It seems that EVERYONE has a show now. We joke that our 4-year-old has a show in development (not really) – but seriously, pawn shops, gator hunters, gun shops, ice road truckers. Who doesn’t have a show?
The other night, we were flipping channels and came across the National Geographic show called “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites” (Tuesdays, 10pm ET/8pm MT).
The show chronicles the life of the King Colony, 59 souls in rural Montana who are part of the Hutterites. Hutterites are similar to other groups known as Anabaptists such as the Mennonites and Amish. Anabaptists believe in adult baptism and, as the Bible chronicles in the Book of Acts, property is shared by the members.
Watching the show made me curious about who the Hutterites are. The show seems pretty contrived with the featured members dealing with situations like the young adults wanting to wear brightly-colored clothes, getting a job outside the colony and wanting to go to school outside the colony. At times, it seems they are forcing themselves to do what is being asked by the producers and it makes the show both fascinating and rather sad.
Because of the discomfort I feel watching, I wanted to know more, feeling there must be more to the folks than cussing, drinking and rebellion. Here is a little history of the Hutterites around the United States and Canada.
According to Hutterites.org, the group moved all over Europe from Germany and Austria into Eastern Europe and Russia, and finally across the ocean to the Dakotas and Canada. The group was given the name Hutterites after their former pastor Jakob Hutter. He led the group in the early 1500s in Moravia, until he was burned at the stake in Innsbruck, Austria, after being captured while on a mission trip.
After being persecuted across Europe, the group fled to the Dakotas in the 1870s. When World War I began and the Hutterites began to be drafted into service, they objected and in some cases, were imprisoned due to their refusal to wear the military uniform. Because Canada allowed for conscientious objectors, they welcomed the Hutterites.
There are 3 sects, (Schmiedeleut, Dariusleut and Lehrerleut), located in the states and Canada, including Manitoba, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Montana with a few in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. There are 462 colonies, according to the website, with about 45,000 members total. Of these groups, 75% are located in Canada and 25% are in the United States.
There are strict rules about modest dress, head coverings for women, baptism before marriage and courtship. I was particularly interested in how the members fall in love to allow new families to form within a colony. The website notes that young people are given the opportunity to visit other colonies frequently to meet other people.
As I suspected, there is much more to the Hutterites than is portrayed in the show. Bishop John Stahl, who presides over 160 colonies, including the King Colony, released a statement on the Hutterite.org website that reads partially as follows:
“We are deeply saddened by the skewed image with which the public may now perceive the Hutterite faith and way of Life. It is distorted and damaging and we feel betrayed. We understand very well that we are not perfect and we face many challenges. Nevertheless, our vision is to live meaningful Christian lives in community as Christ has instructed us to do.”
Please read more on this statement here and know that this interesting colony of people is dedicated to Christ and his way of living, no matter how they are portrayed on television.
Photo by Kelly Hofer
Marijo Tinlin is the Editor in Chief of Family First, one of the oldest family-oriented websites on the internet. She writes for Eagle Publishing’s Family Events, is the Managing Editor of www.myColoradoview.com and she runs a small business with her husband. She is also the author of a book about patriotism and teaching our children to love this country called “How to Raise an American Patriot, Making it Okay for Our Kids to Be Proud to Be American.” It features 13 interviews with patriotic Americans including Ed Meese, Erick Erickson and Jackie Gingrich Cushman. It’s available at www.raisinganamericanpatriot.com.
