Editing Mennonites (section)

== Ethnic Mennonites ==
Though Mennonites are a global denomination with church membership from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, certain Mennonite communities that are descended from émigrés from Switzerland and Russia bear the designation of [[ethnic Mennonites]].<ref name="Dueck2017"/>

In contemporary society, Mennonites are described either as a religious denomination with members of different ethnic origins,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who are the Mennonites? |url=http://www.thirdway.com/menno/?Topic=23%7cBasic+Beliefs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130235115/http://www.thirdway.com/menno/?Topic=23%7CBasic+Beliefs |archive-date=30 January 2013 |access-date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Third Way Cafe}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Did you know... |url=http://www.mhsc.ca/index.php?content=http://www.mhsc.ca/mennos/wdid_you_know.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Mennonite Historical Society of Canada |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727161312/https://mhsc.ca/index.php?content=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mhsc.ca%2Fmennos%2Fwdid_you_know.html |url-status=live }}</ref> or as both an ethnic group and a religious denomination. There is controversy among Mennonites about this issue, with some insisting that they are simply a religious group, while others argue that they form a distinct ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mennonite Game |url=http://www.mhsc.ca/mennos/cmennonit.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Mennonite Historical Society of Canada |archive-date=23 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123005047/https://mhsc.ca/mennos/cmennonit.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Historians and sociologists have increasingly started to treat Mennonites as an [[ethno-religious group]],<ref name="MulticultCanada1">{{Cite web |title=Multicultural Canada: Mennonites |url=http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/ecp/content/mennonites.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070516094344/http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/ecp/content/mennonites.html |archive-date=16 May 2007 |access-date=13 September 2016 |publisher=Multiculturalcanada.ca }}</ref> while others have begun to challenge that perception.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethnicity |url=http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/E846ME.html |access-date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |archive-date=13 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513134446/http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/E846ME.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Discussion also exists as to the term "[[ethnic Mennonite]]"; conservative Mennonite groups, who speak [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], [[Plautdietsch]] (Low German), or [[Bernese German]] fit well into the definition of an ethnic group, while more liberal groups and converts in developing countries do not.