Floyd Landis, still a Mennonite?

Internet access on campus has been spotty this morning, so the first post of the day will be very brief indeed.

I'm a life-long Californian and a seventeen-year resident of Los Angeles County, and I've never before experienced heat and humidity like we had this weekend.  Yesterday, I went for my "long run" of the week at 6:00AM; at what is perhaps the coolest moment of the day, it was 79 degrees as I stepped out of my car to begin a jog up Brown Mountain.  Truly, deeply, profoundly unpleasant.  I note that my home town, Carmel, is one of the few spots in the nation that hasn't hit 80 degrees once this summer.  I was very lucky as a child...

I made it home from my run in time to see the awards presentations following the Tour de France.  I am very pleased to see Floyd Landis win, not least because of his Mennonite background.  As I turned on the TV yesterday morning, I predicted that what Floyd Landis did during the national anthem (always played for the country of the Tour winner) would indicate the degree to which he still embraces his Mennonite heritage.

Mennonites, particularly traditional ones, don't salute the flag or sing the national anthem.  Though much of the press coverage of Landis' traditional upbringing has been interesting and accurate, I'm sorry that no one seems to mention that the Mennonites aren't just conservative Christians.  In their commitment to voluntary simplicity, an abhorrence of all forms of violence (even in self-defense), and a disdain for displays of patriotism, Mennonites -- like all Anabaptists -- are radically different from what we tend to regard as the stereotypical American conservative Christian!  Many Mennonite schools don't fly the US flag anywhere on campus -- something that could hardly be said of most Reformed or Baptist private schools!

I was pleased to see that Floyd Landis stood respectfully, hands clasped in front of him during the American national anthem.  His posture was identical to that of the 2nd and 3rd place finishers, a Spaniard and a German.   Click to enlarge.  Note that the American ambassador has his hand over his heart.

Lance Armstrong always put his hand over his heart during the national anthem (you can find such images easily on the web) after winning the Tour.

I may no longer worship in the Mennonite church (neither does Floyd), but I was pleased by what I was able to interpret from his stance yesterday.  Whatever he retains of his Anabaptist roots, he seems to remain committed to the principle that to be a Mennonite is to be a citizen of God's Kingdom, not of an individual country.   His simple, respectful, humble refusal to engage in a patriotic ritual of pledging allegiance to but one corner of that Kingdom is admirable, and a sign perhaps that Landis is still, in some real sense, a true Mennonite.

Good on you, Floyd.

Comments

[Jaime]

It still bugs me. Why play the national anthem at all? Floyd won racing for a Swiss team. The US didn't win. An American won. So why the national anthem in the first place? It seems a little opportunistic and in bad taste to me.

[Phil Hoover]

Floyd can be a citizen of "two worlds"--one temporal and one eternal.

[Hugo]

Jaime, I'm with you -- but it's been done for a long time at the Tour, regardless of who wins.

Indeed, Phil, Christians are citizens of two worlds. But in any specific country, their primary allegiance remains to Christ, not to a nation-state. Placing the hand over the heart, pledging allegiance, etc. are gestures of obeisance and promises of duty that those of us who see ourselves as "resident aliens" in all countries ought not to make.

[Mermade]

VERY interesting. I didn't know that about Mennonites, if anything at all. Thanks!

[Joy]

Would Americans call this action of not singing the national anthem and flying the US flag unpatriotic?

[bumpy187]

I grew up and live in the middle of kansas, a major center of Mennonite heritage. Quite frankly I view the actions of Mennonites to be hypocrytical and self serving....yes...they are bound by service in theory...but frankly, and I ahve asked several point blank....what they preach (and even while they practice) is not what they feel. Where the Mennonites will go to great lengths to help a starving African nation they will turn their noses up at a black man in the states. When they talk of Love as Their Soul Purpose (a popular bumper sticker) they will often and gleefully speak in anti Catholic tones (my duaghter went to a Mennonite college....and left) adn when they buy real estate and move to "serve" poor indigenous peoples (Mexico) they often retreat to their guarded communities after their "holy" work is done. I have lived amongs these people my entire life and I ahve nothing but suspicion in any dealings with these people....so not saluting the flag does not suprise me. There is ALWAYS an air of superiority (self delusional I think) to these people. And yes, I meant, "these people".

[Hugo]

Bumpy, I'm sorry you have had such negative experiences. I have a dear friend -- a black convert to Anabaptism -- who had a wonderful and accepting experience at Goshen College, the flagship Mennonite school in Indiana.

Do you know that most Mennonites worldwide aren't white anymore? There are huge Mennonite communities in Nigeria, Paraguay, and Indonesia -- just to name three countries.

Note that Landis stood respectfully during the anthem. He never dissed the flag or the USA. No Mennonite should. Mennonites are not anti-American, they are true followers of the First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." And patriotism is a secular god if there ever was one!

[will]

I think that most Americans, while probably not very knowledgeable about Mennonites, would not construe his actions as unpatriotic if they knew of Floyd's convictions.
I for one (American) do not. And most of the people I know wouldn't either.

[SamChevre]

wrt bumpy

Mennonites aren't perfect--neither the beliefs nor the practice--we are, after all, human. But I have never seen Mennonites--even the extremely conservative groups in which I grew up--for whom race was an issue. There are a lot of Hispanic Mennonites, some black and some Asian Mennonites--and no one thought twice about marriages between Mennonites of different races. Mennonites are, however, very culturally German; they will look down on people for running their lives badly, and particularly on use of intoxicants and lack of chastity.

And note, please, that the anti-Catholicism has a pretty strong foundation--the Mennonites were severely persecuted by the Catholics in the beginning (estimates are around 100,000 killed) and the histories of those martyrs is still something almost everyone knows.

[Hemaworstje]

hand over his heart , fingers crossed at his back ,
nope i did not use dope.
Mennonieten got stuck between half dutch/german medieval thoughts,
let them move to Paraguay and Argentina , they are big over there since 1945.

[Douglas, Friend of Osho]

Glad to see the old homestead still has the fog to cool her off, Hugo. Do you ever make it there these days? I don't think I've set foot in Pacific Grove since Clinton was president. So, 79 degrees at 6:00 am in Pasadena; OUCH!! I just moved to the Midwest and the humidity will kill you, although the thunderstorms are cool. Hope you've been doing well and all the best to my favorite Padre. Cheers, the Breaker.

[Hugo]

I make it to Carmel regularly, Douglas -- I'll be there next month, in fact...

[Philip Nash]

If it is reasonable, do it believe it
If it's not, don't do it or believe it
In this world reason represents our only chance of survival as a species. Religions look set to destroy us all.

[Lynn Gazis-Sax]

Religions look set to destroy us all.

Mennonites?

[Hugo]

Yep, it's true, Lynn. Why, just the other day I was talking with Harry Yoder, Arliss Yoder, Franklin Yoder, and the Swartzendruber boys. We're plannin' on getting together with Melvin and Andreas Landis and their friend Willard Swartley, and we're gonna practice some serious non-violence to bring the world to the very brink of destruction. Why, we might not even raise our right hands next time we're called for jury service! Or, we just might not send in a portion of our taxes to protest Pentagon spending. Yup, Mennonites are a regular Al Qaeda cell. Just you wait. First off, we're gonna get some lemonade.

[nevins]

"And note, please, that the anti-Catholicism has a pretty strong foundation--the Mennonites were severely persecuted by the Catholics in the beginning (estimates are around 100,000 killed) and the histories of those martyrs is still something almost everyone knows."

Now that sounds like a load of crap. Mennonites didn't exist until the 19th century in this country. At that time in this country it was the Catholics who were getting shafted by the White AngloSaxon Protestant majority. Where is the historical record of any such masacre? Sounds like more cheap protestant Catholic bashing.

[Hugo]

Nevins, the Catholic persecutions of Anabaptists (especially Mennonites) happened in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, not in the USA. Now, some Mennonites did come to the USA from Germany well before the Revolution, so it's inaccurate to say that they only showed up after 1800.

Mennonite history is a fascinating subject. Visit here: http://www.mcusa-archives.org/

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