By Gunnar Sadowey for Goshen College and available here
WITH 14 WORDS, the U.S. Bureau of Naturalization recast the terms of citizenship in the United States after World War I, in effect declaring pacifists the new enemy, according to Duane Stoltzfus ’81, professor of communication and director of adult and graduate programs at Goshen College.
In 2023, after extensive research on the topic, Stoltzfus delivered the C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture, “Love of Country Distilled to a Question: When Pacifism Becomes a Litmus Test for Citizenship,” at both Goshen College and Bluffton (OH) University.
If necessary, the government wanted to know, are you willing to take up arms in defense of this country? For hundreds of people, men and women, regardless of age, with deep religious convictions or no faith ties at all, taking up arms became the pivotal question on which their naturalization would turn. Dozens of conscientious objectors – including Mennonites with ties to both Goshen College and Bluffton University – soon found their pathway to citizenship blocked because of their steadfast convictions against killing.
Stoltzfus, who is currently writing a book about this chapter in citizenship history, told the stories of conscientious objectors who were, at least for a time, denied citizenship. […]
