Occupations that are uniquely objectionable to Conservative Anabaptists

[mike]

I'd like to primarily hear from conservative Anabaptists, but others can feel free to chime with thoughts and questions.

The discussion about working as a mail carrier, notably the comment about having to deliver morally objectional material, brought up this question in my mind. Are there any other similar occupations that are uniquely objectionable to conservative Anabaptists?

I do business with a conservative Anabaptist-owned company that is a wireless internet provider in our local area. Given what the internet is, would this be objectionable to some CAs similarly to delivering morally objectionable mail or packages?

I assume defense contracting would definitely be on this list, but how far is that taken? Would manufacturing bolts for a company that provides them to a defense contractor be the same? Would we manufacture custom furniture for an office in the Congress? What about providing goods and services to prisons?

[Ken]

My Mennonite ancestors on both sides made a good living selling their crops into the war effort during both world wars. So much so that they were able to expand their land holdings through war profits.

That didn't diminish their standing in the church in the slightest.

[Neto]

Regarding the Postal service, there is the additional conflict with swearing an oath to protect the constitution.
When I first starting doing tech support for Amish business owners, I was surprised that they built things of which they do not approve, like entertainment centers, as one example. I don't know if any Amish work in automobile manufacturing, either for parts or the actual vehicles, but they DO build travel trailers. (Of course they also use them, and often own them as well.) But perhaps you intended to keep this within each person's own realm of convictions, in which case I shouldn't comment about any horse & buggy group.

Could you approve of a conservative anabaptist (one who does not salute the national flag) working in a factory sewing flags, or if you had a print shop, could you print pro-military pamphlets? What if it was a book that someone brought in to have published, so that the name of your publishing house would be on the fly-leaf page?

[steve-in-kville]

Off the top of my head: OTR truck driving can be hotly debated. Leaving in the truck on a Sunday can be debated as well. Occupations that require Sunday shifts fall in that as well.

When my employer had the original third shift, we started at 11pm Sunday night. My church leadership (at the time) didn't have much to say because they knew there were drivers at our church that were starting their workweek not long after dark on a Sunday evening.

Obviously farming and the medical field requires Sunday work, but I view that differently.

[mike]

My Mennonite ancestors on both sides made a good living selling their crops into the war effort during both world wars. So much so that they were able to expand their land holdings through war profits.

That didn't diminish their standing in the church in the slightest.

Did they specifically have the US government or military as a customer, or were they simply benefiting from high market prices due to the war?

[mike]

Regarding the Postal service, there is the additional conflict with swearing an oath to protect the constitution.
When I first starting doing tech support for Amish business owners, I was surprised that they built things of which they do not approve, like entertainment centers, as one example. I don't know if any Amish work in automobile manufacturing, either for parts or the actual vehicles, but they DO build travel trailers. (Of course they also use them, and often own them as well.) But perhaps you intended to keep this within each person's own realm of convictions, in which case I shouldn't comment about any horse & buggy group.

Could you approve of a conservative anabaptist (one who does not salute the national flag) working in a factory sewing flags, or if you had a print shop, could you print pro-military pamphlets? What if it was a book that someone brought in to have published, so that the name of your publishing house would be on the fly-leaf page?

Yes, those are questions I am interested in answers for from CAs. If I were a printer, there are jobs I wouldn't do.

[Ken]

My Mennonite ancestors on both sides made a good living selling their crops into the war effort during both world wars. So much so that they were able to expand their land holdings through war profits.

That didn't diminish their standing in the church in the slightest.

Did they specifically have the US government or military as a customer, or were they simply benefiting from high market prices due to the war?

They sold to the local farmer's co-op which sold to the government.

Mennonites could have taken the 1944 war price for crops, subtracted the 1939 pre-war price from that, and taken the difference (the war profits) and donated that to charity. But as far as I know, that was never even a suggestion much less something anyone did.

[mike]

My Mennonite ancestors on both sides made a good living selling their crops into the war effort during both world wars. So much so that they were able to expand their land holdings through war profits.

That didn't diminish their standing in the church in the slightest.

Did they specifically have the US government or military as a customer, or were they simply benefiting from high market prices due to the war?

They sold to the local farmer's co-op which sold to the government.

Mennonites could have taken the 1944 war price for crops, subtracted the 1939 pre-war price from that, and taken the difference (the war profits) and donated that to charity. But as far as I know, that was never even a suggestion much less something anyone did.

I assume that selling crops to the local co-op was nothing out of the usual for them?

[Ken]

Did they specifically have the US government or military as a customer, or were they simply benefiting from high market prices due to the war?

They sold to the local farmer's co-op which sold to the government.

Mennonites could have taken the 1944 war price for crops, subtracted the 1939 pre-war price from that, and taken the difference (the war profits) and donated that to charity. But as far as I know, that was never even a suggestion much less something anyone did.

I assume that selling crops to the local co-op was nothing out of the usual for them?

As far as I know, my grandfather sold his grain for the highest price he could find. Which was usually (but not always) the local farmer's co-op of which he was a member. And when the war came along it was so profitable that they were able to buy another farm. As Upton Sinclair famously wrote: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

[mike]

They sold to the local farmer's co-op which sold to the government.

Mennonites could have taken the 1944 war price for crops, subtracted the 1939 pre-war price from that, and taken the difference (the war profits) and donated that to charity. But as far as I know, that was never even a suggestion much less something anyone did.

I assume that selling crops to the local co-op was nothing out of the usual for them?

As far as I know, my grandfather sold his grain for the highest price he could find. Which was usually (but not always) the local farmer's co-op of which he was a member. And when the war came along it was so profitable that they were able to buy another farm. As Upton Sinclair famously wrote: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

I think that closest example in my lifetime of conservative Anabaptists across a broad range of occupations profiting broadly from macroeconomic conditions is probably Covid. I heard that CAM's donations at one point during Covid were up by 40%, credited in large part to excess Mennonite & Amish business profits during the pandemic.

To me, this is a hopeful indicator that if war profits again would find their way into conservative Anabaptist bank accounts whether intended or not, that they would be likely to donate much of it to charity.