Taken from the Annual Meeting minutes

The Peace Problems Committees try to stay abreast of development in our countries. Their charter is to be proactive in the encouragement of peace witness issues. Six peace witness lectures were given in the U.S. last year. The committees have received more calls in the last year than ever before relating to child abuse issues, legal issues, bankruptcy problems, etc.

Selective Service has been holding some informational meetings among the Mennonites and plain groups in the Kansas area. An Alternate Selective Service has been formed, and some videos have been shown of mock trails of young people facing Selective Service scrutiny. Some of the questions and statements from the mock trial were shared. They are as follows.

- Describe your beliefs
- Mennonite church membership alone does not qualify one for exemption from the war.
- Matthew 21:12 tells us that Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. Explain this.
- Why cant you defend your country?
- What do you believe about playing sports? Football is combative.
- What is your objection to war?
- Do you support our government? Our administration?
- The attack on Pearl Harbor - if that were here and you did not defend the U.S., do you merit living here?
- If you are not in the army, you are for the terrorists.
- Are you willing to give up your life before a firing squad?
- Could you be a medic in the army?
- Police are ordained of God. Explain this.
- When someone is murdered in your town, would you let the killer go free? Should not the killer be punished?
- Do you feel your everyday life and actions have been nonresistant?
- If everyone believed like you, what would this country and world be like?

It is a little ironic that a few pages before this entry the notes mentioned the possibility of using the draft method to get young brothers to give their time of service in a CPS unit. I guess its pretty hard to teach your children that real service requires sacrifice, when you are preempting the possibility of them serving outside of the church.

Posing these questions and mock trials are sort of like telling little Johnny that the boogie man is still in the closet, so hed better not get out of bed. It is extremely unlikely that either of our governments- Canadian or U.S. - will ever reinstate a draft. These minutes also show decay of the Churchs relation with mainstream society and real world issues.

They recorded the mock trial questions because someone thought they were legitimate. I find them dated, ridiculous, and frankly, quite silly. The Pearl Harbor question is a tip off. I couldnt help but notice how the recorder stated that the Peace Problem Committees try to stay on top abreast of the development in our countries. I highly doubt this.

I would like to know more about these videos of mock Selective Service trials and the peace witness lectures. How can they honestly give a lecture on something they obviously know nothing about?
Perhaps I dont fully understand the scope and purpose of this committee. Why are they the ones dealing with legal issues, bankruptcy problems and child abuse cases?

I also noted that 'a brief report was read' on the Canadian Peace Problems Committee. You have to wonder whether any of the report related to the Swanson and Abbotsford communities or whether those activities were quietly left out of the report...