Hopewit

Recent events surrounding pandemic mandates have placed a burden for rethinking the role of individual autonomy in a democratic state on us all. The temptation to go yes or no on whether special restrictions can legitimately be placed on persons not choosing vaccination is a significant discussion to be had; so far no substantial debate on the matter has taken place, at least not to my knowledge. I have always known about the exemption from military service that Mennonites had to have guaranteed to them before emigrating to Russia, Prussia, Canada, USA, Mexico and Paraguay. In his memoir, friend Hank Neufeld writes about the Morden Mennonite Brethren Church’s response to the draft during WWII. In a similar response to churches elsewhere, some of the church members joined outright, some joined the medical corps and some submitted to being placed on farms or in other voluntary service programs to keep the Canadian economy going while so many men were off to war. But then there was a