When Mennonite pacifists meet "the stereotypical God-and-country Midwestern" patriots.

There's a current controversy about playing the nation anthem at Goshen College, a Mennonite school in Indiana. There, the tradition was pacifist and the anthem was not played.

About a year and a half ago, some athletes approached the president, James E. Brenneman, to ask if the anthem could be played before some games. Dr. Brenneman, a former pastor who has led Goshen since 2006, said yes, “as an expression of welcome to the half of our student body who are part of other religious traditions,” he told [the NYT reporter]....

Dr. Brenneman stressed that even when the anthem was played, “it wasn’t like you would see at a pro football game or the World Series, with the F-16 fighters flying overhead.” The music was played, without anyone singing the lyrics over the public-address system, and the anthem was followed by the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. ...”). This was Goshen’s “way of saying, if we are going to do it, we won’t do it as they do it elsewhere,” Dr. Brenneman said....

In 2009, Goshen unveiled a marketing campaign called “Peace by Peace,” emphasizing its pacifist roots. “Not everyone was enamored of this marketing campaign,” Dr. Berry said. “That included some folks in the athletic department, and the reason was that for sports — soccer is a bit of a different animal, but for baseball, golf and particularly basketball — Goshen College recruits students who aren’t from a Mennonite or Anabaptist background. And they reflect a little more of the stereotypical God-and-country Midwestern approach to patriotism.”

Dr. Brenneman wished to “quibble” that the request to play the anthem “came in direct response to Peace by Peace.” And Dr. Berry acknowledged there was more at stake than athletes’ gripes. There is a theological question, “which was that if we talk so much about peace, that will make it hard to attract non-Mennonite students.”

“And if we can’t attract non-Mennonite students, are we being hospitable?” Dr. Berry said.

Hospitality is, like pacifism, a core Christian virtue, and some Mennonites believed that playing the anthem was justified to help students from other backgrounds feel welcome.

After a year of "really intense dialogue," the college adopted the policy of playing "America the Beautiful" before sporting events.

I love the emphasis on hospitality and conversation. Really beautiful. Thank you, Mennonites.