What are the basic Mennonite beliefs and practices now?
The Mennonites are a Protestant group. They believe in adult baptism, and they have this long history of political protest of war. They have several hundred years of being conscientious objectors. But I think what a lot of people would say is that they tend to be very conservative in their lifestyle choices. (Read “Conscientious Objectors”) Does that affect what they wear? It affected my community when I grew up. Many Mennonites wear old-fashioned hats, aprons and so on. But those tend to be the group called the Old Mennonites. I grew up among the Mennonite Brethren, and they just wore conservative clothes that you wouldn’t necessarily stop and stare at on the street. Back then I wasn’t allowed to wear jeans. My mom felt that skirts gave more glory to God. Did you feel a sense of differentness when you were growing up? I felt so different. I went to public school. I didn’t know anything about pop culture or song lyrics or dancing or anything like that. I was embarrassed for how I dress
