An ungovernable faith
By refusing to swear oaths, 16th-century Anabaptists took away the state’s primary tool for control.
Century illustration
On the first day of kindergarten, I emailed each of my children’s teachers to let them know that my kids would not join their peers in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Our family is Mennonite, I explained, and we do not pledge our allegiance to the state. It felt strange, sometimes uncomfortable. At times I wondered if this tradition, handed down through generations of Mennonites, is too quaint for our current realities.
But I also know that at the birth of Anabaptism oath-taking was debated as fiercely as infant baptism. By 1527, a group from the Reformation’s radical wing had broken away and penned their conviction in a document called the Schleitheim Confession. In their final article, these proto-Anabaptists rejected the civic oaths many people in Europe took each year, which served as a binding legal agreement for each person who agreed to uphold their obligations to the town. Political leaders asserted that violation of the oath would be met with both civic and divine punishments.
For the writers of the Schleitheim Confession, Christians should refuse to take oaths as a simple form of biblical obedience. Jesus commands that our “yes be yes and no be no” (Matt. 5:37, NKJV). Christians do not lie. We have no need to superimpose checks on our truthfulness. By extension, and in conformity to Christ, we do not swear oaths.
