Matrimonial Fools.

Holidays are for memories. And if April Fool's day signifies anything for me, it is a reminder of my dear, odd, steadfast and enduring grandparents, Aaron and Florence. They married on April 1 a bazillion years ago and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary well before they died, in 2004 and 2005.

As a child, they were my rock and foundation when my own father and mother struggled in and out of marriage and parenting. What I wouldn't give for an hour of their company sometimes, I can't say....

UPDATE: For almost 40 years, my immediate family has gathered at my father's house to celebrate Easter. Our tradition is to come together over ham loaf, amish crackers or whatever my father, when alive, found fit to kill and cook over an open fire. Then we stand in a circle and pray, eat, then hike back through the glen to the Susquehanna river. It's a tradition that's lost much of its holy symbology but one that we value as a family. While some were sadly not present this year - a inexplicable, very unfortunate trend that commenced since a number of deaths in our family - we kept to the tradition and made it about half way to the river. A glorious day complete with a new baby, a meal outside, and brilliant community. It was also a great time to ask about some family history: my grandparents were married in 1934.

Kentucky Mennonites Targeted By Robbers.

From Nicole Ferguson at NewsChannel 5, Kentucky:

TODD & CHRISTIAN COUNTIES, Ky. – Kentucky State Police are investigating ten separate armed robberies and break-ins in Mennonite communities over the weekend.

Officials said they were investigators the attacks against Todd and Christian County Mennonites as hate crimes.

"He was almost in tears when he called me," said Shane Hessey, a friend of one of the victims. "He answered the phone and he said 'Shane, I'm in bad trouble.'"

Most of the weekend accounts are the same. The Mennonites describe their homes broken into in the middle of the night, with anywhere from two to five suspects holding their families at gunpoint and robbing them.

"They are a frugal people," said Todd County Sheriff Billy Stokes. "I know that in one of the home invasions [the suspects] only got $15."

Mennonites are Christian Anabaptists, known for their plain lifestyles.

"This would definitely fall under hate crime or targeted group for sure," said Stokes.

Stokes said he has been investigating reports of harassment in the Mennonite community over the past several months. He believes many of the incidents have gone unreported, perhaps because of the Mennonites stance for peace.

"Unless it's something major or repetitive, the [Mennonite] people are reluctant to report anything – they don't want any trouble," said Stokes. "They're very good neighbors to everyone. Anytime there's a crisis, there always first on the scene."

Hessey said patrols have been beefed up in the southern part of the county, but manpower presents difficulty in protecting the Mennonite community. They count on state police to assist them.

"I wish I could provide more protection for them, but that's solely based upon what our fiscal court is able or willing to do for our sheriff's department," said Stokes.

Kentucky State Police officials said the suspects have been described as having dark complexions, ranging in height from 5'7" to 6 feet tall. They were wearing bandanas and ski masks at the time of the attacks. Victims reported the theft of money and one firearm.

Meanwhile Hessey and Stokes fear worse consequences if the suspects are not caught.

"Certainly the fear is that somebody dies in this process of robbing," said Hessey. "It's unfortunate that they're targeting these Mennonite families because they're God-fearing, law abiding, very private families that work very hard for what they have."

"One of two things are eventually going to happen," said Stokes. "Either the perpetrators are going to go into the wrong house thinking it's a (Mennonite) house – we're a real community and most of the people here have weapons. Or the perpetrators are going wind up getting spooked and kill somebody innocent. Either which way it spells out disaster."

My Great Uncle Amos.

Because I often write about my Mennonite roots in Lancaster, PA, I hope you'll indulge me in marking the death last week of my great-uncle. He was the oldest remaining member of my grandfather's generation and only his brother, Parke, and his sister, Esther, remain.

Numerous times when we were children, my sister and I were packed into the back of my grandparent's modest Chrysler and driven to visit Uncle Ame and Aunt Mim. He was a pastor his whole life and he and his wife had traveled on several missions. They were warm and fun, light and loving. Uncle Ames always said the prayer when our family gathered; he had a pastor's delivery and carriage. On one such trip to visit them, we all stopped at a well-known "plain" restaurant where my sister and I worked the rest of the drive to memorize a poem, "Der Distelfink," about a mythological bird that is often depicted on Amish hex signs hung on barns, so that we could earn the free dessert that reciting the poem would get us on the way home.

The memory is not exact but what I remember most about Uncle Ames was his free laugh. And of Aunt Mim, her beautiful brown, curled hair; when older I realized that it was a wig. During that particular sweet visit my sister and I performed a number of brief skits for the elders. I believe that one part of one of the skits required I dive, while holding a wooden spoon, into a giant cardboard box. I think I was a magical chef or something. Today, I still remember my young self standing at the edge of their black driveway by the trailer they lived in while serving a church (in Wilkes-Bare?) and saying our goodbyes. Mim's hair in the sun; Ames' laugh. I remember the color of the trailer, crawling back into the car and it's particular smell, and tormenting my grandparents with repetition of "Der Distelfink" all the way home. I remember looking at the back of my grandfather's head and recognizing the shape as similar to Ames'.

The loss of yet another member of that generation pains me, not solely because they were my people but because they connected me to a rich family history. The last generation to be raised on the farm, the generation that saw so much change and upheaval in American society. They witnessed modernization, the invention of the radio and car, countless wars, civil rights, they lived near one-another, stayed close with their kin, and lived a life very different from my own. In some ways, I suppose the loss of Uncle Amos triggers a nostalgia in me - and I realize that nostalgia is a false representation of the past. Yet, watching my grandparent's generation dwindle, remembering the moments that were so special and warm to my young mind, having witnessed their simple convictions directly, I revere their wholesomeness, their patience, their willingness to eschew deception or greed or malice or cynicism. They believed in working and loving and taking care. And in most all things they were guided by their faith.

Their incremental deaths reminds me of what a great loss of my own knowledge of self and connection to personal history I lose with them.

Rev. Amos K. Harnish, 97, of Calvary Fellowship Homes, Lancaster, PA passed into the loving arms of his Lord, whom he served all the 60 years of his pastoral ministry on Friday, January 22, 2010. The son of the late Enos C. Harnish and Ella Kreider Harnish, Amos grew up in southern Lancaster County, where he met and married Miriam Witmer, to whom he was wed for 72 years. In addition to his wife, he is survived by one sister, Esther Dagen and one brother, Parke K. Harnish. He is preceded in death by Elizabeth Weaver, Aaron K. Harnish, Anna Mary Peifer, Clayton K. Harnish, Enos K. Harnish and Lloyd K. Harnish.

Charter members of Calvary Independent Church, now Calvary Church, they felt called to the ministry. After graduating from Practical Bible Training School, now Davis College, Amos was ordained in 1942 and served as pastor in various churches in New York State andPennsylvania.

After retiring from the formal ministry! and moving to New Holland, Amos continued as a volunteer in the pastoral services of Calvary Fellowship Homes, as well as volunteering with the Red Cross. The parent of two sons, Jay Vernon Harnish, married to Rhonda and Edward Harnish, both live in Texas. He had three grandchildren, Tammy Townsend, Jay Erickson and Shawn Harnish, and nine great-grandchildren. Amos always loved to volunteer, read, ride bicycle and spend time visiting and reminiscing with friends and relatives.

Source: Lancaster Newspaper

Happy 300th Anniversary, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

A full year of events are planned by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society and the 1719 Hans Herr House and Museum to celebrate the settlement of Lancaster County by - my people! In 1719 Martin Harnish made his way to Lancaster County via ship from Europe.

Our clan has been there ever since, my generation being the first in our direct line to move away, though my sister lives only miles from the original Harnish farm. Last year she and I sought out the homestead and trekked up to the family burial plot on a sloping hill behind the house. We were able to find the head stones of most of the original family members and, thanks to amazing work by Rogelyn Harnish who compiled a family "Freindschaft," trace the names and homes of all subsequent family members.

300 cheers for religious tolerance in Lancaster County!

Congratulations Lancaster and all the Harnish, Mylin, Herr, Lefever, Weaver and Hess families who have contributed to my heritage and home. Click through to find a schedule of events:

For Lancaster County, it all began 300 years ago when nine immigrant families from the Palatinate section of southwest Germany staked their claim in what was then the wilderness of a British colony.

To these settlers, including the families of Hans Herr and Martin Meylin, their world consisted of 10,000 acres, stretching along the Pequea Creek from modern-day Strasburg to West Willow, connected by a trail we now know as Penn Grant Road.

Here, with the help of friendly Conestoga Indians, they lived, raised their children, worked the land and, eventually, were laid to rest.

From this small beginning of Swiss/German pioneers looking for religious freedom grew what we know today as Lancaster County: 984 square miles that are home to nearly half a million people as diverse as the world itself.

To commemorate the county's 300th birthday, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society and 1719 Hans Herr House and Museum are sponsoring a yearlong celebration to honor the county and its people, past and present.

"I look at this as our gift to Lancaster County," said Beth Graybill, director of Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. "This 300th anniversary is important not just to the Pennsylvania German Mennonite immigrants who were the first settlers, but for any of us who trace our roots to Lancaster. We're all part of that story that started 300 years ago."

Graybill said the celebration is, in part, to acknowledge the arrival of the early settlers. But it is also about honoring the Native Americans who were here first, and helped Herr, Meylin and the others to survive.

"They had a very positive and very good relationship with Native Americans," Graybill said. "There are oral histories of white and native children playing games together. Hans Herr would leave his door unlocked on very cold nights for the natives to come in and huddle by the fireplace."

In exchange, she said, the Indians helped them know the best crops to plant and the prime places to hunt. They introduced the settlers to corn and "helped them survive that first winter."

"We can't do a 300th anniversary celebration without recognizing and celebrating those native connections," Graybill said.

To honor the Indian contribution, the organizers are working closely with Circle Legacy, a local, non-profit Native American group.

Many of the events scheduled are free. A few have fees and some of those are fundraisers that will pay for the construction of an Eastern Woodlands Indian longhouse on the Hans Herr property.

"Our goal is to have a dwelling and interpret their life and culture, their spiritual beliefs, what they ate, what they wore, how they hunted and what work they did," said Becky Gochnauer, director at the Hans Herr House.

She said the museum hopes to dedicate the land for the longhouse on Oct. 9.

Another goal of the celebration is to recognize the rich cultural diversity of those who call Lancaster County home today, through traditions, food and music.

The celebration kicked off Wednesday with a ceremony by the Lancaster County commissioners, and the first event will take place Jan. 31.

"The 300th only comes around once, so it's important to make it interesting and historically accurate," Graybill said.

Who's Amish Now?

I have a post up at KillingtheBuddha about Conservative's Amish-envy. Since folks like Michelle Malkin found out that the Amish and Mennonites are exempt from the health care mandate, there's been talk of conversion.

I show that such talk isn't just a denial of the country's founding principles but a profound lack of understanding of faithful conviction. Here's an excerpt:

From the stiff wooden pews of my grandmother’s Mennonite church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I often heard a story that perfectly illustrates the Anabaptist approach to profession of faith. It’s a part of Anabaptist lore, told and retold from the simple pulpits of unadorned churches across the country. As it turns out, the story belongs to one Rufus P. Bucher as much as it does to the Amish and Mennonites I grew up surrounded by. Chris Armstrong recently retold it at his blog:

When Brethren evangelist Rufus P. Bucher was asked by a stranger in a railway station, “Brother, are you saved?” he replied that since he might be prejudiced on the question, his interrogator should go ask his wife, children, and neighbors. “I’ll be ready to let their answers stand as my own.”

There’s a reason why the Anabaptists believe in showing and not telling. For a couple of hundred years they were sought out, tortured and murdered for their faith. And not just by their neighbors, but by their state. Fleeing from Switzerland to escape the horrors of the Radical Reformation, Anabaptists, who ascribe to adult baptism and are comprised of Amish and Mennonite sects, headed first to Germany, then to Russia and the infant United States. They never looked back. The need to escape religious persecution at home became the need to find religious tolerance wherever it existed. Today Mennonite and Amish populations live on every continent, in every country that will allow them freedom to live their modest lifestyle, outside the strictures of modern society or government laws. You won’t find a group of believers more versed in the necessity for strict separation of church and state; the Anabaptists know better than most what happens when a nation’s ruler’s adopt theocratic laws: somebody’s bound to get killed.

Religious Tolerance and the Health Care Mandate.

Anabaptists have long eschewed public insurance policies for their own collective address of medical emergencies. Home owner's insurance and other plans designed to prevent catastrophic loss are seen by the more conservative members of the Anabaptist sect as intrusions. While car insurance was never much of a problem - if you own a car the chances are you're "worldly" enough to buy into insurance needs.

In fact, family story has it that my Mennonite grandparents left a more traditional church in Lancaster County when the pastor there criticized my grandmother's short bonnet strings (long ones were oh so much more pious) and my grandfather's insurance policies.

While the Amish and conservative Mennonite communities are now forced to provide their employees with workmen's compensation, they have stayed far away from health insurance, coming together to care for a broken arm or a dire prognosis like they would to build a barn.

The health care bill has many wary critics among these conservative Anabaptist sects, most hoping they will be able to receive exemption from the new mandated fees. David Mekeel writes:

UNLIKE MOST Americans, James B. Weaver has never really given much thought to health insurance.

An Old Order Mennonite living in Maxatawny Township, Weaver, 56, doesn’t subscribe to the idea of buying insurance of any kind.

He opts to rely on his community when it comes to handling the bur den of sickness.

“We sort of like to try to pull our own weight, and we’re very staunch believers that there is no free lunch, Weaver said of the Plain communi ties in Berks and elsewhere. “We take care of our own sick and infi rm.”

The same is true for the few Amish households in Berks County, which are mostly in the far western part of the county.

But the debate about a new na tional health care bill has forced the insurance topic to the forefront for many Amish and Old Order Men nonites.

Both the U.S. House and the Sen ate have passed health care reform bills, and the lawmakers are expect ed to work out the details of a fi nal bill early this year.

Each bill includes requirements that would force nearly every Amer ican to carry health insurance and make businesses provide it for employees.

Those who don’t have insurance would face fi nes.

Weaver suspects most members of Plain communities would balk at the idea of buying health insurance. But he said some younger members may not be as steadfastly against the idea.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of talk, a lot of dialogue in our circles about how we are going to deal with this,” Weaver said. “Unfortunately, I think quite a lot of our younger people might not be opposed to some form of it.

“The older generation, though, will probably try to work something out where they get exemptions.”

An unwelcome intrusion

In Plain communities, health insurance requirements are viewed as an unwelcome government intrusion.

“It’s basically a religious reason,” said Don Kraybill, professor of Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County. “They feel the members of the church are responsible by their Christian faith to help each other and take care of people.

“They feel they shouldn’t be paying outside commercial entities to be taking care of them. That’s the responsibility of members inside the community.”

My People: Notes On Lancaster County Amish and Mennonites.

Grateful to the Dead's Chris Armstrong has a nice "fun facts" list on my people, the Anabaptists.

For clarity concerning the use of "Pennsylvania Dutch": "Deutsch" is German for, uh, German.

On why/how Lancaster County? Many Lancaster County Amish and Mennonites (I grew up in Lancaster, my grandparents were Mennonite) are from the Swiss-German-speaking area of Switzerland (Canton Bern) but spent a subsequent few generation in Germany after fleeing prosecution in their homeland. Prosecution had led them to live outside towns and cities as farmers, self-reliant. William Penn caught up with them in Germany and, needing settlers for his new state, promised religious freedom in fledgling Pennsylvania. Germantown was the first primary settlement in the state. My flock chose to go west to Lancaster, then the outskirts of the new settlement.

Separation of Church and State: Despite self-schooling and what in modern times look like "backwards" ways, ask any Amish or Mennonite why the separation of church and state is so important. They'll tell you to read Martyrs' Mirror, the book Armstrong mentions below, a harrowing tome of the tortures suffered by Anabaptists under state laws from the time of Christ until 1660.

That doubt about the Establishment clause exists among other Fundamentalist or some Evangelical groups in the US today is, according to the Baptists who paid with the blood of their members for centuries, protection from and by the state is tantamount to religious freedom. Every Anabaptist is taught their history, one that remembers the horrors of Theocracy. Now once removed from the church, I still strongly resent efforts to debunk the importance of separation of church and state.

For a short piece of mine on religious tolerance, click here.

Chris Armstrong:

Continuing this week’s Anabaptist theme, here are the surprising and interesting factoids that made it into the front page of Christian History & Biography’s issue 94: Pilgrims & Exiles, about America’s Anabaptist groups:

Pilgrims and Exiles: Did You Know?
Interesting and unusual facts about America’s Anabaptists
Friday, October 1, 2004

You may be more Mennonite than you think

Many American Christians simply assume that the state has no business dictating church beliefs or practices, that a church should be a gathered body of believers rather than a net that scoops up everyone within the area of a parish, and that baptism is a step of obedience upon profession of faith. What most do not know is that Mennonites were the first (surviving) group of Christians to insist on these things, and that they died by the thousands for doing so.

“Are you saved?” … “Ask my neighbors”

The early Brethren (Dunkers)—a cousin movement to the Mennonites and Amish—practiced a lively evangelistic outreach. But the typical Anabaptist emphasis on showing, not just telling, one’s faith remained strong. When Brethren evangelist Rufus P. Bucher was asked by a stranger in a railway station, “Brother, are you saved?” he replied that since he might be prejudiced on the question, his interrogator should go ask his wife, children, and neighbors. “I’ll be ready to let their answers stand as my own.”

Trail of blood

The Martyrs Mirror (1660), an Anabaptist martyrology, has as its full title “The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only Upon Confession of Faith, and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus, Their Saviour, From the Time of Christ to the Year A.D. 1660.”

A-Fording them a higher profile

By the 1980s, annual visitors to Lancaster County’s “Amish country” numbered above 4 million. The 1985 Harrison Ford film “Witness” increased the flood even further (though not doubling it as predicted).

Plain dress not so simple

To the outsider, the Anabaptists’ plain dress looks oppressively uniform. But really study plain dress, and you’ll find a dizzying array of differences. In his book Why Do They Dress That Way? Brethren scholar Stephen Scott charts out these differences. Amish women may wear a straight or a crossed cape, a Midwest, Lancaster, or “Nebraska” back, and a rectangular or triangular shawl. Amish men may sport hats with a plain, creased, depressed, or flat crown; and wear X-type, H-type, Y-type, or single strap suspenders. Mennonite women choose between Reformed, Wenger, or Victoria bonnets—all with chin straps—or wear a bonnet without a strap, called a “beanie” bonnet. And Mennonite and Brethren men wear either a frock or sack coat.

Just another farming group

Public fascination with the Lancaster County Amish began early in the 20th century with romanticized images of Amish life on WPA posters and in theatrical treatments like the 1955 musical Plain and Fancy. But throughout most of the 19th century, the Amish numbered fewer than 5,000, and the nation had not progressed in technology and culture to the point where they stood out. The press and public generally tended to ignore them.

Give us this day our daily bread

All Brethren celebrate the “love feast” twice each year. But the Old Order River Brethren (so named because upon joining they were baptized in the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania) reserve a special role for their women in preparing for the feast. Breadmaking—mixing, kneading, and baking unleavened bread used for communion—is part of the ceremony itself. At long trestle tables in the main meeting room, the sisters (baptized women) work the dough, while the brothers stand by and preach a spiritual interpretation of the act. Preparing the bread together in this way reinforces the unity of Christ’s body; leaving leaven out of the bread is akin to getting rid of any kind of pride or spiritual impurity.

Going—and staying—”Dutch”

Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsilfaani-Deitsch), is a High German language spoken by 150,000 to 250,000 people in North America. (“Dutch” is an archaic English term meaning “German.”) Only Amish and Old Order Mennonites are passing the language along to their children in the current generation, although they were originally minority groups within the Pennsylvania German-speaking population. In these cultures, the language is a sign of Demut or humility, and the language serves as a barrier against the outside world. With the high birth rate in Amish communities, the possibility is great that the language will survive at least in the short term.

Top 10 Mennonite Stories in 2009.

The top 10 stories of 2009 at The Mennonite, including:

2. MC USA pastors get The Corinthian Plan
The Corinthian Plan will become a reality Jan. 1, 2010. The health-care access plan of Mennonite Church USA reached its revised goal in October. Project director Keith Harder expects that nearly 70 percent of the denomination’s eligible, credentialed pastors will be on the new plan. While the original participation goal of 80 percent of Mennonite Church USA congregations will not be met, The Corinthian Plan project team, including MMA staff and actuaries, agreed that there is sufficient participation to have a plan that will have a solid financial foundation.

3. Resolution emerges from Convention 2009
Over 7,000 people gathered June 30-July 5 in Columbus, Ohio, for the Mennonite Church USA Convention 2009. The church’s responses to leaders and congregations not in compliance with the denomination’s teaching position on human sexuality generated several unscheduled sidebar actions. During the convention, a group of activists launched their "Pink Menno campaign," drawing reporters from Fox News and Associated Press. In response, the Delegate Assembly overwhelmingly passed "A Resolution on Following Christ and Growing Together as Communities Even in Conflict."

Mennonite Mutual Aid: Is it Possible to Invest with Ethically?

From The Kalona News in Iowa, an article on Mennonite Mutual Aid's efforts to create ethical investing practices, tools and opportunities:

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Matthew 16:26

"The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure."
BC Forbes

The American public has been bombarded for the past several years with news accounts of massive Ponzi schemes, predatory lending, unfair labor practices, industrial poisoning of water and air, excessive bonuses, corporate greed, Wall Street manipulations and toxic loans.
All these, along with the cost of the Iraqi War, have been blamed for the meltdown of the American economy. And all of these, says Jeff Swartzentruber, vice president of the MMA Trust Company in Kalona, are inconsistent with Christian principles. What is consistent with these standards, he added, is "stewardship investment."
The concept of stewardship investment is not new. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) founded an insurance fund in 1832 to provide life assurance to its members - and excluded investments in "sin" stocks. That insurance fund, now the FTSE 100 company, Friends Provident, celebrated its 175th anniversary.
Through the years, its exclusion of unethical companies expanded to include issues such as climate change, biodiversity and labor.
Swartzentruber says MMA's origins began in the 1930s when the Mennonite Church leaders identified some financial needs of its members, such as assistance with housing loans and sharing resources among Mennonite churches. It eventually morphed into Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA) - incorporated in 1945. Its services expanded, along with the members its represents. These now include a number of churches that have Anabaptist ("rebaptize") roots and historic ties to the 16th Century religious reformers, among this list are the Religious Society of Friends, Old Order Amish and Church of the Brethren.
MMA's stewardship investing examines both the financial and social records of hundreds of companies, Swartzentruber says, and uses these six guidelines for investments:
* Respect the dignity and value of all
* Build a world at peace and free from violence
* Demonstrate a concern for justice in a global economy
* Exhibit responsible management
* Support and involve communities
* Practice environmental stewardship
There are obvious types of companies that MMA does not invest in because of Mennonite beliefs, said Swartzentruber - manufacturers of alcohol and tobacco products, as well as companies where incomes are significantly generated through military contracts.
MMA does invest in some companies that at first glance might not appear to be live up to these standards, acknowledged Swartzentruber. Since no company is perfect, he said, their stewardship investment strategy also includes shareholder advocacy, which can help steer a company in a more ethical direction through the use of dialogue and other means.
MMA literature states, "Socially concerned, active shareholders in publicly-traded companies are becoming increasingly important. The voice they provide in the development of responsible business practices that provide both social and financial benefits cannot be underestimated."
"As part-owners, we believe it is also within our rights and responsibilities to communicate with corporate management about the practices and activities we believe have a negative impact on communities, individuals, and the environment."
An example is Wal-Mart, said Swartzentruber. Some of the practices of the giant retailer might exclude it from some stewardship investment lists. But through proxy voting and interaction with its board of directors, MMA hopes to have a positive impact on its future practices.
Just recently, Wal-Mart announced plans to develop a "sustainable product index" that will establish a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products. The company is beginning with a survey of its more than 100,000 suppliers. The survey's 15 questions will allow the suppliers to evaluate their own sustainability efforts, focusing on four areas: energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community. Wal-Mart will take this information and create a rating label on each product.
MMA is a member of Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which includes nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors. When ICCR asked Pepsi if it was not concerned about the AIDS pandemic in Africa, said Swartzentruber, company officials replied that they didn't think it was within the company's responsibility.
MMA representatives brought it to the floor during a stockholder's meeting, noting that AIDS has a direct impact on Pepsi's African employees, as well as its customers. Pepsi now has a number of HIV/AIDs programs in Africa, Swartzentruber said.
"We don't have all the answers," Swartzentruber admitted when it comes to deciding who should be on their investment list and who shouldn't.
Some are pretty clear, though he said. Exxon is excluded because of its historical environmental record. General Electric is on the no-go list because of its defense contracts--the same goes for Caterpillar. Jack Daniels doesn't make the grade for obvious reasons. It should be noted that the mention of these company names is not meant to disparage, only to recognize a difference in values understanding--each investor must make their own decisions and choices when buying individual equities.
Microsoft does have products purchased by the military, but since they were not developed specifically for military purposes, MMA does invest in the computer software company.
Swartzentruber says there are now a number of firms and funds that follow the stewardship investment philosophy. He pointed to Pax World, billed as the nation's first socially responsible mutual fund that was launched in 1971.
Pax World's website states, "Pax World is at the forefront of a new investment approach: Sustainable Investing - the full integration of environmental, social and governance factors (ESG) into investment analysis and decision making. Pax World is a leading advocate for Sustainable Investing, an emerging discipline based on the financial materiality of ESG factors."
Calvert Investments is another investment management company he says involves stewardship investment. The company describes itself as a leader in sustainable and responsible investing (SRI).
The three SRI approaches Calvert lists are:
* Two distinct research frameworks: a rigorous review of financial performance, and a thorough assessment of environmental, social and governance performance.
á* A thematic approach to solving some of today's most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.
* An "enhanced engagement" approach emphasizing strategic engagement to advance environmental, social and governance performance in companies that may not meet certain standards today, but have the potential to improve.
In the end what is of importance, Swartzentruber said, stewardship investment is a way to bring ethical considerations, faith-based values, to otherwise soulless corporate entities.

Mennonites Take on Obama's Unjust War.

Pastor Marty Troyer of the Houston Mennonite Church takes on "redemptive violence" and the Obama administration:

What is the more powerful force in our world: violence, or peace? Our President ordered the killing of more Pakistani civilians this week. This happens so frequently, and receives so little attention in the corporate media I find I need reminding of its outrage. Obama has already ordered more drone and missile attacks into Pakistan in his brief Nobel-winning Presidency than George Bush ordered in his entire second term in office. The fight with our “enemies” is said to be moving more into Pakistani territory, thus justifying these incursions. DemocracyNow news anchor Amy Goodman reported on October 28th that between 326-538 civilians have been killed since Obama took office, saying, “there is no longer any doubt that targeted killing has become official US policy.” All appearances point to an increase in drone attacks over the coming months, and thus to an increase in civilian casualites. To be clear, these drone attacks do not pass international law standards, the Christian theory of the Just War, let alone a nonviolent standard. These increased drone attacks come at the same time Obama is considering increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. War seems to be playing an ever bigger role in the toolbox of change for our President. But is it change we can believe in? Or is it just more of the culture of death we have come to be all too familiar with? Obama, like Bush before him, has bought too deeply into the myth of redemptive violence.

I find it encouraging to see the church taking on "unjust war" as an aspect of what is called the "culture of death," although I have issues with the terms because they often include women's reproductive justice, scientific advancement, and alleviation of suffering in the dying.

Yet calling out Obama and his administration for the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan is something the church and all of us must do.

Tell the Mennonite Church USA it Should be Pro-Gay.

An open petition at Queers United addressed to the Mennonite Church USA to include LGBT members!

Oh Nos! The Mennonites Are Against Israel Too.

At The Institute for Global Jewish Affairs, Dexter van Zile warns that the Mennonites are betraying their Jewish brethren and their "activist organizations" like Mennonite Central Committee must be closely watched.

His basic points?

*Mennonite-supported peacemaking institutions have been at the forefront of the effort to discredit Israel to audiences in North America. These institutions portray Jewish sovereignty as the cause of conflict and suffering in the Middle East and downplay Muslim and Arab hostility toward Jews and Israel.

*The prescription for peace offered by these activists-especially those affiliated with the Mennonite Central Committee and Christian Peacemaker Teams-is for Israeli Jews to abandon their insistence on maintaining Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and acquiesce to a one-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. This prescription fails to take into account overwhelming evidence that a Jewish minority would not be safe in a Muslim- and Arab-majority country in the Middle East.

*Mennonite expressions of hostility toward Jewish sovereignty and indifference to the plight of Jews in Arab- and Muslim-majority states are ironic and hypocritical. Mennonites enjoy safety and wellbeing by virtue of other people's willingness to engage in acts of violence. Israeli Jews enjoy no such privilege.

*Mennonite anti-Zionism is emblematic of an inability to deal with the reality of evil and the power needed to confront it.

The last two points are basically a theological attack on Mennonite pacificity. The first two points are basically the same charges pitted against any group or individual who wishes to broker or support peace between Israel and Palestine.

Van Zile starts off his article with the premise that Mennonites are uniquely positioned to understand the challenges of Israel because during and after the Radical Reformation they suffered greatly under the church or governmental authorities of the countries in which they lived. The wandering Jews and the wandering Mennonites may have persecution and displacement in common, but the whole Zionism thing makes the comparisons a hypothetical game. WWII does too.

I think what Van Zile is really saying to MCC and other Mennonite organizations who are working diligently to bring peace to Israel-Palestine is, "Your religion is weaker than ours 'cause we have big US guns we're not afraid to use and our very own country. Now back off and don't tell us what to do with our Arabs." Becoming and helpful to the peace process, isn't it?