by June Krehbiel
Mennonite Church USA Executive Board has appointed Harold A. Penner of Akron, Pa., to represent the denomination on the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund board. Replacing Steve Ratzlaff, Penner will begin the three-year appointment next year.
New leadership on this board complements the Executive Board’s June 30 reaffirmation of the church’s long-held endorsement of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill (H.R. 2085) in the U.S. Congress. Since 1972 the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund has advocated for the bill that would establish a fund in the Federal Treasury to receive taxes of conscientious objectors who do not want their tax dollars to fund war. To date, 50 national religious, peace and civil liberties organizations have formally endorsed the campaign.
“Mennonite Church USA’s role in advocating for this bill says that we believe God cares how our dollars are spent by the United States government,” denominational peace advocate Susan Mark Landis says. “As a denomination, we affirm H.A. Penner in this new role.”
A lifelong conscientious objector with a career as a church administrator, Penner, a native of Beatrice, Neb., believes that “the way we spend our money is how we vote on what exists in the world.” For many years Penner has urged the U.S. Congress to pass the Peace Tax Bill. He objects on religious grounds to the payment of that portion of his federal income taxes that supports war making and militarism.
“I look forward to serving on this board and invite all to join the movement of conscience that is turning the world toward nonviolence as its method of dealing with conflict,” Penner says.
For information and to write letters to support the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill, click here or contact Penner here.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.