Spelling bees and air shows
For me, Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition is a touchpoint, reminding me of my childhood, and a sign that summer is coming to an end. When I was a child, my parents, siblings and I would come to the CNE, as we called it, several times during its three-week season. Showing my age, I will tell…
Mennonites respond to recent military spending
From Dirk Willems loving his enemy in 1569 to Colombian Mennonites building peace today, Anabaptists have offered a bold peace witness. But being a peace church is complicated. Anabaptists got violent in Münster in the 1500s, they mounted armed self-defence units (Selbstschutz) in Ukraine in the early 1900s, many enlisted in World War II and…
MC USA responds to National Defense Authorization Act
ELKHART, IND.—Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) has released a statement on the value and morality of the 2022 U.S. defense budget in response to the National Defense Authorization Act, approved by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 15, 2021 and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Dec. 27, 2021. “Budgets are moral documents, reflecting…
War and Peace through Taxes
While studying in Harrisonburg, Virginia, I was fortunate to have work on campus. What I didn’t realize when taking the job that I would have an ethical dilemma. If I received a paycheque, I would also have to pay taxes. Although I fully support the use of taxes in any country to provide for education,…
