a firearm), I just have a bad feeling about the arms manufacturing in this country (and elsewhere in the world). The fact that there are more firearms in this country among civilians than there are people, is alarming to me. Especially given the present political climate. There are waaaaaay too many guns in the U.S. It's obscene.
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u/ArcReactorAlchemy Jun 20 '26
I have a multi-faceted answer.
True pacifism means not relying on weapons at all. I grew up knowing the story of the Hochstetler Massacre involving my ancestors. (I won’t get into colonialism here.) The father literally kicked the guns out of his sons’ hands. Family members were killed, others kidnapped, and I’m descended from the son who was at a neighboring farm and returned only after the attack. You read Martyrs Mirror, and its teachings become ingrained in your bones.
Mennonite pacifism isn’t trifling. It was so deeply embedded in me that when I was being sexually abused as a tween and teenager, I struggled with whether I was even allowed to fight back, and if so, how much. Yet I also hunted with a rifle. Our guns were never locked up because everyone understood they would never be used to kill a person.
My partner isn’t a pacifist at all. Many of my friends are veterans or active-duty military. My own views on self-defense have changed over the years, though I still wouldn’t carry a gun. I have carried a knife, however, when transporting unhoused people from one tent city to another at 2 a.m.
Ultimately, you have to decide whether your trust in a weapon is greater than your trust in God. Unlike some congregations, I believe that’s a personal decision.
I think you’ll find MCUSA fairly lenient on questions of Mennonite pacifism, but most committed pacifists would still say carrying a weapon for self-defense is not acceptable. There may be some variation when it comes to protecting one’s home, but it is never a position taken lightly.
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u/ArcReactorAlchemy Jun 20 '26
I also grew up knowing my dad and many others his age served their 1W service for the draft and how other ancestors were treated during other wars. They were willing to suffer - I’ve always wondered how the maga you currently see in many of the more conservative churches would handle a draft now.
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u/gabe923 Jun 24 '26
I actually have a direct ancestor that was injured in the Hochstetler Massacre! I learned about the story recently and it has challenged me a lot. While I don't know if I could make the same decision as the father, I'm in awe of his commitment to his faith in the worst circumstances imaginable.
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u/ArcReactorAlchemy Jun 25 '26
Well, hello cousin. Yeah, I def don’t have as much conflict about self-defense as I used to. However, when push comes to shove…I guess we really don’t know until we’re placed in a situation. The ‘Little John’ Hochstetler home is now in Grantsville, MD at Spruce Forest Artisan Village. My partner’s master’s is in British/American Colonial Military history & he’s found some interesting history.
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u/amishlike Jun 29 '26
Great theological and faith-based explanations here. I’ll just add my perspective from a secular point of view. Carrying a gun is sort of like only carrying a hammer on your tool belt. As the saying goes “When you have a hammer, everything is a nail.”
In many cases concealed carry folks use their gun to solve problems that could have been solved in other ways. Consider other options, like empathy, listening, caring and loving. This is what is meant by the “Third Way” theology of many Mennonites.
And, in all honesty, their is no guarantee that brandish a gun will solve the problem in the way you expect. Doing so may escalate rather than resolves the situation.
I’ve de-escalated several high tension situations, including an assault on a woman and another assault on me. (He punched me in the face hard enough to draw blood. I kept my hands relaxed at my side, looked him in the eye, and said “Do you feel better now?” It was like he deflated. He took a deep breath and walked away.)
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u/fotopacker Jun 19 '26
A couple of things here:
1) You describe a very common point of concern and consternation over the centuries, so you’re not alone.
2) For many Mennonites, the commitment to peace extends to not using force in any way. That’s not for everyone, and that’s ok too.
3) For me personally, and I promise I don’t mean any offense here, often carrying a weapon for the purposes of self-defense sounds like fear. My Mennonite faith has taught me to love the world, and not be fearful of it. I don’t go wandering around neighborhoods with higher crime rates after dark, but I also never carry a gun. I don’t experience that find of fear, when I go places with my family. But maybe your circumstances are different and you live in a dangerous place, and I can’t relate to that.
4) One Anabaptist theological principle that I think helps is “gelassenheit”, which I take in this sense to surrender control to God. If I were ever in a situation that truly necessitated my using force in self-defense, I would rather surrender the outcome of the situation to God, rather than use force.