(RNS) In a break with the past, a Mennonite college in Indiana will play an instrumental version of the national anthem before athletic events despite the song’s “militaristic” lyrics.

Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., is owned by Mennonite Church USA, an historic peace church that advocates nonviolence. But in deference to its increasingly diverse student body and to visitors, the college will begin playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in March, Goshen administrators said in a statement.

“Playing the national anthem has not been among Goshen College’s practice primarily because of our Christ-centered core value of compassionate peacemaking seeming to be in conflict with the anthem’s militaristic language,” said Goshen President Jim Brenneman, and a special advisory council, in a statement.

Brenneman said playing the anthem “in no way displaces any higher allegiances, including the expansive understanding of Jesus — the ultimate peacemaker — loving all people of the world,” the statement said.

The Mennonite Church USA does not have an official position on playing the anthem and its half-dozen colleges and universities have differing policies, according to Goshen, which was founded in 1894. In the 1970s, the school debated whether to fly an American flag, later deciding to fly one beside the United Nations standard.

Goshen administrators said playing the anthem will “open new possibilities” for students and faculty to “publicly offer critique — if need be — as citizens in the loyal opposition on issues of deepest moral conviction, such as war.”