At the east end of the giant Wal-Mart parking lot in this northern Indiana town of about 32,000, there’s a metal-roofed building accommodating as many as 20 horse-drawn buggies. People in plain dress\u201d\u201dflat black hats, white bonnets\u201d\u201dcan be seen around town.<\/p>\n
Goshen is a population center for Mennonites and their religious “cousins,” the Amish. Both are Protestant Christian faiths built on foundations of pacifism and keeping government, politicians and politics at arm’s length.<\/p>\n
The Amish remain non-voters who believe in the strict separation of church and state. However, some Mennonites, especially younger members such as those on the campus of church-founded Goshen College, are seeing an opportunity now to integrate politics into their lives in a way that furthers rather than diminishes their religion.<\/p>\n
Emily Miller, for instance, is a 20-year-old sophomore social-work major from Waco, Texas, and\u201d\u201dlike 60 percent of the nearly 1,000 Goshen students\u201d\u201da Mennonite. Though her dorm room features the book bag and flip-flops you’d expect with any kid away at school, there’s a sign on her door that stands out, considering where and who she is. It says: “Change We Can Believe In,” and in smaller letters: “BarackObama.com.”<\/p>\n
When a CNN film crew recently asked if there might be a handful of Mennonite students at Goshen willing to talk about being first-time voters, 50 volunteers stepped forward to say whom they supported and why. When students manned registration tables in the student union, more than 300 new voters signed up.<\/p>\n