From: wxc21@psu.edu Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.support.ex-cult,alt.support.bruderhof Subject: Re: What is Date: 29 Jun 1997 11:15:10 GMT Organization: Reference.Com Posting Service Lines: 83 Message-ID: <5p5g3u$961$1@orthanc.reference.com> References: <33AB0EBA.795A@worldnet.att.net> <5ohti3$f31@flatland.dimensional.com> <33b5626c.7205610@news.capital.net> <33b07c45.14485804@news.mindspring.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: shadowfax.reference.com Cc: Originator: panuser@reference.com () Martin Hunt wrote: > With all this discussion of the Bruderhof and there actions taken > against a discussion newsgroup devoted them, I think it's time to > give a bit of information about what they are: > > [The Hutterites] came to the United States from the Russian > Ukraine in 1874, a corporal's guard of some twenty families. They > were not Russian, however, but Swiss-German, remnants of a people > who had migrated for centuries through Switzerland, Moravia, > Germany, seeking freedom to worship and to live their simple > life. Now they had come to the promised land, America. Because > land was easily acquired in South Dakota, they settled on a > thousand stubborn acres along the muddy Missouri River in Bon PLEASE LEAVE THE HUTTERITES OUT OF THIS. The former association of the Bruderhof Communities with the Hutterites has brought enough grief to the Hutterites. While some may disagree, the Hutterites do not exhibit the cultish characteristics of the Bruderhof, save that they maintain a peculiar sub-culture rooted in scriture and established 450 years ago, when they were hounded nearly destroyed by civil and eclesiastic authorities. Any of the more conservative Anabaptist groups (Hutterite, Mennonite. Amish) will fall under someone's definition of a cult, but the abuses of the bruderhof are quite different from any of the strict standards and peculiar characteristics of these groups. The Bruderhof "elder" said quite plainly (even though he said it under an alias) that the Bruderhoffers are "sick and tired of the Hutterites", the Huterites tolerated the Bruderhoffers for a time, and tried to bring the Bruderhof around, but the hold the leadership has on the members of the Bruderhof were too strong and the Bruderhofers rejected the efforts of their brothers and sisters in the faith and became themselves unfaithful to the church they had committed themselves to. In short, the Hutterites are victims of the Bruderhofers cultish activities, not a part of it. > The Bruderhof is not proselytizing; outsiders almost never join, > and retention rates are very high. It's said that only 5% > renounce the communal life and seek out the larger outside > world. Runaways can be readmitted after a penance period. This is not true of the Bruderhof, though it is true of the Hutterites (and Amish, and Old Order Mennonites). Though in the past few years they have had fewer converts, they have had some. I (gladly at the time) joined the Bruderhof with my wife four years ago. We saw many visitors, "seekers" come and stay. But when I objected to an organizesd camapign of harassment against the "Children of the Bruderhof", I fell in disfavor with the group and after a time asked to leave. Since then several other "first generation" members have left. I think the publice exposure of their leadership's character (well hidden behind a pious facade) as well as the obvious inconsistencies in their life presently, is leading to fewer positive contacts, and less of a wide open door. They used to freely let seeking people visit, but this spring they were charging visitors for attending a retreat -by the discription of this retreat, it seems they are now charging visitors for their room and board and for the privilage of working in their factories. > They are pacifists, with very Christian pacifists do not sue at law. The Bruderhof (not the Hutterites) do of course bring lawsuits and other violent actions against their critics. Peace, Wayne Chesley -- Posted using Reference.COM http://www.reference.com Browse, Search and Post Usenet and Mailing list Archive and Catalog. InReference, Inc. accepts no responsibility for the content of this posting.