Goshen College Controversy Is Parenting Failure

Last week a firestorm erupted over the fact that a small Mennonite college, Goshen College in Indiana, decided to no longer play the National Anthem at sports events. At first I was outraged. Then I backed off and thought about the fact that they have every right to make that decision. Now after mulling it over for a few days, I have something to say about it today, on Flag Day.

After doing research, I discovered the following facts:

• Mennonites believe in peace and the fact sheet on the college states "...playing the national anthem has not been among Goshen College's practices because of our Christ-centered core value of compassionate peacemaking seeming to be in conflict with the anthem's militaristic language."
• Also some members of the religion, although this is not an official church position, say that to sing a hymn of allegience like that is to display more loyalty to country than to God.
• Historically they did not ever play the anthem until 2010 when they chose to lift the 116 year old ban on playing the anthem. They agreed to allow an instrumental version of the song to be played.
• Mennonites historically came to this country seeking religious freedom from the persecution that they received in their homelands.

So what are we looking at here? Their ancestors came to this country seeking a chance to practice their religion in peace. Finding that freedom in the new country, they were content to let others fight for their right to maintain that freedom against enemies that would deny freedoms to all of us. Okay, I get that. The Amish, Quakers, and others are peaceloving people who refuse to take up arms. I can respect that.

What troubles me is the lack of gratitude on the part of this college for the country that provides their ability to practice their religion without interference. This is the same country whose brave men and women died on battlefields, mothers wept at the loss of a child, fathers saw their lineage end as their sons died, children lost parents, and the world lost many brilliant future leaders so we all could remain free. This is the same country that has been a refuge for the oppressed for more than 200 years.

In my heart, I love God, family, and country. But sometimes that order gets all blurred together--days like Dec 7, 1941 and Sept 11, 2001. So while I understand their priorities, I am saddened by the fact that they feel no sense of loyalty to the country that has paid the price of their freedom in blood.

Parents of Goshen, wake up! I don't care what your church leaders say--this is the United States of America. She has stood for your freedom and protected it since your people first stepped foot on her beautiful shores. She deserves some measure of your appreciation and loyalty. It is time to teach your children about the greatness of our land and our history. Yes, it is run by flawed individuals who make mistakes. However, we can change that at the ballot box. Bottomline, is that we have lived with our freedoms intact for a long time now--less than 10% of the people in the history of this planet can boast of living with the freedoms we cherish. Teach that to your kids.

If the first verse of the national anthem is offensive to you, perhaps the last verse will be more acceptable:

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Yes, I defend your right to live as you choose, but I am saddened and somewhat angry that you at Goshen College have no appreciation for why you can live as you choose.