Goshen College
Conscientious Objection to Military Service among Mennonites during World War I:
Challenges, Resistance, and Long-Term Impact
Timo Novak
Phillip Gollner
CORE 176: Mennonites, Amish, American Religion (Research and Writing, RW)
14 April 2025
Conscientious Objection to Military Service among Mennonites during World War I:
Challenges, Resistance, and Long-Term Impact
Abstract
During the First World War, Mennonite conscientious objectors in the US refused to
participate in military service due to their deeply rooted religious convictions in nonresistance.
However, their refusal met with the opposition of the US government and society. This paper
examines the historical and political context of their stance, the legal, political, and social
challenges that Mennonite consciousness objectors faced, and the long-term impact of their
objections. It starts with Mennonite theology and the historical context of Mennonites in North
,America and the entry of the US into the War, then continues with the Selective Service Act, the
war propaganda and the anti-German sentiment, and the consequences of consciousness
objection in the Second World War and ends with analyzing the intensity of the experiences. By
analyzing governmental policies, societal reactions and, individual experiences, this research
highlights how extreme Mennonites experienced the First World War, and how their struggles
helped shape future policies on conscientious objection to military service. While existing
research focuses on broad community actions and governmental activity, this paper adds a
human perspective by providing individual stories of Mennonites who objected to military
service.
Paper
“I was an outsider,” recalled Honora Becker in her interview about her time during the
First World War. Because she was Mennonite, she was not allowed to participate in school play
and was treated with suspicion in her own country (16). Mennonites are a Christian group with
European, mostly German, origins. They are known for their centuries-long commitment to
nonresistance. But when the US entered the First World War in 1917, many Mennonites were
forced to take part in military service. Through the personal experiences of Mennonites Joel
Sprunger from Indiana, Honora Becker from Oregon, and John Neufeld from Kansas who served
in New Mexico, this paper will explore how Mennonites handled this situation. It answers two
central questions: Why was it so difficult for Mennonites to maintain their position of
nonresistance during the First World War, and why does their resistance matter even today?
Based on those questions, this paper argues that Mennonites conscientious objectors (COs)
struggled to maintain their stance because they faced extreme legal, political, and social
challenges in a country that was mobilizing for the biggest war until that point. But still, their
, resistance was the beginning of a shift that led to the result that conscientious objection has been
recognized and handled differently in the United States since the First World War.
One secondary source I will use in my paper is the book American Mennonites and the
Great War by Gerlof D. Homan. This book is a purely factual book that gives historical data and
explains the happenings chronologically. It mainly focuses on policies that were established both
before and during the War, as well as after the War, and how Mennonites reacted to them.
My second secondary source will be the book Kansas Mennonites during World War I by Arlyn
John Parish. Unlike the first secondary source, this one provides a more regional focus on the
Mennonites from Kansas who objected to military service. It focuses more on human
experiences and happenings rather than on the political circumstances of that time.
My third secondary source Varieties of Contemporary Mennonite Peace Witness by Yoder
Neufeld is rather a theoretical approach on the Mennonites’ nonresistance philosophy than a
book about facts and data.
The fourth secondary source will be The Plain Mennonite Face of the World War One
Conscientious Objector by Donald Eberle. While this book also summarizes the happenings
during the First World War regarding the Mennonites, I will use this book to provide quantitative
data for my paper as it contains several useful numbers and statistics.
My last secondary source is Writing Peace: The Unheard Voices of Great War Mennonite
Objectors by Melanie Springer Mock tells four experiences of Mennonite COs by summarizing
their stories before, during, and after the war from a historical perspective. She also includes her
opinions and diary entries from the COs. I will use this source for telling a story about the
treatment John Neufeld, one of the characters, received.
Conscientious Objection to Military Service among Mennonites during World War I:
Challenges, Resistance, and Long-Term Impact
Timo Novak
Phillip Gollner
CORE 176: Mennonites, Amish, American Religion (Research and Writing, RW)
14 April 2025
Conscientious Objection to Military Service among Mennonites during World War I:
Challenges, Resistance, and Long-Term Impact
Abstract
During the First World War, Mennonite conscientious objectors in the US refused to
participate in military service due to their deeply rooted religious convictions in nonresistance.
However, their refusal met with the opposition of the US government and society. This paper
examines the historical and political context of their stance, the legal, political, and social
challenges that Mennonite consciousness objectors faced, and the long-term impact of their
objections. It starts with Mennonite theology and the historical context of Mennonites in North
,America and the entry of the US into the War, then continues with the Selective Service Act, the
war propaganda and the anti-German sentiment, and the consequences of consciousness
objection in the Second World War and ends with analyzing the intensity of the experiences. By
analyzing governmental policies, societal reactions and, individual experiences, this research
highlights how extreme Mennonites experienced the First World War, and how their struggles
helped shape future policies on conscientious objection to military service. While existing
research focuses on broad community actions and governmental activity, this paper adds a
human perspective by providing individual stories of Mennonites who objected to military
service.
Paper
“I was an outsider,” recalled Honora Becker in her interview about her time during the
First World War. Because she was Mennonite, she was not allowed to participate in school play
and was treated with suspicion in her own country (16). Mennonites are a Christian group with
European, mostly German, origins. They are known for their centuries-long commitment to
nonresistance. But when the US entered the First World War in 1917, many Mennonites were
forced to take part in military service. Through the personal experiences of Mennonites Joel
Sprunger from Indiana, Honora Becker from Oregon, and John Neufeld from Kansas who served
in New Mexico, this paper will explore how Mennonites handled this situation. It answers two
central questions: Why was it so difficult for Mennonites to maintain their position of
nonresistance during the First World War, and why does their resistance matter even today?
Based on those questions, this paper argues that Mennonites conscientious objectors (COs)
struggled to maintain their stance because they faced extreme legal, political, and social
challenges in a country that was mobilizing for the biggest war until that point. But still, their
, resistance was the beginning of a shift that led to the result that conscientious objection has been
recognized and handled differently in the United States since the First World War.
One secondary source I will use in my paper is the book American Mennonites and the
Great War by Gerlof D. Homan. This book is a purely factual book that gives historical data and
explains the happenings chronologically. It mainly focuses on policies that were established both
before and during the War, as well as after the War, and how Mennonites reacted to them.
My second secondary source will be the book Kansas Mennonites during World War I by Arlyn
John Parish. Unlike the first secondary source, this one provides a more regional focus on the
Mennonites from Kansas who objected to military service. It focuses more on human
experiences and happenings rather than on the political circumstances of that time.
My third secondary source Varieties of Contemporary Mennonite Peace Witness by Yoder
Neufeld is rather a theoretical approach on the Mennonites’ nonresistance philosophy than a
book about facts and data.
The fourth secondary source will be The Plain Mennonite Face of the World War One
Conscientious Objector by Donald Eberle. While this book also summarizes the happenings
during the First World War regarding the Mennonites, I will use this book to provide quantitative
data for my paper as it contains several useful numbers and statistics.
My last secondary source is Writing Peace: The Unheard Voices of Great War Mennonite
Objectors by Melanie Springer Mock tells four experiences of Mennonite COs by summarizing
their stories before, during, and after the war from a historical perspective. She also includes her
opinions and diary entries from the COs. I will use this source for telling a story about the
treatment John Neufeld, one of the characters, received.
