Oh what a patriotic tempest a small Anabaptist Indiana teapot of a college has provoked!

The Goshen College Board of Directors announced today that it has asked President James E. Brenneman to find an alternative to playing the Star-Spangled Banner that fits with sports tradition, that honors country and that resonates with Goshen College’s core values and respects the views of diverse constituencies. …

Mark Schlonger, pastor of Springdale Mennonite Church in Waynesboro, Virginia, wrote a thoughtful support of Goshen College’s decision for CNN’s blog My Faith, in which he said,

To Mennonites, a living faith in Jesus means faithfully living the way of Jesus. Jesus called his disciples to love their enemies and he loved his enemies all the way to the cross and beyond. Following Jesus and the martyrs before us, we testify with our lives that freedom is not a right that is granted or defended with rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air. True freedom is given by God, and it is indeed not free. It comes with a cost, and it looks like a cross.

His point appears to be that Anabaptists, as Christians, really try to do as Jesus did, so singing a song glorifying violence makes a lot of them uncomfortable. But Mr. Scholonger also points out that not singing the The Star Spangled Banner does not make you un-American; you are not required to glorify war to be an American patriot.

His essay touched off a “fire storm” of comments, many of which seemed to consider patriotism, militarism and Christianity almost interchangeable concepts.

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