The Mennonite Game

When it just doesn't fit anywhere else.
Hats Off
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Hats Off »

A Mennonite name just identifies me as someone with Mennonite ancestors. It certainly does nothing more than identify us in circles where these names are known. But that does not stop us from playing the game - we meet some younger people and we share information and they say "Oh, so you are Galen's parents!" and we have made a connection that draws us closer together.
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Hats Off
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Hats Off »

Things progressed to the point where one can be considered “Mennonite” despite not being a member of a Mennonite church.
“What does it say about the nature of a denomination,” he asked, “when a white nonbeliever could be considered more Mennonite than a devout believer in another part of the world?
“It’s important to understand that playing ‘The Mennonite Game’ [and celebrating traditionally Germanic ethnic relationships] means having something in common with Nazi race scientists,” he said.
From a speech by Ben Goossen in 2015.
Goossen is referring to Hitler's reign in Germany and how Mennonites in Germany responded to him. My family has been in North America for around 300 years so we do not share in what happened there. The Mennonites practising non-resistance had long left Germany prior to those years.

Further, just because Goossen said something does not make it so for all Mennonite people. My older brother shares a last name with me but that does not make him a Mennonite. He has the same ancestry but made different choices than I did. I protest that Goossen's statements are not applicable to all Mennonites, that he is sensationalizing and again painting with a very broad brush.

I think Conservative Mennonites would join with me in saying our brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles who left the Mennonite churches are no longer Mennonite. Modern Mennonites seem to go the other way; Julia Kasdorf is still considered an Amish or Mennonite poet just because of her ancestry. Last I heard, she was an Episcopalian.
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Neto
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Neto »

Maybe I'm guilty. I tell people who my wife's father is (or at least what her maiden name is), to explain why I'm here in the land of the Swiss Brethren, instead of back in Oklahoma where I came from.

Edited to add: I went back & read the article. It is a lot of bits & pieces mingled together without respect for the different ethnic groups historically represented by "Mennonites". It is true that SOME Mennonite young men in the colonies joined the retreating German army - I have personally met such a person. But it was not such a high number as this article claims. In my opinion, it's just a bunch of nonsense.
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Congregation: Gospel Haven Mennonite Fellowship, Benton, Ohio (Holmes Co.) a split from Beachy-Amish Mennonite.
Personal heritage & general theological viewpoint: conservative Mennonite Brethren.
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Josh
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Josh »

Erika wrote:What of those who have taken a different surname after marriage? Often these people make a point to 'display' or announce their former name in order to be more 'acceptable' in Mennonite social life.
Discussion of a woman’s maiden name is a rather common thing in our circles.

Many people become very interested upon hearing my grandmother’s maiden name. They’re a bit crestfallen when I explain it’s an English and Quaker name, not a German and Anabaptist one.
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RZehr
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by RZehr »

Erika wrote:What of those who have taken a different surname after marriage? Often these people make a point to 'display' or announce their former name in order to be more 'acceptable' in Mennonite social life.
I'm only speaking for Mennonites that I am part of which is the plain, intermediate-conservative flavor. The liberal Mennonites can speak for themselves.

Since I've never seen or heard of people "display" or announce their former name in order to be more "acceptable", I find it hard to believe this happens often. And I would be very suspect of anyone that does that. Some one that does that obviously has a problem.

As far as the article goes, I don't disagree that there were Mennonites that supported Nazis, this isn't news to me. I think these Mennonites found someone who tickled their ears with praise and it went straight to their head.
I wholeheartedly reject the connection between that and someone playing the Mennonite game today. That's just a bunch of garbage as far as I'm concerned.
But if someone is truly motivated by some ancestral or cultural or ethnic pride or whatever they need to repent. There is no place in the kingdom of God for that mentality.

I think a revealing key line is this quote - "Virtually all Mennonite males fought in Nazi regiments, whether they volunteered or were forced."
If this is true, then it clearly shows the stark difference between what these people were and what we are today. These people shared our name, but not our faith.

I also am disconnected with this part:
"He cited the scant support offered by white Mennonites for African-Americans during the civil-rights movement. He noted how female victims of theologian John Howard Yoder’s sexual abuse were also ignored or even silenced by church leaders. He mentioned LGBTQ individuals at Mennonite Church USA’s convention earlier in the month feeling that they are not as welcomed and loved as heterosexuals."
This is clearly not our deal in spite of us sharing the name Mennonite.
Us plain people do have problems, but we generally shy away from social or civil rights issues completely. This isn't because of race. This is because we believe that is not our arena. The Mennonites in the south were the rare white people that didn't own or support slavery.
These were Mennonites that were not apostatized like the ones in Germany.
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Josh
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Josh »

I play the Mennonite game all the time. But it usually ends with finding a friend of mine being related to the person I’m talking to, instead of me myself.
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ken_sylvania
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by ken_sylvania »

Erika wrote:What of those who have taken a different surname after marriage? Often these people make a point to 'display' or announce their former name in order to be more 'acceptable' in Mennonite social life.
What is your source for this particular bit of information? I don't think I've ever come across this.
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RZehr
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by RZehr »

ken_sylvania wrote:
Erika wrote:What of those who have taken a different surname after marriage? Often these people make a point to 'display' or announce their former name in order to be more 'acceptable' in Mennonite social life.
What is your source for this particular bit of information? I don't think I've ever come across this.
I just remembered hearing of an instance where the family had a bakery and used the wifes maiden name as the company name. I don't know why they did it, but I assumed they felt it would be better for business.
But this was not done in order to be more 'acceptable' in Mennonite social life. In fact this family was no longer even Mennonite when this was done.
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Josh
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Josh »

Back in my liberal Mennonite days, I ran into I someome who had a last name like Smucker-Smucker or Yoder-Yoder. I found this particularly amusing.
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Haystack
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Re: The Mennonite Game

Post by Haystack »

I think in larger populated areas like Lancaster, Holmes, And Elkhart names mean more to people. For example if you were going grocery shopping and you had to pick between a large chain grocery store and say for example Yoders Supermarket, where would most of us go? If two people are applying for a job at a Mennonite owned business, both have similar qualifications, ones a Martin and the other is a non Mennonite name, who has a better chance at getting the job? If you have a familiar name and they know either you or your family is/was Mennonite, you're going to have a advantage over others.
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