Best of The 1994 KIT Newsletters

The KIT Newsletter, an Activity of the KIT Information Service, a Project of The Peregrine Foundation

P.O. Box 460141 / San Francisco, CA 94146-0141 /
telephone: (415) 821-2090 / (415) 282-2369
KIT Staff U.S.: Ramon Sender, Charles Lamar, Christina Bernard, Vince Lagano, Dave Ostrom;
U.K.: Joy Johnson MacDonald, Ben Cavanna, Leonard Pavitt, Joanie Pavitt Taylor, Brother Witless (in an advisory capacity)
The KIT Newsletter is an open forum for fact and opinion. It encourages the expression of all views, both from within and from outside the Bruderhof. The opinions expressed in the letters we publish are those of the correspondents and do not necessarily reflects those of KIT editors or staff.

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------------KIT Newsletter, January 1994 Vol. VI #1------------

Barbara Taylor Snipes, 11/15/93: I appreciate the KIT Newsletter, which I have read with great interest, and have decided to add my own story. Although I have never been a member of the Society of Brothers, I feel as though I have suffered the loss of my two sisters, Pepper Taylor Hinkey and Peggy Taylor Kurtz. My parents Howard and May Taylor (now deceased) suffered even more grievously, because of the attitudes of the Society of Brothers.
I have been alternately surprised and horrified by the stories in the KIT Newsletter. They are emotionally wrenching and have called out my experience, which although mild by comparison, is still painfully my own. We Taylors grew up on a farm beside the Delaware River. We six children were part of a close, playful, hard- working family. Our parents, Howard and May Taylor, loved each other, cared deeply for their children and for the Quaker Community in which we were nurtured. We were encouraged to think for ourselves and to try to discern God's will for our lives in consultation with family and the Friends Meeting. When two of my three older sisters, Pepper Hinkey and Peggy Kurtz decided to live in community -- Celo, North Carolina, and Macedonia, Georgia -- I was delighted. They and their families were my role models. I felt close to them. Their ideas, ways of living, and experiences in community were of intense interest to me. Pepper, in particular, who was 7 years older, had influenced my youth dramatically and I relished any contact with her. Peggy was closer in age and we were more competitive, but I always wanted her attention.
When Pep and Wendell Hinkey, and Peggy and Mark Kurtz, decided to join the Bruderhof in the early 1950's, I was pleased. They would be geographically closer at Woodcrest, and we could visit more often. And visit we did! We made frequent trips to Woodcrest, and they would come to our farm and nursery where I still live with my husband, Samuel Snipes. We have five grown children and seven grandchildren. The Bruderhoefers also came to Taylors Lane near Riverton, New Jersey, where my parents maintained an active interest in the lives of their children.
We had expected -- assumed perhaps, that we would be included in Pepper's and Peggy's lives when they joined the Society of Brothers, as we always had been. We were full of questions and enthusiasm for their new life and felt very supportive. They told us that the Society of Brothers' community life was more religious, more intentionally sharing, more loving and more joyful then any previous way of life they had experienced. I was happy for them, and eager to experience some of their wonderful life through visits, letters and phone calls. It soon became evident, however, that we were not included. Their children were no longer allowed to visit us, because our normal farm lifestyle would create "needs," e.g. clothing, toys, recreation, that would conflict with the Bruderhof patterns of living. My parents' pictures on their walls were replaced by the Arnolds', reading material was restricted, and presents were no longer acceptable. My visits with my mother to Woodcrest were strained. We had to ask all the questions.
Once I was sent on a walk with Jane Clement and she told me there were some questions that simply were not to be asked. I felt (and still feel) confused and unaccepted by them. Jane was now a sister, and I was excluded. How am I to understand this? My sisters were no longer interested in the development of my children or in my growth as I tried to be a spiritually led person. In one of my trips to Woodcrest, I was told not to come on the property. Pep had to come out to a diner to meet us because I was accompanied by her daughter, Carol, who had been asked to leave, or "kicked out", and not allowed in, even to visit.
She, (Carol) had not apologized, to Heini Arnold's satisfaction, for having some ideas of her own. My heart still bleeds for this young woman who, by following her leadings, has been rejected by her mother. By "rejected" I mean that Pepper does not seem interested in her daughter's opinions, her career choice, her successes and concerns, her marriage. I believe that we have a lifelong need for sensitive, attentive mothering -- the kind that values us as persons, no matter what! Certainly we had that love demonstrated in abundance by our mother, May Taylor. She cared about us and respected our choices, no matter how different they might be from hers.
Pep's daughter carries the life-long pain of not being accepted. She is somehow bad or wrong in the eyes of the Community and that means bad or wrong in the eyes of her mother. I keep thinking how a loving community that follows Jesus' example would gather up daughters by birth and little sisters by blood (me), by reaching out, forgiving, and taking an interest in our lives. What I want from my sisters is the kind of equal give-and-take that I have with my Quaker friends. I long for some sharing of life experiences with my only living siblings. We have lost our parents, two brothers and a sister through death, and those of us remaining should be able to enjoy stories of our childhood, our roots, our spiritual growth and insights. We had the same parents, the same environment. We share many similarities. We even look alike! I feel very sad about the loss of Pep's and Peggy's companionship. I realize, along with other KIT correspondents, that it's too late, the rift is too great. There is something in the pledge of faithfulness to their God and community that excludes the rest of us.
I'm grateful to KIT for this opportunity to express my pain. As time goes on, and I get older and perhaps wiser, I realize more clearly that what matters most in life is love of God and loving relationships between people. Signed pledges or vows to believe certain things seem unimportant if they stand in the way of caring relationships with daughters and sons, siblings, and parents, or the loved ones of one's youth, and of course those close by. A relational attitude toward the world seems important to me. Surely a loving community would reach out to folks of divergent faiths and viewpoints and would respect and value differences. I'm wondering if those of us on the outside are carrying the dark side (the 'shadow,' or the negative energy ) for those in the Society of Brothers. Are we the scapegoats for the insiders who supposedly believe the same way, act the same way, and follow the leadership of those in power? Are they unable to recognize that this repressive, exclusionary way of life is in itself a sin against God and against those that are not allowed to visit or express different points of view? Could it possibly be loving to refuse to shake hands?
I'm concerned that I may not hear of my sisters' deaths. (They are both in their 70's). I'm saddened that my children will never know their cousins (except in that very superficial, external-visiting, Bruderhof way) and only in that way if we make the effort. There are now quantities of first cousins once removed and second cousins, Hinkeys, Kurtzes and Snipes, who may never even meet. Is it possible that we would not be told of their deaths?
I am aware that this letter may be viewed as a work of the Devil trying to destroy community. I hope that the great goodness and value in the community can continue. I pray that the rigidity and hurtful actions can be transformed into openness and acceptance of those who are led in different directions. Elizabeth Bohlken Zumpe, 10/22/93: Dear "Vetter" Johann Christoph! I feel a deep urge to write to you and want to ask you to read this letter carefully and try to understand the spirit in which it was written. This world is rapidly rolling towards its end, and it is up to every individual to take full responsibility for everything that is going on in our lives, but also for those trusted to our care before the Almighty God! Our Grandfather, Christoph, was a very learned man and knew all about the theological and philosophical ways men try to make their lives work out fulfillingly and happily -- but he chose a different and very unconventional way --THE WAY OF TRUE BROTHERHOOD FOR ALL MEN! And he meant it! Even though he was made the laughingstock amongst his friends, he fought for the vision he had! He started in all humility amongst the farmers to live this life of love! He wanted a life for men that is FREE from FEAR, free of DIVISION, filled with love and happiness! He was NOT the big leader at all, he wanted this brotherhood for all men to include the man on the street -- the outcast -- the lonely -- the orphans and the unmarried Mothers (Ulrieke Arend and KŠthe Ebner) He wanted the love of Jesus Christ, to whom he had given his soul in complete surrender, to penetrate all those who yearned for a new World Order!
WHAT HAS NOW BECOME OF THIS LIFE AND VISION?? Look at it honestly, Christoph, and you will see and feel that somewhere along the line something went completely and totally wrong! Now longer is this life a life of joy. No, it has become a burden to everyone who tries to be loyal to his and her vows! I myself feel that Opa should never have joined up with the Hutterites, as their many rules and regulations killed off the free spirit of God's wisdom! It is O.K. for them to live by these fences that keep them together as a group, but it was not good for the Sannerz group, although we can neither judge nor will we ever understand this fully. We live today and have to fight our own battles and take our own responsibilities and be really open to what is asked of us in this present time. From the Hutterites came this "Order of excluding members", and the first time this was used by my father and Georg Barth, when a group of some 8 men and Dorli were sent away in Paraguay for "gossiping amongst themselves and reaching out for personal power in the hierarchy of the Bruderhof life." My father regretted this deeply many years later when he realized that it had caused bitterness in your father's heart and that as a result he sent some 613 men, women and children away without a penny under shocking circumstances! But here again, we should not judge but rather learn from this for our lives and our future! I do feel, that with the beginning in Woodcrest and the absolute adoration of your father, something went rotten.
The Americans have a way of judging the world order around the globe as though they had the insight to change things with their wisdom and politics. On the Bruderhof, they took this same part: Judging old baptized Bruderhof members, many miles away in Primavera, dissolving their Bruderhoefe built with sweat and tears, and taking away the very foundation of their lives! This was like the clock of a time bomb, and caused 7 Bruderhoefe to be dissolved and sold!! (Was it not the dream of our Grandfather, that a willful hand would extinguish the seven lights??) Then the reuniting with the Hutterites brought disunity amongst all our communities as well as in the Hutterite communities today. Due to fate, the burden of leadership was put on your shoulders and that is why I feel the urge to write to you! Christoph, if you really listen to your innermost voice ( the spark we all have from our Creator) if you stop believing that you have all the right answers for all the brothers and sisters, if you let God work instead of thinking you can manage alone -- then things will have to turn out for the better!
I am really worried about you! News reaches me from many different corners (not KIT alone, but the Hutterites, John Hostetler, the Mennonites here in Holland and many other sources!) You have excluded your own brothers and sisters (like your father did, with Mama, Hardy, Monika, and Hans Herman) You now sent away Roswith and family, Anneli and family, Edith and family and Else and family! Christoph these are dangerous signs!! Signs, that you no longer want to listen to those that know you best -- they form a threat to your position! This is really what killed your father, not a terrible sickness but this paranoid idea: EVERYBODY IS AGAINST ME!
What have you to fear, if you fear God? Who should be against you, if you are a true brother amongst brothers? Christoph, what has gone so wrong that you send away your family, accuse 15-year-old Bruderhof children of being WHORES and PROSTITUTES?? As true Bruderhof children, they hardly know the meaning of those words! How is it possible that a fifteen-year-old girl runs away at night in utter distress with the only answer to commit suicide? Where is the love that should hold such a child in security? I feel that the evil powers took hold of the community and are now destroying all that was left after the big destruction of the 1960s. It is like under the Communists or the Nazis: the little man is obeying the orders of their leader! This has nothing to do with God or with Christianity! It is power and power alone that makes you do all these things that you would not have dreamed of as a young man! Why do men always want a leader-FUHRER? I know, it's the group that has forced you into this position, but Christoph, try and humble yourself before God and everything will turn out alright. Listen to your brothers and sisters if they do not agree with you, rather than sending them away. Be open for the truth to come from a different direction than you had ever dreamed it would. Do not think that you are more before the almighty God than the simplest of the brothers and sisters. Please do not close up and use power to strike back at those that have a different view than your own. I have to write this letter, because in my heart, Christoph, I have always loved you from the day you were born, which I remember well. Your father was so proud to have a son and a daughter, and I was so often in your family, as my mother had open TB. With this I greet you and wish you the wisdom of heart and mind and the faith that can move mountains that pile up before us. Love, and also love to Moneli and all your sisters,
Nadine Moonje Pleil, 5/93: Augusto's parents, Otto and Dora Pleil, were sent away from Primavera in 1960. Karl Keiderling, Bud Mercer and Christoph Boller were instrumental in sending them away. Otto and Dora were told to leave before the "Great Crisis" and exodus from Primavera occurred. Augusto and I with our three oldest children were living in Wheathill when we received a letter from Otto telling us that they had been kicked out with their youngest son, Arthur, who was in his teens. The reason given was that Arthur was not toeing the line and apparently had sold a guitar to a Paraguayan boy and kept the money.
Otto and Dora were called into the Servants' hut and told to pack. Within three hours they had to be ready to leave on the old English army truck that we had obtained through Wheathill. Their son Adolf had to drive them to Puerto Rosario where they were to take the river steamer to Asuncion. Their daughter Juanita wanted to help her parents pack and asked the housemothers if she could have a few coat hangers for them. She as told not to give her parents any coat hangers, nor to help then in any way. She was hardly allowed to say good-bye to them. We in England had no idea whatsoever of what had occurred.
Otto and Dora had been told to go to Bruderhof House in Asuncion, that they could stay there and people would help them find a place to live and a job. Now, mark my words, Otto was 70 years old at the time, well past retirement age, and Dora 57. In addition he had a heart condition that had not improved over the years. They arrived in front of Bruderhof House thoroughly soaked by a downpour. Otto knocked on the door. When someone answered it, he asked if they could come inside. They were not invited in! Otto and Dora had to stand in the rain and state their business. They were told that there was no room for them there and that they should find other lodgings. Unbelievable! Two elderly people and a sixteen-year- old boy abandoned on the street! They felt totally at a loss about where to go and what to do.
They walked in the street for a while and finally met a Paraguayan man who said they could spend the night in his house. They gratefully accepted. The next day they went to the Colonia Independencia where Max Meier lived, an acquaintance of the Primaverans. They knew that Max had a farm and asked him for work. Max was astonished, but gave them a job as caretakers, which meant that both Otto and Dora had to work very hard. Max was very upset about Otto and Dora appearing out of nowhere, so he went to Asuncion to talk to the Bruderhof people. He told them that they could not impose on him like that. The Bruderhof had nothing better to say than that the Pleils had not adhered to their rules and that he should feel free to work the old couple hard. Everything had been going well for them until Max talked to the Primaverans. When he returned, he told Otto and Dora that they were being punished by the Bruderhof and he was going to work them hard, which he did.
During this time, Dora began to suffer from some eye trouble. She needed eye surgery, but they could not afford the operation. One day before Primavera was completely evacuated and sold, Christoph Boller arrived, perhaps accompanied by one of the American brothers. Christoph realized that Dora needed an operation, but said nothing and also did not tell the American brothers nor the Primaverans. Later he admitted to us that he deliberately did this. The result was that Dora went blind. There was enough money to move people to England and the States, but nothing was available for saving Dora's eyesight.
All this we heard about very much later. We had no idea what our parents were suffering at the time. Arthur, their son, had to watch all this happening. He felt helpless because he had no money he could offer. Later, during the evacuation and sale of the South American communities, Otto and Dora were told to pack and get ready to move to Germany. They were to go to Hamburg. I don't know if the Bruderhof paid for their trip or if they had to. In any case, Arno Martin and Augusto were sent from Bulstrode to Hamburg to meet them and find them a place to live. They were put in temporary lodgings and later were told off because Georg Barth, who visited them in Hamburg, said that the place was not suitable. There had been nothing else available at the time!
Otto found a job and they remained in Hamburg for a while before moving to a village called Feuerthal. Dora was unaccustomed to such drizzly, cold weather and felt very unhappy. Since one of their sons lived in Colombia, they decided to return to South America. They very hesitantly asked the Bruderhof in the U.S. to contribute towards the fare, and the Evergreen community sent them $500. We were living in the States by then. Karl Keiderling came to Wheathill with the American brothers and tried to defend himself as to why he had sent the Pleil parents away. All his excuses did not convince us. We were absolutely staggered by how they had been treated at their advanced ages! Again I must ask, was this all done 'out of love,' simply out of love? Nobody will ever convince me that what was done not only to the Pleil parents but to so many hundreds of others was done out of love. How on earth can the Bruderhof mouth the word 'love' and do such terrible things? We were totally devastated by what happened, and yet we felt helpless. We could do nothing whatsoever to help our poor parents!
Our father Otto died in Colombia of cancer in 1969, when our son Raymond was a year old. Later our mother Dora died in 1990 in Florida. She lived with her son Carlos, with her married daughter Else nearby. When we wrote to tell the Bruderhof that our dear mother had passed away, only one person wrote to us and showed some feeling and said what Dora had meant to them. It made me feel very sad. Did Dora's dedication and years of sacrifice mean so little to them? Was all that she gave of herself of no consequence? My heart felt very heavy and burdened by the thought of how the Pleils were despised. Not even after their deaths could the commune react and perhaps show a little sign of love to Dora's children. It was very sad, to say the least. I keep asking myself over and over, "Did Otto and Dora mean so little to the commune?"
I close by saying that I, as their daughter-in-law, was taken into the bosom of their family, loved and treated with respect. To this day I am thankful for how they accepted me. I will never forget how Augusto's parents reached out to me.
Dear KITfolk: We are long overdue for another of KIT's Biannual Reports (the last one was in 1992!). Amazingly, we are now in our sixth year of monthly newsletters, this one being our forty- eighth issue. So much has happened, especially in the way of personal healing, of reconnections between family members and old friends, of various kinds of networks and emotional, financial, geographical support groups, that it is hard to encompass it all except to say, in one word, WOW! Obviously KIT was a project whose time had come.
On the minus side of the equation, the Bruderhof leaders remain terrified of KIT, and have thoroughly demonized us. Christoph Arnold probably is the only one who reads KIT and then passes on to the membership whatever items paint us in the worst possible light. His original promise that reading or writing to KIT would not jeopardize visiting privileges long since has been shown up as a hypocritical lie, with more and more pressure put on the children of Bruderhof members to choose between their KIT loyalties and their family visits (with the families always insisting that "This is not coming from Christoph.") The denial of visiting rights has become more widespread in the last few months, as if the more unstable Christoph's leadership becomes, the more he needs to scapegoat KIT. Perhaps it is time to list by name those individuals whose visiting privileges have been withdrawn and wish to make their plight public. Or plan again, this time in a non-April-Fool manner, on picketing Woodcrest's front gate with CBS television crews present.
One ray of light is that there are still a few KITfolk whose family contacts are continuing to the mutual benefit of both sides, despite pressures to the contrary. If only this could be true for everyone!
Also the constant dunning of 'collegers' whom Christoph feels owe the Bruderhof their college tuition remains another outrageous demand. Threats include, once again, the withdrawal of visiting privileges until the loans have been paid as well as the B'hof's threat to go to court to force the young person to pay up. In the view of KIT staff, since parents must hand over all their private property to the Bruderhof, the Bruderhof then stands "in loco parentis" in terms of the children's medical and educational needs. Since it is standard practice for American families to assume the financial responsibility for their children's higher education, it then follows that the Bruderhof must do the same. This consistent poor-mouthing by an organization that extracted over a million dollars from Pittsburgh foundations in 1993 and whose Elder pays as much attention to his stock portfolio as to the spiritual needs of his followers, seems extremely hypocritical -- dare we say, 'unchristian' in the extreme? 'Unchristian' somehow seems a poor choice of words, since it leaves out all other ethical codes. Unmoorish? Unhindu? Perhaps we should just say "Unloving, uncompassionate, selfish and cruel."
The leadership's focus on money-grubbing spotlights their incredible 'snatch for the cash' whenever possible. This attitude, by the way, tends to prevail in any group that espouses the "Them and Us" scenario. "Out in the world" everything is seen as tainted by Mammon, the devil, etc., so it becomes fair game to grab, swipe, steal, 'vultch,' 'borrow', shoplift for the Church since this then 'launders' and purifies the ill-gotten gains for the greater glory of God. This sort of behavior would be contemptible in any family or individual 'outside.' How much more so in a group that sets itself up as the City on the Hill, to be a Light unto the World.
The B'hof cannot continue for long as it now exists, with all the power concentrated in the hands of one man who has gone back on his word, controls what people think, controls all the finances, all incoming information and correspondence, owns guns despite his so- called Christian pacifism. Most of all, he lies about what other people believe and say, such as Ramon whom he alleges is "out to destroy the Bruderhof as long as we follow Christ."
B'hof members have no way to deal with this because if they speak up to point out some of the obvious wrongs, they are slammed. Following the tradition that Heini instigated, J.C. has exerted total control over his sisters and their husbands (the 'Royal Family'). A shake-up if not an explosion is guaranteed because of the direction the system has taken. Free speech and information eventually will destroy all institutions that do not conform to the ideals of individual freedom, which after all was what the Anabaptist movement was all about when it first began. It hardly can be said that KIT is out to destroy the B'hof if all we are trying to do is uphold the ideals of its Anabaptist origins -- freedom of information and informed adult choice.
Summing up, we continue to look for ways to break the communications gridlock. Some people believe that Conflict Resolution and/or legal approaches hold promise. Others think that, for now, just increasing the amount of public information about the B'hof available via KIT and Peregrine is the best way. As time goes on no one who wishes to understand the phenomenon of the Bruderhof will be able to ignore this body of testimony.
From The Hartford Courant, 1/8/94: Professor Explores Melancholy Among Centuries of Protestants,
by Gerald Renner, Courant Religion Writer
The government is not about to issue the warning label "Danger: Religion can be hazardous to your health." Yet, that could be the case in some instances, says a sociologist who has studied a little-known phenomenon known as "religious melancholy." Professor Julius H. Rubin of St, Joseph College in West Hartford concluded, after five years of research, that the affliction gripped some of the most fervent evangelical believers from pre-Prozac Colonial Puritans to modern-day followers of the Rev. Billy Graham. At its worst, he found cases of people so obsessed with their sinfulness and feeling of unworthiness they fasted themselves to death, a phenomenon fancily labeled "evangelical anorexia nervosa." Suicide took others who plunge into despair after feeling forsaken by God.
Rubin's research is published in a scholarly new book, " Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America" (New York: Oxford University Press, 308 pages, $35)... But why the focus on Protestants in America? Isn't the "dark night of the soul"... common to all religious traditions in which pietistic people seek spiritual perfection? Rubin says that the answer is to be found in the Protestant Reformation, which emphasized "the priesthood of the laity" and placed the burden of striving for sainthood on everyone, not just monks and nuns shut away in monasteries. That spread the affliction around and for the first time made it a mass phenomenon, he said. Religious melancholy thus has not been a widespread phenomenon in the Hierarchical Roman Catholic or Anglican churches, instead manifesting itself primarily among conservative Protestants, Rubin said...
Rubin's research found a continuous debate in the 20th century about the origins of this melancholy. Some psychologists argue that guilt induced by religion leads to the depression, a position Rubin said he tends to accept. Others, however, contend that people suffering from an underlying depressive illness express it in religious terms.
"I tend to believe that religious melancholia is culture-bound," Rubin said, the striving for union with God leads some people to "feelings of guilt, sin, and worthlessness, alienation from God" and, in the end, long-term clinical depression... Rubin is now working on a book about the Bruderhof communities in America, a pietistic group founded in Germany in the 1920s that lives communally. Norfolk in Litchfield County is home to one such community, but Rubin says he has not yet had much cooperation.
That is not surprising, considering the working title of his book, The Other Side of Joy, in which he chronicles the downside of being heaven-bent."
KIT: You may order Julius Rubin's book on a credit card by telephoning: 1 800 451 7556.
And CONGRATULATIONS, Julius!!!
ITEM excerpted from the December, 1993, issue of the Cult Awareness Network News: Panel Says Cults By Their Nature Violate Human Rights
Violations of basic human rights by coercive groups happen throughout much of the world, as Mike Kropveld reminded during a panel discussion of human rights during last month's C.A.N. national conference. Kropveld, executive director of InfoCult, a Montreal, Canada-based research group, was one of three panel members. Attorney Leonard Kesten of Morrison, Mahoney and Miller of Boston, who represents C.A.N. in four lawsuits brought by Scientologists, and Linda Valerian of The Center for Victims of Torture, near Minneapolis, Minn., joined him in the discussion. Kropfeld set the stage for the discussion by quoting sections of a 1948 United Nations' human rights resolution.
Article 12 states: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor or reputation.
Article 19 states: "Everyone has a right to freedom of opinion and expression. The right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information..."
Article 20 states: "Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and association."
As human rights are outlined by the United Nations, then, coercive groups by their nature violate human rights. Kropveld then cited several examples of Canadian groups that have engaged in human rights violations. One was in the Ant Hill Kids, which was led by a man named Roch Theriault who was jailed after a group member stumbled out of his camp minus one arm. Theriault had hacked it off... Canadian authorities had been aware of Theriault's activities, including child abuse, for 15 years, yet did little to stop him. News organizations also protected the group early on, arguing that Theriault and his followers were merely exercising personal beliefs and should be left alone, Kropveld said.
"Why are governments so slow to react?" he asked. "Why are other organizations whose mandates touch human rights so slow to get involved?"
One reason, he said, is fear of being considered persecutors of new religions or beliefs. That fear is coupled with a belief by many people that religion is inherently good. If those people admit that there are exploiters in religion as there are in government, business and other fields, this raises unpleasant questions in their minds, question they would rather not deal with, Kropfeld said.
Another problem in getting action is that many coercive groups are wealthy and firmly committed to pushing their agenda. This results in disinformation and intimidation.
Kesten, whose parents are survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Poland, said he considers the Nazis to have been "the ultimate cult. They affected me and my whole family." Following on Kropfeld's theme of disinformation and intimidation by powerful cults, Kesten reminded listeners that the Nazis legitimately gained power in Germany, using the Weimar Republic's democratic procedures to do so. "But," Kesten said, "once they seized power, that was the end of information and dissent."... Kesten stressed that it is important to used the court system to make society accountable for the violations of human rights and other abuses cults perpetrate on their victims. Justice, he stressed, can be obtained if we are willing to be patient and work with the legal framework to achieve it.
[A subscription to the C.A.N. Newsletter is $30 (former cult members: $15 plus fill out a questionnaire) Mail to C.A.N. 2421 West Pratt Blvd., #1173, Chicago, IL 60645]
Wendy Alexander Dorsey, 1/20/94: Dear KIT Folk, I am writing with some trepidation, but with a sense of urgency greater than I've ever felt before. The trepidation has to do with my conviction that my only real hope of "getting through" to the Bruderhof is to keep the door of relationship with my family open -- and to the fact that this door has already been closed in the past due to my unwillingness to completely disassociate with KIT. However, my trepidation over this issue is overcome (at this moment, anyhow) by a greater sense of fear and danger about what is currently happening in the Bruderhof. The signs are that the oppressive measures are increasing: that secrecy, denial and forced exclusions are the main weapons being used; that dictatorial powers are being exercised by the authorities more brashly than ever; and that the "masses" in the Bruderhof are passively allowing these things to happen. I am basing my observations on conversations with recently (within the last few months) excluded members.
Let me back-track for a minute. Yesterday, my husband chided me for having only a dollar left in my purse and inadvertently leaving my keys at home -- and this on a day when roads were icy and the wind-chill factor was making it feel like 30 degrees below zero (record-breaking for D.C.!) "That could be dangerous," he commented.
My immediate response was, "Nothing physical seems that threatening to me. What really seems dangerous to me is mental oppression and emotional abuse." (I work with emotionally and physically abused women and their children.) David responded by saying that he had enough confidence in himself, his faith, and who he is as a person not to be threatened by that.
This morning I thought about the tribulations I've been through since leaving the Bruderhof:
-- when I got my first job outside the community (and was depressed), living with a family in which the husband was alcoholic and abusive;
-- upon coming to D.C., innocently spending a few hours in broad daylight in a beautiful, isolated spot in Rock Creek Park -- and almost getting raped; I escaped because I instinctively grew angry when I realized I was being threatened and took off downhill on my bike (thank God for anger that hadn't been totally repressed!)
-- purse stolen off my person twice
-- married cross-racially
-- death of a spouse
-- raised a teenager with plenty of problems
-- adopted cross-racially
-- repeatedly, over the past 25 years, cut off from my family for various "infractions" (of their rules).
NONE of those calamities or unusual circumstances can hold a candle to the danger I see now in what is happening in the Bruderhof. I realize that for many of you, what is going on now is simply a repeat of earlier history, particularly during the early 60's. Perhaps it isn't worse, but two things are different now:
A: I wasn't (and I suspect many of us weren't) aware of the extent of the abuses then. Even in the 70's I had no idea there were so many out there with similar experiences to mine.
B: We didn't have KIT then.
Let me say something about KIT. The purpose of KIT initially was to be a network of communication among former Bruderhoefers (arising from a very personal need of Ramon's to find out more about his daughter after her death). In addition, an evolving purpose seems to be to provide a support system for Bruderhof graduates to give expression to their experiences and find a measure of healing.
I see that KIT can serve a third purpose: to provide a forum for educating ourselves, becoming aware of reality and truth as we see it, and speaking out against abuses and for the truth.
Assuredly and definitely preferable, the perspectives on the truth will vary from person to person, as it should if we are human. We should enjoy the differences, not decry them. But, unlike the days when each of us left the Bruderhof thinking we were alone in the big bad world, now we have the opportunity to test our perspectives, beliefs, experiences and feelings against a whole network of folks who know what we're talking about. We don't have to remain silent about what we're fearing or suspecting. We can test our truth against the truths of others. KIT provides this valuable forum, and I want to use it this way -- in a word to use KIT's prophetic potential to test out my views and get your responses.
Frankly, I believe KIT can be a place to challenge the Bruderhof to change for the better. I feel this is a critical time of danger and opportunity for the Bruderhof -- and for us that calls for a clear response. In a sense, because we now know more, we have a much greater responsibility to speak out. We have a clear mandate to be prophets to one another -- and to the Bruderhof. This may seem incredibly audacious, but perhaps KIT is to be the Bruderhof's salvation????
The calamity that is happening in the Bruderhof is the increase in oppressive atmosphere which results in the gross abuse of power in the leadership and loss of identity, self-hood AND CONSCIENCE in the majority of people. THIS IS TRULY FRIGHTENING. This is Hitler Germany all over again. When intelligent adult human beings can be so fearful as to be completely blind to the abuses and wrongs that are being perpetrated ON THEIR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST, then something is fearfully awry.
Just as "innocent" Germans may have smelled burning flesh or seen the trains going to the death camps and deliberately repressed the evidence of their own senses, so, I believe "innocent" Bruderhof members are deliberately ignoring the evidence of dictatorial powers and abuses they must be seeing and hearing about (including the evidence contained in KIT, which gets through to them whether it is officially banned or not, as we well know). Granted, there's a tremendously effective system of secrecy and misinformation about what is going on at the top levels which helps to maintain the status quo, along with the very real threat of being excluded and banished if you raise your voice. Nonetheless, the evidence is clear, and it is being systematically ignored. Small voices of conscience are being raised and immediately they are squelched. This is a crime against humanity.
My parents were Quaker before they joined the Bruderhof, as were several other families. Quakers believe strongly in the voice of conscience within each person's heart, just as they believe in the innate equality of all human beings, and therefore practice shared leadership. Since each person carries a bit of God within them, they believe that it is terribly important for each one to listen carefully to that voice of God within -- and that it is equally terribly important to listen to every other person who carries that voice of God within.
From what I am hearing currently, the Bruderhof is stomping unmercifully on these small voices of conscience, especially when they are questioning the abuses of power and of the system. In other words, you're fine when you confess your individual sin, but to question a person in authority, or to speak to a "group sin" or a pattern of evil within the Bruderhof, is questioning the whole system and that inevitably leads to permanent expulsion. (Please forgive me for not giving specific names and examples, as this would most likely jeopardize the persons involved. I am forced to be vague here for the safety of others.)
They can stomp on these individual voices because they believe that only certain top leaders have the TRUTH. The abuses go unchecked because, with this mentality, the "common man" is absolved of any guilt, since obedience to the elders is the paramount virtue -- not whether an action is inherently hateful, cruel or inhuman. With this letter, I am speaking not to Christoph or any of the other visible leadership in the community. I want to speak to those of you who have sneaked a look at KIT furtively, vaguely sensing something is wrong. I am speaking to any of you "common folks" who have a conscience left. If you sense something is wrong in your community, I urge you to find out the truth, to ask questions, to not be satisfied with the standard answers. I ask you in the name of God to stick up for your convictions and your inner sense of right and wrong which is God-given from the beginning. Do not abdicate your right as a human being to question, to seek the truth, and to challenge evil where you see it.
Those who obeyed Hitler had to answer for their actions in a human court. How much more will God require you to answer for your actions, (or lack of action) when we all are called to account for the evil and good we have done? You cannot abdicate your responsibilities for moral, legal and ethical behavior to the leaders of your communities. Find out the truth and act on it, I beg you! YOU have given your leaders the power they now abuse. Only YOU can take it back and restore the communities to the basis upon which they were begun - true fellowship among humble followers of Christ.
As a seeker of truth, justice, freedom and love, I challenge each of us, inside and outside the Bruderhof, to examine our consciences and speak out in the name of truth and love, justice and mercy wherever we see abuses whether mental, emotional, psychological or physical. Each of us is responsible for evil that is before us. God can't do it alone. I look forward to hearing from you folks, KIT and Bruderhof alike. Sincerely,
1/6/94: Hilarion Braun - An Open Letter to All on the Bruderhoefe:
Thank you for your holiday greetings, which arrived at the same time as the news via a letter by Christoph Arnold of the exclusion of several families.
The reason I'm writing is to make an attempt to stop you from repeating the cruelties you committed earlier on which you all regretted as you all defended Heini and took upon yourselves the wrongs that were committed in his name. Art Wiser et al. begged my parents, for example, to forgive him for his cruelty in expelling them in 1961. He took back all his accusations and described his barbaric behaviour quite realistically. The fact that you now expell large families causing their children great harm in the name of Christian love shows that you are again tolerating a power game and a religious hysteria reminiscent of 1961! What adults do to each other is a matter of choice. However, what you do to your children when you expel them and interrupt their education and emotional development is not a matter of choice for them. They become the victims of your cruelty far more than the brothers and sisters you wish to punish.
Whatever the moods or religious convictions you have at the moment, you cannot possibly believe that by tormenting families, ruining the education of children and terrorizing them you are showing love. Don't hide behind words that do not describe the suffering you cause, and do not claim ignorance; for you chose not to read KIT and you continue to refuse free visitation of those you expelled years ago. The obscene messages received by some of us in KIT, which we have traced to you, sadden us and are the fruit of what you have created!
This is not Paraguay, and the courts of the land may have to help resolve the gross injustice you are committing against those you expel and terrorize. However the courts will never heal the wounds or bring happiness to us all. I beg you, listen to YOUR OWN hearts and not to religious bigotry, and stop the madness from causing even greater pain and injustice. Christoph Arnold is no wiser than any of you, nor should he have power or authority beyond that of any of you. Love should be your hope and basis -- nothing else, as you older ones have always told us.
May you speak openly, listen and think carefully. That which the world you decry sees of you is frightening and sordid, and not at all an outreach in love and respect for your brothers and sisters -- least of all for the children who cannot make up the loss they suffer. Sincerely,
P.S. If you give us the addresses of those you have expelled, we can attempt to help and comfort them.
Balz & Monika Trumpi-Arnold, to Johann Christoph Arnold, 2/14/94: Dear Johann Christoph We are sending to you a copy of a document which is a public record available to anybody who wants to see it. On December 14, 1990, you signed a "State of New York Pistol License Application" as a Minister of the Hutterian Brethern Church. You applied to carry the firearm concealed and stated that a license is required for the following reason "For self-protection and protection of community members." All four character references were given by people who do not belong to the Bruderhof nor do they live on the Bruderhof. You purchased a Ruger automatic 22- caliber weapon on May 2, 1991 which you can conceal on your body, in your car or wherever you want it. At another date, you purchased an even deadlier Ruger 44-caliber revolver.
Nobody other than yourself knows how many times you carried those concealed weapons with you. Though it is legal because you have the permit, you violated one of the fundamental principals of the Bruderhof and the Hutterian Brethern Church. The Bruderhof and the Hutterian Brethern always refused to carry arms to defend oneself. They refused to do military service because they did not want to harm another human being.
Eberhard and Emmi Arnold, your grandparents and founders of the Bruderhof and all the other members of the Bruderhof including your parents, have risked their lives during the Nazi time and during World War II, to remain true to this conviction. The Hutterian Brethern in their 400-year-long history, rather suffered death than to defend themselves with deadly weapons. You as an Elder have violated a cornerstone of the Bruderhof life and of the Hutterian Brethern and, therefore, you should hand in your resignation. You are holding a very powerful position. Power corrupts and religious power corrupts especially deep. Are you going to shove these documents under the rug or are you going to present them to the Bruderschaft on all the Bruderhoefe? We will send these documents to all the servants of the word.
Christoph, it is high time that you lay down your service before you do much more damage. We are greeting you with grave concern for you, your family and the Bruderhoefe.
2/14/94: Copy of a letter sent individually To All The Servants of The Word on All The Bruderhoefe by Balz & Monika Trumpi-Arnold:
Greetings to each one of you! As you hold presently the power structure of the Bruderhoefe in your hands, we are sending to all of you three documents:
l. A copy of the "State of New York Pistol License Application" by Johann Christoph Arnold
2. A copy of the "State of New York Pistol License Amendment acquired weapon Ruger, Automatic 22 Caliber
3. A copy of the "Investigation Report" with the second weapon registered Ruger, Revolver, Caliber .44.
We are also including a copy of our letter to Johann Christoph Arnold. Please take notice that this application from Johann Christoph Arnold, as a Minister of the Hutterian Brethern Church, is a license to carry a firearm concealed. The reason given to get this license is "For self-protection and protection of community members." All character references are from people who are not members of the Bruderhof. We do not know whether you have or had knowledge of this application and purchase of revolvers and the intent to carry the weapons concealed.
How will your young people be able to claim exemption from military service should that become an issue again sometime in the future when the Elder of the Hutterian Brethern Church carries or can carry concealed firearms for self-protection and the protection of community members? The Ruger caliber .44 is one of the deadliest revolvers. Your peace witness is in serious jeopardy.
Will you have the courage to take this matter up in all the Brotherhoods and call a spade a spade, or will you rationalize it and belittle it to nothing?! It might also be the time to consider whether your Elder and your servants of the word have much too much power, and to give the power back to the whole brotherhood circle. From what we can observe, you have become more and more a society ruled by a hierarchy and the individual has to suppress his own conscience to such a degree that it cannot function anymore properly. Whoever questions the leadership stands against the Holy Spirit and will be punished and expelled. Your leaders do not get the necessary corrections from the circle because people do not dare to speak out their true feelings because of fear of punishment.
Do you dare to speak openly amongst yourselves about the real questions you have about each other and about the actions of your Elder?
In August and September, 1993, thirty brothers and sisters were put in the great exclusion and at least fifteen in the small exclusion. Power seeking was given as one of the reasons. Did that power seeking involve criticism of the Elder? You are on the road to become a cult and have already some marks of a cult. You can turn the ship into better waters but only if you give up some of your power and allow and encourage the members to criticize you openly without their having to fear exclusion and expulsion of a large family into great misery.
We greet you with grave concern for the future of the Bruderhoefe.
Ebo Trumpi, 2/17/94: On February 16th, I phoned Don Alexander at Pleasant View Bruderhof concerning the purchase of two handguns by Johann Christoph Arnold under his name, and his license to carry a concealed weapon. Both of these are registered in the Ulster County Clerk's office. "What on earth is going on?" I asked. "I talked to Art Wiser about this matter, and I couldn't get it straightened out! It shouldn't be like that! I have a copy of the license right in front of me, and it says 'to carry firearm concealed.' That box is marked. Then it goes on to say for a reason, 'for self protection and protection of community members.'"
I was told that Christoph asked for the permit 'to get rid of rabid animals that they had on their property.' So I asked why he didn't check the other box, for 'possessing firearms on premises?'
"He probably marked the 'concealed weapon' box because he didn't want to be waving guns around when he was going into the woods."
"In that case, then the 'possess firearms on premises' should have been marked."
The whole thing, from the point of view of someone who grew up on the B'hof (although not having been on the B'hof now for 27 years), sounded like a con job! Because all the references, the license and two handgun registrations are current! For heavens sakes, if Christoph was going to use the handguns on the premises, why didn't he check the other box?
"We are peace-loving people, we don't want to harm anyone," Don Alexander insisted. "Both Christoph and Danny Moody [who also applied for a permit - ed] wouldn't want to harm anyone. The handguns were solely purchased for the purpose I mentioned."
"Do you know the word zeitgiest?" I asked. "It means 'spirit of the times.' The whole country is arming itself left and right! Ministers, teachers, doctors, children are arming themselves. I just don't understand why these boxes were checked the way they were."
It might have been sheer Bruderhof ignorance on the part of Christoph Arnold and Danny Moody, because coming from a Bruderhof background myself and never having lived in the outside world, I would not know that these forms would remain on file for a lifetime in a county building where the public had access to them. As for the 'rabid animal' reason, it could be conceivable but it is a bit of a stretch. I am told you hunt rabid animals with a shotgun.
I phoned the sheriff's department again and they reported to me that when you dispose of a weapon, an amendment form has to be filed with a judge of a court of law. Christoph has not done that. If such an amendment form is not filed, the license to carry a concealed weapon is still in force. The sheriff's office has no record of such a transaction nor a working copy. According to New York State law, if no disposal forms have been filed, it is a misdemeanor and up to the individual judge to evaluate the case.
Don Alexander thanked me for calling, "I wish more people would phone in and try to straighten matters out," he said.
Where it stands now after reading my father's letter [see Balz Trumpi's letter - ed] I maintain that I will have to hold true to my original reaction on this matter. It is utterly wrong and disgusting that Christoph and Danny took that route. It is a disgrace and a dishonor to the entire witness for peace, the Bruderhof and the Anabaptist movement to which the Hutterian Brethren have adhered for centuries. Many Anabaptists were martyred and jailed for the sake of their faith, remaining loyal to Jesus Christ's own teaching not to bear arms. They did not compromise on that one!
Miriam Arnold Holmes to Christoph Arnold 2/6/94: Dear Cousin Christoph. I write to you today in deep humility, sincerely hoping that you will listen with an open mind and heart. I am increasingly concerned and alarmed by what I hear goes on in the Bruderhof. Your complete control over so many people is truly frightening. It appears that the power bestowed on you by your father, with the support of Jakob Kleinsasser, has corrupted you to such a degree that you no longer know right from wrong.
The blackmailing of people from the Bruderhof who now live outside has to stop! I refer to the fact that these people are being told by their families that if they read KIT they lose their right to visit their families. You must know deep in your heart that this is evil.
I urge you in the name of our grandfather, who envisioned a group living in love, without fear of those in positions of responsibility, a group whose members can speak freely, who can question those in charge without fear of being excluded or sent away, that you resign your position as Elder, work in the shop, and let the Brotherhood decide what sort of leadership they want, if any. I realize that this step would take a great deal of courage on your part. It would, however, free you from the fear that you are burdened by today.
You might well be asking yourself, "Why doesn't she mind her own business and leave us alone?" And I tell you, my conscience does not allow me to do so. I care too much about all of you to sit idly by while you self-destruct.
If you would like to discuss this letter, please feel free to contact me. Very sincerely, your cousin
Dick Domer, Woodcrest Bruderhof, 2/14/94: Dear Miriam Edith, Lois Ann and I are glad you sent a copy of your letter to us, not because of your motive but so that we could see what kind of letters our Christoph is harassed with. You say that if we would like to discuss your letter to feel free to contact you so we want to tell you what we feel.
Dear Miriam Edith, I don't know how much of the life of the Bruderhof you experienced in your time but you asked on your own for the novitiate and asked to be part of a baptism group and was baptized upon your request. You must know that neither Heini Vetter nor Jake Kleinsasser Vetter but the brotherhood has asked Christoph to carry the responsibility he has. He would gladly lay it down but if he did, the brotherhood would ask him to take it up again. The task takes more of his time and effort than is the case with any of the rest of us, but it does not keep him from working in the shop and washing the community's dishes almost every evening.
As for asking relatives who support KIT not to visit, I don't know where you get the idea that I, for instance, as the father of two children who live outside do not have the freedom to ask them not to visit the community if, at the same time, they are trying to tear down the community. I am grateful they stand with the community and want nothing to do with KIT, but if that were not so, I would not hesitate to tell them they have to make a choice. If you call that blackmailing I can only assume you don't know what blackmailing means.
Dear Miriam Edith, if you really care about all of us then please break with this KIT pattern of each one believing the lies the others tell. If there ever was a cult, it is KIT. And don't be under any illusion that KIT is not trying to destroy the Bruderhof. Sincerely, /dl>
Primavera Revelations, According To The Gospels Of Mike Caine, 2/15/94: And It Came To Pass That A Horse Fell Into A Toilet, Caused by the Inexorable Force of Gravity. So the Lord Vetter spoke onto Bock Vetter "Go Ye Forth Into The Dungpit And Tie A Cabresto Round This Horse. For You Have Drawn The Shortest Of Six Straws And This Horse Needs Pulling Out! HONOS HABET ONUS!"
And so Bock Vetter decended down this hole, not wanting to pollute his person. Halfway down he stood on a precarius step, as Jacob's Ladder was not available, only God Vetter knows why. Also present was doubting Tomas Vetter (although there are no such doubting people, just people with varying degrees of belief). Doubting Thomas today is in Berlin, a staunch Believer in Flower Power. That is why Berlin today looks so beautiful, so many different flowers -- it has to be seen to be believed! Tomas Vetter had Bock Vetter fastened to another cabresto, to which he was supposed to hold on tight, so that Bock could descend, but Tomas Vetter, being the doubting one, gave it a bit of slack. Bock Vetter involuntarily doubled up, and out of his shirt pocket fell two Alfonso Treise cigarettes. Well, Bock Vetter only got two packets of Alfonso Treise cigarettes a week, so IF he wanted more, he would have to do some quite creative crawling. If he was very lucky, he might even get a Reina Victoria packet. They were up-market, and had twenty cigarettes inside, intead of sixteen, so two cigarettes were quite important. You can't just have them falling in the s __. So Bock Vetter contemplated, then decided to salvage those two cigarettes. As he bent lower to do the salvaging, four more cigarettes fell into the muck. That was most depressing for Bock Vetter.
A most definite reason for having a Bruderschaft for just Bock Vetter and the horse. Does smoking s__ damage your health? The horse would rather have eaten those cigarettes, as it was quite skinny. It was one of those creatures that was given or taken as part-payment for hospital debts, although this horse needed a hospital itself. But in the hospital there were no beds for horses, or like Bette Basel's pet pig "Nukki" that skinny old sow, a real symbol of third world poverty. Every year Nukki gave forth two or three litters, never enough food to produce milk for the piglets, and them all day pulling at those drawn-out teats, and then this sow rooting around all day in an open sewer, and Bette Basel not allowed to take Nukki home with her. The only girls allowed to take pigs home with them were those married to policemen.
If any KIT reader has ever seen the sculpture by Lorenzo Bernini called Monte Doro set in rock, the steed emerging out of rock, well, here we had the same situation. The only difference being this steed was emerging out of the shit. Luckily it went down with its rear end first, so it was upright, standing on its hind legs, at the bottom of the pit. Had it been the other way, even Jesus Vetter would not have managed to heal it! But eventually it got pulled out! It lay flat on its side, dead to the world for all we knew, when all of a sudden the Angel Basel of the Lord Vetter apeared in Bock Vetter's daydream, and said onto him Name Ye This Horse 'Kloziege!' So now this horse had a name! With a lot of loving care, and the right kind of Geist, Luppie Vetter got Jesus Vetter to heal this very sick animal, but then Luppie Vetter always had a very special rapport with Lord Vetter. There are so many Geists, sometimes it can be dificult to know just which one is needed. The PolterGeist, the ZeitGeist, the RichtigeGeist, the BoserGeist, the HeiligeGeist, the TrennungsGeist, according to Erwin Rommel, in Queen's English means 'legging it.'
And then there is this very special Geist The UnfugsGeist, according to Fritz Pfeifer, at the time when some disruptive element at school, put a banger under the leg of his chair, and he was uplifted with a big bang plus a huge cloud of blue smoke just after he attempted to sit on his chair. Here in the United Kindom, with a civil war on its hands, I had to attend court one day, and as tradition has it, one has to try and outdo the other with verbal bovine residue. So when it was my turn, and I comenced to talk about the UnfugsGeist, the Judge was so impressed that he immediately dismissed the case! So it would be very wrong to dismiss all this wisdom from Fritz Pfeifer, Vom Denken Werden Huhner Krank, so the word "thinking" had to be used with a lot of reverence! Thinking is what gives our lives the deserving quality. In my life, I have leaned a helluvalot from Fritz Pfeifer and Fritz Freiburghaus, both of them were really good teachers, and that is only two of the many many good people who originally joined the Bruderhof. Well, getting back to the Kloziege, with all that loving care from Luppie Vetter, the RichtigeGeist, the right kind of innerliche Fuhrung, soon enjoyed good health and turned out to be a really good horse!
Against The Grain
Wendell Hinkey's march to a different drummer
by Ani Weinstein dt>(reprinted courtesy of Ulster Publishing)
Wendell Hinkey, an eccentric 77-year-old Renaissance man from Rhinebeck, knows the price and the payback for living life against the grain. After completing the work for his Ph.D. in botany at Cornell University in just two years, Hinkey's professors told him he'd have to bide his time another year in Ithaca before his degree could take effect. No one had done their thesis that fast, they thought. And in the 1940s, rules were rules.
"But I was always a bit of an iconoclast," Hinkey recalls. He had already refused an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa, the elite intellectual honor society. And then he refused to wait around for his Ph.D. to come through because he "had already done the work and had the experience." The rest was just a formality. But Hinkey went from a degree-less departure head-on into World War II. A devout Quaker, Hinkey was an even more strident conscientious objector, and he refused to play any part in what most Americans deem "the good war," not even the government-run alternative services, which provided indirect aid to the war effort For this bit of iconoclasm, Hinkey was the first American man to be sentenced to two-and-a- half years in prison for avoiding the draft. Hinkey began serving his time at the Danbury, Connecticut, jail when he was 25 years old. He was a newlywed, but his wife -- Pepper Hinkey -- held similarly strong beliefs. Hinkey did his time without complaint. "When you do something deliberately, you feel it's right," Hinkey explains, with the customary brevity he uses when it comes to emotional matters. Such unwavering decisions riddle Hinkey's life, but he makes the most of them. He even claims that he enjoyed his time in prison as "probably the most educational year I ever spent." Which is an exceptional compliment coming from a man who has spent his life teaching himself and others.
"I decided not to clean up," Hinkey says, ushering me into the warm dining room of the farmhouse he restored. There are a few things still scattered on the wooden table Hinkey made for himself -- a book called Woody Landscape Plants, two volumes of recently released New Shorter Oxford Dictionary, and a Carnegie Concert Hall CD -- but the room is by no means messy. Hinkey glances at what he considers disarray. "If you look at what I have on the table, you can begin to see who I am," he laughs. And he is right. Almost everything inside and outside Wendell Hinkey's house displays his fervor for creation and creativity and hints at his dynamic and unusual past.
Shortly after Hinkey's birth in 1916 in Poughkeepsie, the depression reached his family, forcing them to move to Ohio where his father could continue work as a high school teacher. As a boy in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, Hinkey liked to pretend he was a North Woods trapper. As practice, he measured all the trunks of the trees near his home. As early as the love of botany overtook him, Hinkey also heard the faint calling of the classroom. When he and the other children played, Hinkey was always the teacher. "I always knew more than the other kids," Hinkey says, unfettered with the weight of humility. After becoming valedictorian of his 1200-student high school graduating class, Hinkey went to Oberlin College, majoring in botany and minoring in Art and Geology. His love of botany spirited him to graduate school at Cornell, a campus of magnificent trees -- leafy canopies that can still make Hinkey rhapsodize.
After Cornell and after jail, Hinkey reunited with his wife and worked on a fruit and vegetable farm in southern New Jersey until the war was over. Later, he joined the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker relief organization, as a volunteer and aided communities by building schools and other necessary facilities. It was then that he and his wife decided to join a utopian Christian community, The Society of Brothers [the Hutterian Bruderhof] up in Rifton. Hinkey and his wife were attracted to the Hutterians because they seemed to live by the ideals of love, education and strong beliefs and provide a good atmosphere for raising children. Hinkey was also intrigued by the Bruderhof's job offer. They asked him to design wooden play equipment -- the then-fledgling Creative (sic) Playthings toy label that has now made the Hutterians famous. Always interested in design, drawing and architecture, Hinkey took the job. It was for this reason, Hinkey says, that he stayed at the community for eight years, even after he believed that below the superficial brotherly vision of harmony, a ruling clique obsessed with their own importance and ability to interpret the word of God, held a vice-like control over the community members. Hinkey and the community leaders crossed swords, and Hinkey was ostracized by the community and, consequently, his wife. Considered a "non- person" for breaking the vows of the Bruderhof, Hinkey says he was forced to part company with his wife and six children, whom he would not be allowed to see for the next 20 years.
So, at the age of 45, Hinkey began a new life, teaching high school biology in Wappingers Falls. "Teaching was what I really planned to do with my life, and I thought it was time I'd better do it," he says. There, he met his second wife -- Bonnie Hinkey -- a social studies teacher with two small children of her own. Together they traveled from Greece to Scandinavia in a VW bus that also served as their sleeping quarters. The trip was the first of many treks for Hinkey, who has since roamed the globe from the Andes Mountains of Chile to the Great Wall of China. Hinkey became a biology professor whose lessons did not end in the classroom at Dutchess Community College. During his free time each year, Hinkey chartered a sailboat in the Virgin Islands and taught his students Marine Biology while they learned to sail.
In order to preserve his travels, Hinkey constructed a darkroom and taught himself photography. To this day, he takes his large color prints of his travels and mounts them on the handmade calendars he gives to his friends each year. These calendars are spotted with bits of Hinkey's peculiar home style information such as 'check iceboat and sharpen runners" on December 19 and start paper white lilies" on January 14. But the photographs are generally international. The year 1991 starred the green, funnel-shaped valleys of New Guinea -- valleys so steep, Hinkey says, that before this century, each valley's inhabitants thought they were the only people on earth. And each valley in New Guinea had a separate language, he continues, which is why a great deal of the world's known languages come from New Guinea. Hinkey continues to travel. In the last five months, he went on treks to Sicily and Finland. Although the trips are always enlightening, there are times when Hinkey wants to stay put. "Every time I'm about to go on a trip, I think everything is so beautiful here, and the irises will be blooming any time now. Why do I want to leave Frost Road?" he says.
Indeed, Hinkey's enthusiasm for travel seems matched by his enthusiasm for life on the home front. Hinkey has a pronounced reverence for wood. An old barn on his property contains boards by the hundreds of neatly stacked and labeled wood -- exotic timber given to him by friends and strangers who had heard about his burgeoning collection. Each board has special meaning to him. Hinkey knows them by their distinctive grain. And he knows who gave them to him. "Some people collect baseball cards," he says. "I collect wood."
Hinkey built an incredible workbench in his shop. Each of its 25 drawers is made of a different type of American wood -- from the warm ruddiness of a cherry tree to the rippling signature of a cucumber magnolia -- and it shimmers. Hinkey's friends want to take a picture of the bench and send it into Woodworker Magazine, but he isn't making it easy for them. But these days, Hinkey is getting notice for another of his ventures in wood. He and a Rhinebeck neighbor, Lewis Krevolin, have joined forces fashioning old porch parts-- discarded gingerbread brackets, balusters and unusual window sashes -- into four-poster beds, tables and mirrors and what they call "deconstructionist antique art." The beds are thinly washed in white, and they are nothing short of stunning. They also are retailing under Krevolin's company label, Archatrive (an amalgam of the word architecture with contrive), for $4000 to $5000 in SoHo. The mirrors also have the strange beauty of artifacts, but they are a lot cheaper.
As the day winds to a close, Hinkey gives a requested tour of the property's outbuildings. Past his trusty iceboat, windsurfer and the antique Adirondack canoe he hopes someday to restore, we arrive at his most important invention -- the Hinkey Dip, a handlebar attached to a pulley on a wire. Hanging on this handle, a person can fly through the air, a quick mode of transportation from Hinkey's sauna to the pond below. And just as the Hinkey Dip provides a direct and humorous ride to the plunge, Hinkey himself, direct and humorous, plunges without doubt or restraint into the full living of his life.
---- From the Archives ----
Herbert Sorgius to Elias Vetter, 5/2/77: You asked about where I am living and how I am making a living, and whether I know David Hofer and Michael Waldner. When they visited in 1937 I was 25 years old, and I worked in the kitchen. Both brethren were for me like any other simple members of the Gemeinde. At the same time, they represented a challenge to complete dedication in loving service for Christ and his Church, a living example of what it means to be a Christian in daily life. And there was great consolation and hope that the power struggle between the sons and sons-in-law of Eberhard Arnold might come to an end. Unfortunately this did not happen. Therefore Heini Arnold came in 1961 with a couple of bodyguards to Paraguay and destroyed the Gemeinde there. Who did not acknowledge Heini as Pope was sent away, often in the most bitter inner and outer need. In the same way acted Georg and Jorg Barth with Hans-Herman Arnold and later Heini in Sinntal in Germany. I estimate that during that time, about 1000 persons were sent or they left on their own. At least three took their own lives in utter despair. And Heini and his clique pocketed about one million Deutschmark that the German government had paid to persons as reparations for the persecution suffered under the Nazis.
Because of that I have been silent all this time since Heini has been calling himself Bishop, and since you people (The Hutterian Church) received him without ever looking into this business. After 28 -1/2 years, my wife at 58 and I at 49 were dismissed with 50 Deutschmark, at that time equivalent to $12.50. And most of the things that my brothers and sisters and those of my wife had brought to us in Germany by car were kept by Ruth Martin and Co. Since I had worked for my father in his bookbinding business before joining the Community in the Rhon, my brother took me back as a worker. He helped me find housing and in many other respects. Now I am 65, my wife 74, and we receive a state pension, likewise social security -- luckily I had accumulated 15.5 years, the minimum being 15. And thus the State looks after us rather than the lebendige Gemein (Christian Community) which had promised mutual sharing and help. In Germany there is no longer any dictatorship, but within the group of those who want to follow Christ, there are persons who want to dominate and who allow themselves special privileges that others don't have. In the group (circle) many children had been abused (tortured) physically and psychologically, and among them Heini was the most feared person. I have forbidden the Heini people to enter my house unless they acknowledge their guilt and repent. Let them also think of practical ways in which they can make restitution for injustices done, as much as this is possible. Surely such injustice would not have been possible in the days of Michael Sattler or Jacob Hutter. Eberhard Arnold likewise had always striven that Christ, and not Man, should be in the center.
Dear Elias Vetter, because I had not wanted to write about (to give you) this shocking truth, I let you wait two years for an answer. You have fully accepted Heini without looking into this injustice and sin and "death of the heart." Actually, had I known beforehand, I would have asked your elders to check things out before receiving Heini. But it is neither in your nor in my power. The Lord judges rightly, and in His own time, and nobody can influence Him. Now receive our warmest greetings, Elias Vetter, you and your loved ones. May God be with you and the Gemein,
NOTE: The following items address the fact that Christoph Arnold still holds an uncanceled license to carry a handgun. However Art Wiser and other Bruderhof members have insisted that both handguns were returned to the gun store, a fact that the gun store owner corroborates.
Heidi Strickland, 3/8/94: It was so good to hear from Marty Ostrom. Welcome Marty -- You and I spent some time together in Oak Lake. That period of my life is a blur since our family was moving back and forth between Woodcrest and Oak Lake. I do remember you and your family. It is tragic to hear one more story of such severe psychological abuse inflicted on a child. With their sick minds, the adults became masters at projecting their sexual obsessions and fears onto innocent children.
I share the sense of trepidation that Wendy Alexander-Dorsey expressed in her letter to KIT, Feb. 1994. I fear for the lives of those we love that are still member of the Bruderhof. I know how brainwashed the members are -- and that with the B'hof's present paranoia about KIT, the potential for individual thinking and acting is non-existent. I have an ominous feeling that something terrible is going to happen. (I cannot erase images of Koresh and Jim Jones that persistently flash across my consciousness). I wonder who would or could intervene on our, and our loved ones', behalf? I believe that at this stage, B'hof members are powerless to put a halt to the insanity. Help has to come from outside -- and not from KIT folk. It is unrealistic to think that they could hear what their enemy (KIT) has to offer, even when the offer is from a place of caring and concern. Help has to come from an impartial person or group of people.
I keep thinking, 'Since when do we need guns to create safety in our lives?" I cannot fathom that the head servant is walking around with a concealed handgun. What has happened to some of the most important principals of the Bruderhof? This phenomenon is a reflection of how wrong things have become. Maybe KIT is the enemy now -- but could the Bruderhof's fear and paranoia turn inward? 3/10/94 I just received March KIT. I wonder what really makes Bruderhof people think that WE are out to destroy the Bruderhof. What an egocentric idea! They are so full of self importance. From my perspective, KIT is a vehicle for communication, connection and healing for those who left the B'hof. Personally I would prefer that they did not read KIT. By reading KIT, they have opportunities and the weapons to hurt many of us even more. Many people open their hearts in their writing to KIT: those stories ought not to be allowed to be scrutinized by anyone from the Bruderhof. Enough abuse is enough.
I am thrilled that KIT exists, and look forward to the August U.S. gathering. I hope many new people will have the courage to come. They will be pleasantly surprised by the genuine, warm, non- judgmental, enthusiastic, caring welcome they will receive. An experience unlike anything ever experienced on the Bruderhof!
Walter von Hollander to Johann Christoph Arnold, 12/28/93: Dear Christoph, I do not understand why I am writing this letter to you -- but I have to.
Let me make it very clear at the beginning that I am not an enemy to you all, nor hate you. This is a letter man to man, and if you cannot or will not answer my questions truthfully without excuses of any kind, you are a coward!
Let's start with Suzanne Zumpe. Among other things, she told us that you, Christoph, had a little talk with her, and you said to her "If she leaves, she will get raped, get pregnant, do drugs, get AIDS, die and go to hell".
Who gives you the right to speak to a 15-year-old girl like that? Give me one good reason why Suzanne would subject herself to all of that, and then you threaten her with going to hell. Since when do you decide who goes to hell or to heaven?
Why are the young people, who do decide to leave your people, being mentally harassed and condemned? Isn't it an individual's free choice, to join the Bruderhof or to leave, without degrading the individual? Has that gone lost, or been dismissed now that it is the Hutterian Society of Brothers?
Are you aware that there are many young people born and raised in the Society that left; some were asked to leave for whatever reason, and others left on their own, because they found no peace among you?
What is it, that the young people get so little respect and trust from you all? High school parents, Shalom parents etc. Everything is programmed for them, initiative and self-motivation is not in order. Why?
It never used to be like this. The young people are not able to sit with you to share what is on their hearts and minds because you do not hear them. You are in the right and they are the wrong-doers. (continued 2/26/94)
We got to know about 25 of the young men and women, and we found a very warm relationship with them. But we were also very troubled by what they did share with us. This does no longer reflect the life and spirit of the Rohn Bruderhof, or of Eberhard Arnold.
You, Christoph, and the Society of Brothers have long gone far astray from the deep inner struggle of a handful of people for a true Christian discipleship. A life of truth, of love, of joy, of meekness and sacrifice for others. The more I hear of brutal exclusions, of power struggles, of child-molesting of large numbers, the more saddened and disgusted I get.
And now Christoph, you bought a 22 and 44 caliber hand gun for your own protection. Give me one good reason why? With this, Christoph, you dismissed pacifism, the early Christians, Christ and the early Bruderhof. All of these people were willing to be killed rather than to carry arms.
You, Christoph, have betrayed all of this. After this, Christoph, your words are hollow and have lost their meaning, you have nothing more to say.
And you figure yourself as the "Almighty Elder?" Shame on you.
You, Christoph, had better stoop down and ask for forgiveness.
February 26, 1994, to Mr. Klaus Barth: Thank you for your last letter. In the last weeks and before Christmas, I heard what was happening at the Society -- families sent away and excluded, child- molesting, and now, that Christoph bought himself two handguns. (I have copies of his gun licenses.) All of this and more leaves a very bitter and angry taste in my mouth.
Why?
You, Klaus, wrote to us, you visited at times, with one purpose, to get us back to the Society. I ask you to what? To power struggles, handguns, child molesters and self-righteous people? If you Klaus, and all your fellow servants knew about Christoph's guns, then all of you are guilty of denouncing the gospel of peace, of nonviolence.
What has happened among you? All of this had undermined and taken away the essence of the beginning in Sannerz. You preach peace, nonviolence, purity, love and compassion, but listen to the young people who had to leave, or left -- hear them out without interruption and then think about what you heard.
Dear Klaus, your mission is hypocritical. Is there no one who will stand up to say "this is enough"? Don't you see that you are heading off course? Are all of you so blind, you see the splinter in your brother's eye, but not the beam in yours. Two thousand people governed by fear and punishment, by only a handful. Is Jesus still welcomed among you? Where is the compassion, meekness and love in all of this?
It is time for you all to wake up, to look at yourselves and reality before worse things happen among you. Yours, in disbelief,
Augusto & Nadine Pleil, 2/18/94: To Johann Christoph Arnold and to all Servants of the Word on all places: It has come to our attention that you, Christoph, have handguns registered in your name. Weapons which can be concealed on your person or elsewhere. Are the other ministers aware of this?
The fact that you, the elder of the eight communities in the United States, England and Germany, have handguns in your possession for personal protection, will eliminate the C.O. status your young men have been granted. Do you realize how far astray you have gone from the straight and narrow path? As we recall it, your grandparents and your parents risked their lives in order to live a live of non-violence. The community had to leave Germany and later England so that they could continue to live a life according to the Sermon on the Mount. All young Englishmen who joined the Community at the time during World War II declared themselves Conscientious Objectors.
We seriously question the element of power in the Community. The ministers have entirely too much power. Are the brotherhood members allowed to express their opinions? I think not. Are they not immediately crushed and excluded if they ever dare to stand up and question the elder of ministers?
Our sons are Conscientious Objectors because of their upbringing and because of what we, their parents, taught them.
Christoph, are you going to tell the brotherhood about your concealed weapons? Is it not high time to lay down your service as elder?
We all know that power corrupts. However, we have experienced again and again how destructive religious power can be. The communities have shown signs of being a cult. This is very serious.
This letter comes to you and all ministers of the communities, as a very serious concern for you and all the brothers and sisters and children presently residing in the Community. Sincerely,
Nadine Moonje Pleil, 2/22/94: I am shocked to hear that the Commune elder has handguns in his possession for personal protection. Furthermore, it has been brought to our attention that he has an attack-trained dog (German Shepherd especially bred to attack humans). Where is Nonviolence now?! How far astray has the leadership gone? It is mind-boggling! I do believe the people are good, but the leadership is wrong, very wrong, to say the least.
Now that the elder has handguns to protect himself, the young men who grow up in the Commune will not be able to claim or file for a C.O. status. The government will not just pass that over. It seems as if all the good aspects of the Commune have been thrown out the window.
I understand that Jake KIeinsasser was to be excluded by Johann Christoph Arnold! How does J.C.A. warrant that?! It makes one wonder where will all this end? Where does this leave all the Plain People? Do they dare speak up? If they do speak up, what happens? Exclusion or being sent away to live on Welfare? Even repentance will not solve the gun problem. There is so much at stake, and so many issues to be addressed.
It seems as if the Plain People are completely enslaved. They do not seem to know what is going on! If they perhaps do know, they are most likely not allowed to choose an opinion. They continue to be brain-washed, and the complete mind control must be simply terrible!
The whole issue is one horrendous mess! One can only hope that something will happen to avert a complete disaster. Will things ever change? I surely hope so. So many people's lives are involved. What will it take for things to change?
The Mennonite Reporter 4/9/94: Bruderhof Controversy by Margaret Loewen Reimer. Waterloo, Ont. Controversy is swirling around Johann Christoph Arnold, Elder of the Bruderhof colonies which also belong to Kleinsasser's Schmiedeleut group. Former members of the Bruderhof have discovered that Arnold, who lives at Woodcrest Colony in New York State, has purchased two handguns since 1991 to "carry...concealed" on his person, according to his application for a gun. On the application, Arnold states that he is acquiring a weapon "for self-protection and protection of community members." He identifies himself as a minister of the Hutterian Brethren Church. Character references are from people who are not members of the Bruderhof. The discovery has created a passionate protest from former Bruderhof members and Arnold relatives, Balz and Monika Trumpi-Arnold.
"You violated one of the fundamental principals of the Bruderhof and the Hutterian Brethren Church," wrote the Trumpi-Arnolds in a Feb 14 letter to Johann Christoph Arnold. "The Bruderhof always refused to carry arms to defend oneself. They refused to do military service because they did not want to harm another human being." The Trumpi-Arnolds also sent a letter to all Bruderhof leaders informing them about the handgun purchase. "How will you young people be able to claim exemption from military service should that become an issue again?" asks the letter. "Your peace witness is in serious jeopardy." The letter states that this incident is another example of the unquestioned power wielded by the elder. Bruderhof members "do not dare to speak out" because they fear exclusion or excommunication.
According to the Trumpi-Arnolds, 20 people were "put in the great exclusion" last August and September, and at least 15 "in the small exclusion." One of the reasons for their punishment was "power seeking." According to another source, some Bruderhof members defended Arnold by saying that the revolvers were meant to get rid of rabid animals on the property. One person said the guns were returned to the store in March, 1992, and the store verbally confirmed this, but the sheriff has no gun disposal document on file, nor has the permit to carry a concealed weapon been canceled.
Mike Boller, 4/12/94 (Note:Quoted items may have been paraphrased, and some names changed): (Note: Quoted items may have been paraphrased)
Saturday after Good Friday I walked onto Evergreen/Deerspring without permission. I had a small rucksack with a photo album my family had made for my birthday of all the photographs they'd found with me in them, baby pictures starting at 3 days old through school group and high school pictures. Wedding pictures from Veronica & Toby, Hans-Jorg & Maria, the first two weddings in our family. Most showed the 100-year-old hewn stone block walls of the Evergreen/Deerspring original buildings erected by Michael Pupin, the Serb immigrant inventor who made long-distance phone calls possible.
As I walked by the baby/children's house I saw Helen, Ben Williams' wife. Ben, six years older than I, had been like a brother to me after my father had died when I was 12, but I'd never gotten to know Helen very well. She had two small friendly children with her, a boy and a girl, about as tall as my waist. I felt tense and awkward.
"Hello Helen."
"Hello Michael."
"These are your children?" The small boy grinned through his spectacles.
"Yes, this is Betty, and this is .i.Tommy;Tommy, our youngest." I forgot their names immediately. She looked back at me. "And how are you? How is your business?"
"Keeping busy, it's tough these days. I'm here to...I'm going to visit my father's grave."
"Oh! Isn't that May first?"
"May first?" I looked at her. (My father Hans-Uli had died at 46 on May 1, 1972) We had obviously run out of conversation. I turned to continue my walk. "Say hi to Ben when you see him," I said over my shoulder.
"Okay..." She said, uncertainly, it seemed to me. I walked across the Bulstrode House lawn, our pre-school playground in '65, now with a dirt road through it, and hopped the low chain-link fence by the pond. I touched the skate-house siding of redwood shakes we'd nailed on with George Burleson in 8th grade, each staggered 1/2 inch up and down because we would have found it difficult to line the bottoms evenly had we tried. The short wood board-walk echoed hollowly when I stepped on it, worn from skate blades. I opened the gate, walked past the old pottery room, now bike shop. The buildings were of gneiss, a metamorphic rock related to granite, Ian Winter had told us in 7th grade science geology class. The architect had incorporated patches of smooth round quarzite fieldstone into the walls, like panels of potatoes. I went by our kinderschaft room in the painted-cement-block school extension. At the bottom of the brookside-house hill I turned right over the bridge Tommy Paul and the Mulvilles had put in when Delf Fransham taught me in 3rd grade with Micha A. Mathis, Johannes Barth, Felix Pleil, Christoph Kurtz, Paul Button, Ann Johnson, Tina Burleson, and me. I continued past the south wing entrance of the Center/Rhon House.
Then I heard Helen calling after me. When she'd caught up to me, I asked her if she cared to join me. No, she said. She'd made a phone call, it seemed, and found out I had NOT asked .i.Fransham, Johnny;Johnny Fransham for permission to be here and that I must LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. I snapped heatedly that I didn't need any permission to be there, that it was MY home, that I'd been there before her family ever came over from Bulstrode. She accused me of reading the KIT newsletter and therefore allying myself with "an organization whose sole purpose is to destroy the Bruderhof," and I accused her of not reading it and talking ignorantly. She told me I wasn't showing them respect and I told her she was being disrespectful to me by judging me for what she didn't know. I was feeling more comfortable. A line of a beautiful song from 'Our Children Sing' (the first record the community cut) was running through my head:
He (He, He) hath said that thy (thy) foot
shall not (not) be move-ed...
She didn't want to look at my photos. She said my father had stood for something completely different, and I offered to discuss it, because I figured I was an expert on that one, but she said she had to go back and take care of her children.
Then I saw Ben running from the shop. He jogged up to us. "Hi, Mike," he said carefully.
"Ben," I said, "I was just going to visit my father's grave."
Ben looked at Helen. "I'll take it from here," he said, and started walking briskly up toward the burial ground. When it became evident he was walking alone, he slowed down to my pace. Our rhetoric increased in volume as we moved up away from the people.
"Blah, blah blah KIT!" said Danny harshly. "Blah blah DESTROY blah blah POISON blah blah EVIL. Blah blah blah."
"Blah blah READIT!" I returned. "Blah Blah DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT blah blah blah blah."
We reached the 8-foot arched picket gates of the burial ground and Ben lifted the board latch. There was a foot and a half of snow over the graves with a crumbly ice crust that got in your shoes when your foot broke through, and you broke through at every step. You couldn't see the grave gardens. The little plaques weren't as high as the border bricks. I saw the branches of a rose bush sticking up through the snow from what looked like the right place. I kicked the crust in, pulling the pieces out and scooped the granular snow with my bare hands as I'd not brought my gloves. I found the plaque of the grave, but it was someone else's, not my father's. I stood up.
"How was the skating this year?" I inquired.
Ben's face lit up. "Boy, these high school kids are amazing! They're giving me competition. I never had a problem keeping up with them before, but I just turned 40."
"Yeah," I said. "We're both getting old. We're both getting set in our ways, too."
"Lets see that photo album," he said.
I took the book from the rucksack I'd dropped on the snow and brought it over to him. We each sat on the backs of benches half- buried in the snow, our feet on the seats. Danny turned the heavy pages until he saw some pictures he'd taken. "Where was this?" He pointed to a black & white of a stone arched window opening just the right size for a 12-year-old boy to stand up in with an inch to spare all around.
"That was across the soccer field. Those ruins on the hill by McAlpin's or Lawrence's or whoever where Pupin started to build until one of his buddies made a bet that he couldn't build down here in the valley, right? That little camera you had, remember we tried to set it up for remote operation with a battery gear motor and rubber-band belt to advance the film? To take pictures of birds? You had this birch log with 1-inch holes augured into it and packed with peanut butter but the birds just weren't interested."
We both laughed. We're pretty much alike, I thought. We can both yell just as loud but it feels better to laugh.
Ben walked with me back south down West Side Road, past the white horse barn, past the other building of gneiss owned by a neighbor, to the log gate at the entrance to the dam where I'd parked my truck.
Ben's tone became hard again. " We've chosen different ways," he stated. "WE'VE chosen to live together here In Community and YOU'VE chosen to support an organization which is out to destroy us. If you visit again don't expect me to like it."
"Ben," I countered, "You have this idea that there are only two ways to live: yours here on the community, and the rest of the world's. I understand your thinking; I grew up here. But actually it's not like that at all. There can be as many ways of life as there are people on earth. Hannah Goodwin has her life, Ramon has his, Eb Zumpe does his thing, and I do mine, yet we can still enjoy each other's company."
"Well," said Ben, "If you visit again, I might not greet you."
I laughed. "Ben, this place and I go way back, back to 1961, back before your time. I didn't come to see you anyway. If you want to chat civilly, great, but you don't have to. I'll be talking to that big rock over there, or to that old maple. I remember them from '65."
He said good-bye and I drove off south toward Windrow Road.
Daniel Hofer, Box 158, St. Francois Xavier, Man. R0H 1J0, CANADA, 4/16/94:
I'm writing to Joe Keiderling and Christian Domer through the KIT newsletter because, if I write to them directly, they may never receive my letter. You mention that you're both members of the Bruderhof. You also mention that you believe there will be a day of reckoning and we will all appear in front of our Maker. I agree. In your letter you deny the accusations against your leader or leaders, and you state that you [The Arnold Leut- ed] have survived already for 74 years. The question I ask you, "Have you really survived?" After having read a good many (not all) of the testimonies of the people forced off the so-called Bruderhof, is that in your opinion 'survival?' Far from it. Do we agree with all the point of other religions, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, etc.? Are they all on the right track? I think you'll agree that they've been around already for more than 75 years. So, admit it, 75 years proves nothing.
Your next point is that KIT or the people writing to KIT may be mistaken in their assessment of the Bruderhof. If there were two or three dissatisfied people, or even ten or twenty, we might come to that conclusion. But there seem to be hundreds, and if you read their reasons for being forced out of the 'hof, I would have to agree that your church has become a cult. Having myself lived in a colony all my life and having experienced colony life, and having read, heard and experienced the ways of life of the Arnold Leut ("Woodcrest & Eastern Colonies), I would have to agree they are a brain-washed people if they allow or agree to treat fellow humans like the people who've written in to KIT have been treated. No doubt some of the people chased out had faults, and there's also no doubt that many living there at present have faults and remain there because they're either related to the leaders or hide their true feelings, or are brain- washed. Just because they're there doesn't prove they're God-fearing people. There is much evidence that they fear humans more than God (like Pilate).
You ask, "What if God has had a hand in keeping us together through our leadership?" You feel you're being attacked, and are concerned that the work you feel God has done may become disparaged. Firstly, how can you state that you're kept together if all the people writing to KIT have been forced from the 'hof and scattered all over the world? Is that your idea of "kept together?" What does it take to open your people's eyes? I have to ask, "Are you brain-washed?" It must be so.
If you feel attacked, shouldn't you listen to the complaints of the people and change your ways of life in line with the teachings of the God you claim on paper to be serving? Do it in deeds. If our brother sins or errs, we should come to his assistance in love. Not the love we hear about from the Arnold Leut, love in words, spoken or written, but love in actual deeds. To the leaders and the people in agreement with them ( the Arnold Leut leaders), love seems to mean "Chase the people off the property, but keep their possessions for the ones staying behind." Is this love from above or below? Think for yourself.
You claim that God gave you the leadership you have now. Did He? Was it done according to Acts 1:26 [by prayer and the drawing of lots - ed] rather than verses 21-26? If so, you may be right. If otherwise, your leader was given to you by the people.
Your very important personal commitment after long and careful consideration is respectable, but didn't the people you chase out also make the same careful commitment? From their letters, it seems that if they didn't serve the leaders like Christoph Arnold instead of God, they had no place in the 'hof.
You further state, "And for those of you who feel the Bruderhof is on a false path and that our leadership is entirely corrupt, we have one question: Why for heaven's sake, don't you leave us alone," etc. I'll tell you why. Firstly, the Bruderhof, both temporal and spiritual, is not yours. If, as you suggest, it's spiritual, then it belongs to Christ and should be treated as such. Certainly it's not the property of the Church leaders, even though they may have title to the property in their name, in trust for the Church. Secondly, we have relatives in your church, mothers, fathers, women and children, etc., in some cases.
Thirdly and most important, if the leaders would do according to Scripture, we could all be together in the Bruderhof and live in peace, inasmuch as God would give us in His mercy. We should all tolerate one another in love as Christ taught us, and not only talk "love, love, and no deeds." All we are is a fig tree with lots of nice leaves and no fruits if our actions don't match our words.
I'd like to see Johann Christoph Arnold find himself out on a street in some town with no money or a place to stay, and have to fend for himself and his family, and the ones also that support him in this [attitude - ed]. I think they'd think twice about chasing the next person away. Now would be a good time and reason for this, as his terrible crime has surfaced, buying a gun to protect himself and, he claims, some others. Hopefully he hasn't shot anyone yet on his trips. How do we know? In the eyes of God, he committed the act when he bought the gun for his protection. Mind-boggling! And you want the people to leave you alone. If you were a godly group in deed and not only in word, you would live in the fear of God, and most of the people could be living in the colony in peace and harmony to the honor of the Lord.
Mr. Joe and Christian, I honestly feel that some of the people sincerely have a concern for your souls. I do too, regardless of what you might believe. You probably also doubt that Christ had a concern for the souls that crucified Him, do you? If you'd be on the receiving end, you'd understand. Mr. Joe and Christian, the people you've hurt indescribably, most are not capable of expressing themselves, and indeed there are no words to do so. Now, you've heard some opinions, and you think the people you chased away would like to see the demise of the Bruderhof. I think you couldn't be further from the truth. I think they'd like to see you people live according to the New Testament. If you did so, there is no way that you would chase people out. God gathers, the Devil scatters.
Now, I don't know much about your leader's daily activities, but I've read enough literature and have had personal contact with Johann Christoph. A spiritual leader carrying a concealed, deadly weapon. Do we need to know more? The literature that we have received over the years is useless, idle writings. Mostly it directs attention to your leaders and what they and others said at certain gatherings. Practically nothing spiritual [is mentioned - ed], centered much more on humans than on Christ. Relying on a person or a leader's spirit and acting accordingly instead of following the teaching of Christ and his Apostles. One can clearly see why you people serve your leaders and fear them more than Christ.
Mr. Joe and Christian, you'd like to be left in peace. Why don't you invite the people and make peace? Correct your prior mistakes and invite the people back that you've chased out, and select your leaders according to Acts I, as stated earlier in this letter. Get a fresh, new spiritual start in the right direction based on Christ's teaching, not on fear of a worldly leader. True, we need a worldly leader, but the leader too should base his leadership on Christ and not on his own nature. Christ taught us that our leader should be the smallest amongst us. The greater he becomes, the humbler and smaller he should become. Christ Himself and also Moses and many others are example of what a leader is like, leading according to the gospel. Please take a good long thought at verse 32 in Mark chapter 10, and verse 44. Does your Johann Christoph fit that example?? Have you ever read how the great and powerful man Moses led his people? When they sinned, he fell on his face before God and sought God's grace for them instead of using his personal powers to chase them away or seek personal revenge. I don't think you'll see the light, and I don't think you have any desire to do so. It's much easier for your flesh and blood to continue in your present state as it is than to take up your cross and follow Christ and oppose wrongdoing and the Devil.
The practices of your publishing house are another example of your Christianity. You print your opinions, and when you receive letters or opinions other than your's that are not to your liking, they don't get printed. Thereby you hope that the truth won't surface and your opinions will be the only ones to count. Many more pages could be written... Will pray for you... To act or not to act for a start in the right direction is in your hands. Sincerely, (Recommended reading: Torches Extinguished)
August Pleil to Jakob Gneiting, New Meadow Run B'hof, 4/2/94: Dear Jakob and Juliana: We received your letter today. We cannot understand how you can say that you constantly think about us. Why did you not think of us when Nadine's dear mother Hilda Crawley passed away? Why did you not call us to tell us that she had passed away? Is that love and thinking of us? The question is, where is your forgiveness? You are all excluded by the Hutterites and, according to them, you are not brothers-in-faith anymore. You, as we too, have to humbly repent and ask for forgiveness when things have gone wrong.
We wish that you will find your way back to the true way of faith and take seriously what the Sermon On The Mount and the Ten Commandments mean, so that you will be only led by God and not by men who only want Power. Thinking of you,
Mike LeBlanc 4/27/94: A little history before you read the following. I was calling my family in the B'hof for Christmas greetings. I was looking for my brother Rene, but my brother Mark answered. I was trying to clear up a question about why I couldn't attend my sister MaryAnna's and my brother Mark's weddings. Orginally I had been told it was a space limitation, but I had assured them that I would be more than willing to stay at a bed and breakfast, and would gladly stand at the ceremony. Well, at any rate, I never had received a clear answer, so once again I was trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.
My brother Mark at this point interrupted. "Mike, I want to ask you bluntly, are you reading KIT?" he asked.
I responded in the affirmative and told him of my reasons. He basically said that I would have to choose between KIT and them. I wrapped up the phone call with a quote from my brother Mark: "We gladly will talk with anyone who comes to us searching Jesus Christ." While it so happens that while I fit the qualifications, I can't find anywhere in the Bible where Christ made it a prerequisite to talk to Him, and He hung out with tax collectors, the lowest form of life in those days, and whores! How can you bring Good News to people that way?!
Anyway, I then received a phone call out of the blue from them, (they almost NEVER initiate the call) and was put on the speakerphone with brothers Rene and Mark. They asked that I come to talk with a Servant, or better yet, Christoph Vetter. Well, since I didn't really cotton to the idea, I asked them to meet me on neutral turf, minus the Servant. They insisted on having a Servant, as they had not read KIT, so could not answer issues brought up in KIT. Well, I thought it rude for them to challenge me, especially both of them together, and little old me out all alone in the nasty world, so I said if they wanted to talk about KIT to me, they would have to read it, and then we could talk. They would also have to come to me.
My brother Mark couldn't take it, so he RAN away from the phone. Rene stuck it out a little further, until it was clear I was not going to bend to the communal will. He then said they would be awaiting my response (to what?), and proceeded to hang up on me mid-sentence. So here is my response:
Dear Rene: It saddened me deeply to receive your call. The fact that you never call me from the 'hof, and that you only called me to censure what I read, saddened me not for myself, but for you. Let me make it clear that while the tone of this communication is primarily negative, and counter to beliefs you may hold dear, I ask you to read through it completely, and help me search through for the Truth! I am open to any and all comments, provided they are given to me on an individual basis, as I am not ready to face multitudes just yet. God has brought me a long way, but I feel I must ask this of you and yours. And excuse me, but... who are you from the Bruderhof to tell me what to do? Also to hear that a dear brother, with whom I have felt closer to than anyone else, was talking to me in such a judgmental attitude. And why does KIT seem to be such a threat to the community? If all that is written are lies, the Bruderhof has nothing to fear.
Why has the 'hof refused to meet with a collective KIT? Is what you do as a "brotherhood" so secret (mystical) that it cannot withstand the light of day? How can you even talk about KIT without having read it ALL!? KIT is a very valuable "mirror" for the 'hof to look into, as one cannot see oneself truly without getting input from outside oneself. Much pain has been expressed, mostly as part of a healing process, and of course not all that is written reflects positively on the B'hof. However, much has been written about positive memories of the Bruderhof as well. KIT readership is too diverse to allow any one view from becoming too prevalent. Cadmon Whitty has written that one must address issues with the community, and that he felt a certain freeing after spending some time on several 'hofs. Others have written in the same vein.
I do not need to defend KIT. You must remember that KIT is written by GRADUATES of the 'hof. Many of these folks gave MANY years of their lives, much longer then you or I, to the Bruderhof, and were tossed out summarily, usually because of trivial issues, a procedure that certainly does not follow Christ's example. And I don't want to hear how one person and/or the 'hof constantly fails. It is not only a human failing, but the structure of the 'hof is off.
If a brother or sister has fallen to a point of needing church
discipline in the form of exclusion, that itself is a judgment
on the church. A living church can guard against sin only
through open admonition. The discipline of exclusion is not
meant as a judgment upon the sinner but is carried out to
separate the sinner from evil -- a separation also necessary
in the hearts of the entire church.
J. Christoph Arnold, The Plough, No. 10, May 1985
If this were true, the number of exclusions over the history of the Bruderhof, including the dissolving of the Primvera Bruderhofs, is a serious judgment indeed! And the way exclusion has been carried out has often been lacking in love, as chronicled in KIT. Also, those in exclusion are often forgotten. The whole exclusion process begs for close scrutiny, especially as a possible tool for power-hungry (human failings are possible) Servants and ELDERS alike! It is too easy to exclude someone who threatens to usurp one's earthly authority. Acts shows us that those that resisted the Spirit died as a result! (Acts 5:5,10) Let's also consider Luke 18:11-14 juxtaposed on 18:15-18 . Consider this:
If there is disunity, even by one lonely voice, we should first
find what prevents us from hearing God's will unanimously.
Selfish wishes often mixed with good intentions or unreconciled
tensions within the circle (often about small problems) prevent
the spirit of shalom from entering our hearts. And just as one
voice can hinder the flow of God's Spirit in the hearts of a
gathered people, so also can one voice alert the entire group to
a decision that does not fully reflect the will of God. So every
individual carries the full responsibility of the whole circle.
Therefore if any member shirks this responsibility by staying
away from a meeting for no valid reason, he excludes himself
from the unity. If he does not change his heart, he weakens
shalom.
Every community that tolerates spiritual laziness softens the
intensity of it witness. And the first to react to such hypocrisy
will be the community's own children and the uncommitted
young people.
Hans Meier, The Plough, No. 16, September 1986
Well, I'm speaking. My own issues are with the fact that due to belief systems engendered by our parents and/or the community, I was left outside with little or no capability to deal with life "on the outside". After being "removed from Eden," I was left with no self- identity or at least a low self-image, encouraged by the community to discourage individualism. Because of the Bruderhof belief system, I became an emotional/spiritual DOORMAT and was abused by a co- worker to the point of near-suicide, not uncommon in those excluded from the 'hof! Only by the grace of GOD and belief in Christ was I brought back to life.
I'm also still at a loss to explain why I could attend your wedding, Rene, but not those of Mark and MaryAnna. It was simply "not given" or some such nonsense. It seems that visitations are welcomed depending on which way the wind blows, or even worse, as a tool to bring "lost sheep" back in the fold. KIT made me realize that I am only one of many in this. And if you think I am being influenced by KIT, you're right! Not ALL these dear people can be wrong! And I don't believe everything I read, either, including The Plough.
My involvement in KIT is to continue in my healing process, and help those that graduate from the 'hof, as Christ allows. I understand that I got off very lightly, as I had already started to rebel against certain things I saw. Servants received special material goods, considerations, etc. Also, a punishing of all for the transgression of a few in a group, which I later witnessed at Pleasant View as an adult, so that has not changed. Let's consider the seriousness of leading children astray: Matthew 18:5,6,10 and Mark 9:37, 42-43.
I was told by our parents that we, the children, were the cause of their exclusions, great and small, and my reading KIT has only reaffirmed this. Blaming the parents for their children's misbehavior, who spend less time with their children than those that the "brotherhood" appoints to teach/lead them, and sending them to exclusion for same, is a real indication of the fundamental nature of what is wrong with community for its own sake. Of course one cannot blame the corporate body, since that is what one gives one's life to, giving up all individual freedom and ability to think for oneself, for the good of the corporate whole and for survival of same. It is impossible to search deeply into the nature of what ails the community from the inside. Broader concerns are as follows:
If fear of exclusion is used by the leadership when one does speak one's heart, then true unity cannot exist. Individualism, in my experience, is discouraged, or simply not tolerated. It is too easy to give spiritual responsibility to leadership, to give oneself to false unity controlled by leadership using spiritual/emotional coercion to achieve power. If one would make the assumption that this has happened to the Bruderhof, what is the root cause? First, the structure or hierarchy of the community needs to be changed. While I acknowledge that leadership is necessary, I don't think that leadership should be dynastic, as it has with the Arnolds and most Servant/Witness Brother appointments. I find it extremely hard to believe that with the number of people in the aptly named Arnoldleut, a brother does not exist that is spiritually attuned and sensitive enough to become Elder other than an Arnold. Term of office should also not be life-long, regardless of how successful. This is also true of the Servants. Fixed terms of office should not hurt anyone. Secondly, brotherhood meetings should be open. If the brotherhood does not have sufficient "spiritual armor" to withstand attack (Ephesians 6:10-17), then it should not exist. Christ did not seclude himself very often, and never for lack of the Spirit. Exclusion from prayer (as in Gemeindestunde) in the name of unity, seems extremely unhealthy and does not allow non-members to see true Christian witness in His followers communing with Him. The Lord's Supper should also be open to all who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior (Luke 14:15-24, 22:19-20; Matthew 22:1-14, 26:26- 29; also Matthew 18:19-20) and should be used to witness to those who aren't. (See also I Corinthians 11:23-34.) One could witness but not take part, as opposed to what Christoph writes:
For us, the Lord's Supper cannot be open to all that claim to
be Christians. It cannot be open to someone who is not willing
for true submission or willing to die by the fire, water, the
sword, or the electric chair for the name and the truth of Christ.
J.Christoph Arnold, The PloughNo. 15, May 1986
This statement shows both spiritual elitism and a separatism that borders on cultic behavior. Most importantly however, is a constant vigil against deification of leadership, as seen both in the celebration of the anniversary of their passing (not done with other brothers and sisters) and a move towards reading the writings of Eberhard and Heini in larger doses and emphasis then the Bible. (See Acts 14:11-20). Also consider:
The Bible is the greatest weapon of the Devil, who constantly
uses it to kill souls. The Bible is not the Word of God; reading
aloud from the Bible is not necessarily proclaiming the Word of
God, which cannot be handled and printed and sold.
Heini Arnold (1975), The PloughNo. 11, July 1985
While I have edited the context in which this was written, the above sets up a move away from the Bible towards the mystic, ethereal, relationship with Christ. This mysticism, without the framework of the Bible, becomes open to interpretation by leadership, and is indicative of cultic behavior, a move away from core principles of faith to dependency of spiritual enlightenment from the leader, thus enabling spiritual/emotional/mind control. This is contrary to the joyous, freeing spirit of Christ! The continual self- introspection on the part of the community especially before the Lord's Supper, is equivalent to contemplation of the communal navel.
Judgmental attitudes towards those who do not hold to the notion that total commitment to God means community, is as evil as anything you claim to have heard in your SELECTIVE hearings of the KIT!
We certainly would like to see you, and would welcome a visit of anyone of the family here in Freehold. Just call ahead, and let us know. I hope the above does not create a rift in our relationship, as I am earnestly searching for the truth, and welcome any comments. I am aware that this letter will probably make its ways to a Servant or an Elder and I welcome their input, as long as it written, as I have already asked that no one in a leadership role visit me just yet. I greet you as a blood brother and a brother in Christ,
Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America by Julius Rubin, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. 308 pp. $35. Reviewed by Tim Miller.
We live in an era in which we're told to live positively, to be happy, to walk on the sunny side. But for millions, if not for everyone, doom and gloom are just below the surface and constantly threatening to boil over. In the half-millennium since the onset of the Reformation, Julius Rubin argues, a special kind of deep despair that can be termed religious melancholy has been especially prevalent among Protestants, and particularly among the Protestants Rubin calls evangelical Pietists. Here, Rubin traces the amazingly pervasive incidence of melancholy from the original Protestant Reformers (both Luther and Calvin were afflicted with it) through the Puritans and revival-era faithful down to the present. Even though the nineteenth century mitigated against religious melancholy, Rubin argues, casting depression as a medical rather than a religious problem and as out of synch with the social gospel liberalism of the turn of the century, it has made a powerful imprint on American religion and is very much with us still. In short, he concludes, religious commitment can put your psyche in jeopardy.
Rubin's argument is as compelling as it is depressing. Today's many advocates of religion as bubbly feel-goodism will not like what Rubin has to say, but they will be hard pressed to refute his evidence, which is meticulously culled from historical accounts, diaries, and a wide variety of other documents in this impressively researched work. Despair, aching of the soul, pathological depression, and more than a few suicides have studded the history of evangelically committed Protestantism. Other kinds of depressive illnesses have been associated with other religious traditions, Rubin concedes, noting, for example, acedia, or sloth in regard to spiritual duties, which was widespread among medieval monks. (Similar problems, for that matter, are associated with nonchristian religious paths; Nathaniel Mead, writing in the Spring, 1994, issue of Whole Earth Review, echoes Rubin cross-culturally when he notes that "Studies of TM [Transcendental Meditation] and Vipassana [Theravada Buddhist] meditation, both widely practiced in the U.S., have shown that a high percentage of meditators experience increased feelings of anxiety, agitation, and depression after commencing meditation. . . . As Thoreau once said, 'The mind can make a hell out of heaven and a heaven out of hell.'") Nevertheless, a specific melancholy has been uniquely related to Protestantism and therefore has shaped American religion to a degree heretofore little recognized. We know of the eminent Beecher family and celebrate its accomplishments in shaping nineteenth-century American Protestantism; Rubin reminds us that in the middle of this glorious clan George Beecher suffered repeated bouts of melancholy and eventually committed suicide in 1843.
In several cases, matters that are essentially sidelights provide some of the most thought-provoking material in the book. The discussion of the medicalization of fasting on pp. 167ff., for example, shows how what was once regarded as the deepest evidence of spiritual commitment came to be regarded as mental illness. A few pages earlier (p. 164) Rubin presents a chilling anecdote that should give serious pause to any reader who supports deprogramming as a legitimate way of dealing with persons committed to religions of which others disapprove. Elizabeth Packard, we are told, rejected the hyper-Calvinism of her intermittently melancholic husband, a Presbyterian minister, to find a spiritual home among Spiritualists and Universalists, only to have her husband locate two physicians who would declare her insane and thence to have her imprisoned, in an asylum and then her own bedroom, for some three years. After finally winning her freedom in court she proved herself entirely competent, gaining distinction as an author and social reformer. Then as now, one person's "cult" is another's wholesome religion.
One can, as always, make a few pedantic quibbles with the book. The first name of Catharine Beecher, a member of the distinguished aforementioned family, is consistently misspelled. The word "reverend" is frequently used as a title and occasionally as a noun, when grammatically it is an adjective and should be used exactly as the adjective "honorable" is for a judge. "Pietists"--capital P--here is used to denote much more than the specific movement founded within German Lutheranism in the seventeenth century that historians normally call Pietism, although sociologists (Rubin) may understand the term differently than historians (your humble reviewer) do.
Quibbles aside, however, Rubin has written an eminently informative book that eloquently limns the distressing downside of religious devotion and commitment, especially in Protestantism. In accentuating the negative he has given us much food for thought. [Credit card orders may be placed at: 800 451 7556 - ed]
Ramon Sender: On 5/17/94 I fax'd the following message to all Bruderhofs except Darvell, whose fax machine was not functioning: To the Bruderhof Servants and TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I would like to request that the following be read aloud to the brotherhoods, or at least during individual brotherhood meetings:
It keeps being reported to me that various Bruderhof members keep saying that "Ramon has said that as long as the Bruderhof followed Christ he would try to destroy it." I have no idea how this misquotation began, and would like to set it right once and for all. The following is my response:
I have tried in various ways, in numerous issues of the KIT Newsletter, in conversations with various people, to get the message to the communities that this statement is NOT true.
I have stated various times in the KIT Newsletter: "I, Ramon Sender, have never, ever said that I want to destroy the Bruderhof nor that I wish them not to follow Christ. Quite the contrary, I wish them well and more success in the desire to manifest unconditional love, reconciliation and understanding."
I would like to add that I continue to search for ways to improve my relationship with the community. To that end, I recently offered to meet with my son-in-law John Rhodes in the presence of a neutral conflict resolution person, but he refused. However, I continue to hope that some day we can open a dialogue regarding visits to the grandchildren and other ongoing concerns. I am sure everyone would agree that it would be to everyone's benefit if the current climate of distrust and fear could be replaced with one of open communication.
Perhaps I should repeat that my sincerest hope is that the Bruderhof will remain true to their founder's ideal of an open communication and relationship with others in a living witness to Christian love and true brother/sisterhood.
Please acknowledge when this correction has been read to the various brotherhoods. Sincerely -- and thank you,
Dick Domer,Woodcrest Bruderhof, 5/17/94: [in reply to the above Fax - ed] Dear Ramon, You have apparently been complaining about the fact that word is going around that you have said, in effect, "as long as the Bruderhof represents faith in Jesus, I will try to destroy it." For your information, two of us, including myself, heard this from you on a phone call with you about two years ago. You can't hide behind a denial, Ramon. It was quite clear that it is our faith in Jesus that drives you against the Bruderhof.
Not only have you said it, but your actions speak even louder and in public. You try to get a newspaper to print an attack against the community, personally trying to work up a reporter against us. You advocate going into the local high school and harassing Woodcrest students and conducting a sign-waving demonstration at Woodcrest's drive. You and your followers talk about lawsuits against the community, over and over again. You get Julius Rubin, who is no Anabaptist, to get up in an Anabaptist conference to read off a tirade of hate and lies which you wrote but did not have the guts to read yourself.
There is one thing you are destroying, Ramon. And that is also deliberate. You are destroying all respect in a lot of young people who grew up in the community for their own background and for their own parents. You encourage especially unstable people to vie with one another to write the most hateful diatribes. This does not destroy us but it destroys something very important in the lives of these young people. You produce in these vulnerable people a war within themselves because in their deepest heart they cannot deny the reality of Christ they did experience. So, dear Ramon, come out from behind your screen. You can't deny what is so obvious. I ask you to have the decency to print this letter in the next issue of KIT. Sincerely,
Ramon Sender to the Bruderhof Servants and TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, 5/18/94: Since Dick Domer insists that I said to him and 'one other person' over the phone that "as long as the Bruderhof represents faith in Jesus, I will try to destroy it," I would like to request that the following amended message be read aloud to the brotherhoods, or at least during individual brotherhood meetings.
What Dick Domer and "one other person" heard me say is incorrect. Why? Because I have NEVER felt that way! Why would I say something I have never felt or believed? Therefore I would correct Dick Domer's impression of what I said and hereby repeat for everyone that:
"I, Ramon Sender, have never, ever, said that I want to destroy the Bruderhof nor that I wish them not to follow Christ. Quite the contrary, I wish them well and more success in the desire to manifest unconditional love, reconciliation and understanding."
Please acknowledge when this correction has been read to the various brotherhoods. Sincerely,
Ramon: Because Dick Domer's letter refers to "a newspaper attack," I think that we should mention the following. An article about the Bruderhof that included interviews with graduates and survivors was supposed to have appeared during April in the Kingston, New York, Daily Freeman. What began as a review of Bette Bohlken-Zumpe's book became a much bigger story when the reporter discovered that Christoph owned a permit to carry a concealed weapon. However the Managing Editor killed the story because he felt that the many allegations of questionable behavior on the part of the Bruderhof leadership were not severe enough to warrant reporting. Also, because Christoph had turned in his handguns, that particular item seemed to him to be no longer newsworthy. Could the fact that the Managing Editor has many friends in the county's Rod and Gun set have influenced his decision? Or perhaps that a well-known Kingston attorney paid him a visit on behalf of Woodcrest a few days after Dick Domer was contacted by the reporter?
Julius Rubin, 5/27/94: I am writing to correct some inaccuracies in Dick Domer's letter. Professor Cal Redekop organized an academic conference hosted at the Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups at Elizabethtown College in July, 1993. In October, 1992, Cal and John Hostetler sent separate letters inviting me to present a paper. The conference theme was "Power, Its Use and Abuse in Anabaptist Churches."
At that time I contacted Ramon and asked him to join me in a collaborative paper; I would provide the historical and theoretical introduction and Ramon would offer his experiences as a case study of 'Heini-ism' and the abuse of charismatic authority.
Redekop accepted our proposal. I was later informed that when the Bruderhof discovered what we were presenting, they demanded equal time to present their ideas and challenge our presentation. Redekop graciously made a place for the Bruderhof paper even though the deadline for submissions had passed. Pressing personal matters prevented Ramon from attending the meetings. John and Cal asked if I wanted to omit Ramon's portion of the paper. I agreed to present both my introduction and Ramon's case history in the allotted fifteen minutes. I informed the audience of the authorship of both parts of the presentation and warned the attenders of the controversial nature of the material. I am not an Anabaptist and I am not a Christian, as Mr. Domer points out. However, my personal religious affiliation and beliefs had absolutely no relevance in accepting an invitation to present papers at an academic conference. I wonder why Mr. Domer has characterized our papers as filled with hate and lies. I quoted extensively from the writings of Eberhard and Heini Arnold, Merrill Mow, Blumhardt, Bonhoeffer, and other Plough publications.
I hope these facts help readers put Dick Domer's remarks in a more factual context.
The Boston Globe, Sunday, May 15, ran a story on the Deer Spring Bruderhof by freelancer Richard Weizel (who also wrote a story about them in The New York Times a few years ago). It's a very nostalgic, syrupy look at the 'Hutterian Brethren,' as he continues to refer to them despite their excommunication from the Hutterian Church, and calls them 'spiritual cousins' of the old order Amish. George Burleson is quoted:
"We are a living example of how a Christian community can live and work together in peace and brotherhood." It mentions that George is experiencing a recurrence of a cancer, and that many children and grandchildren are rallying around. "There are all kinds of support groups in American society these days, and that is a good thing," he said. "But here we don't have to go to any meeting to get support. We are a living, lifetime support group for every situation." ... "The main thing is that we have found a united philosophy in the way of doing things. Members cooperate on everything; that is how we make it all work."
Weizel names $7.7 million as the annual income of the "Hutterians," which is used to support all nine communities. Quoting from the article:
"While they are similar to the Amish in many ways, there are differences, such as the Hutterian belief that if someone wishes to leave a community, they may without being shunned or dissuaded.
"'I would always be sad if any of my children decided to live outside the community because of the tremendous joy this life has given to me, but it's more important that whoever is here wants to be here,' said Klaus Meier, 62... 'We empathize greatly with the Jewish people; we know what it's like to be chased out of countries; we know what it's like to be hounded and persecuted.'
"The Hutterians found that they could establish their shared communities with little problem in the United States. They live a simple communal lifestyle... Particular care is given to babies, children and the elderly. 'I can't imagine a better place to grow old,' said Alma Kneeland, 86...
"'In the end, people are longing for this kind of joy, for something deeper and more meaningful," said Christoph Arnold, grandson of the Hutterian founder and elder of the nine communities. 'Materialism never brings true, inner satisfaction. Our way isn't the only way... but it is a way of life that works for us.'"
Ex-Bruderhoefer's Spouse, May '94: Dear Editors: Your recent article about the Hutterian Brethren was written with great sympathy towards "the life" and in many ways is an accurate reflection of the positive aspects of community living. There are some exceptions to what Richard Weizel has written which must be presented in order to maintain a balanced view of the situation inside the HB today.
Mr. Weizel's opening paragraph states a belief by the community in total non-violence. Yet the Elder of this group (quoted later in the article) has owned a variety of weapons over a period of years - including a .44 magnum for which he holds a license issued by the state of New York to carry a concealed weapon for self protection. Other weapons include shotguns, rifles and a number of handguns. This is the leader of a group whose members individually seek classification as conscientious objectors when meeting the requirements for registration for the draft.
When the permit to carry a concealed weapon was revealed (it is a matter of public record in New York state), a justification was stated that the gun was required for the protection of community members from rabid animals. Yet the common members of the 'hof on which Mr. Arnold lives never knew he had the gun(s) and could not, therefore, have appealed to him for protection from the animals in question should the need have arisen.
Elder Christoph Arnold, himself, was classified as a conscientious objector and now has a permit to carry a concealed weapon for self protection.
It should be observed that I am a member of KIT (Keep In Touch), an increasingly concerned group of ex-members of the HB (and their spouses) who raise this and other issues because we still have family members who live inside this religious commune. Our concern grows as the HB becomes increasingly paranoid, shunning those who have not been called to "the life" in direct contradiction, incidentally, of Klaus Meier's statement further on in the article.
Merely by being on the mailing list for the KIT newsletter, ex- members have increasingly been denied opportunity to visit relatives and friends within the community. We are asked to make a choice of receiving the newsletter or contact with the community, a choice many of us consciously choose not to make. Unfortunately, in too many cases, they then make the choice for us (at the highest levels) and we are then denied any opportunity to visit loved ones there (on the 'hofs) or elsewhere.
Our 15-year-old son, for example, cannot spend time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews - because we choose to enjoy the fellowship of other ex-members through the newsletter and infrequent meetings. These are the only grandparents he has!
Most ex-members have good memories of their youth but others have been summarily kicked out after many years of devoted work with little more than the clothes on their backs, little or no cash and a very restricted ability to function in a world that doesn't enjoy the luxury of access to a common checking account. Most of them never learned how to open a checking account prior to being exiled.
Incidentally, we understand the common checking account Weizel spoke of is just the tip of the investment iceberg. The eastern communities alone hold nearly $2,000,000 in stocks and bonds. Sales of Community Playthings exceeded $16,750,000 last year while net worth of the manufacturing facilities exceeds $30,000,000 -- which may not include the value of real estate holdings or dwelling units thereon.
The goal of KIT is to provide moral support, even material assistance, for those who leave the community voluntarily as well as those who are sent away as punishment for transgressions (such as questioning the difference in the quality of food served to the leaders and the common folk). We seek to establish a dialogue leading to the opportunity for family members to spend time together and a means by which the substantial abuse of power within the bruderhofs is ameliorated.
We will be enjoying the company and support of other ex- Bruderhoefers at our annual meeting near Boston this summer. The Globe is invited to send a reporter for part of that time to hear our view of current community life. For many attendees, any comments must be made without attribution by name or photograph because access to family members will be further reduced or cut off altogether if identification is provided. By the way, does any of this paranoia sound familiar?
Guns, large sums of money, loss of personal access to family, coercion, vicious retribution (in the form of exile) if one has the temerity to question trappings of leadership and other examples of sanctimonious hypocrisy seem to provide sufficient grist for a more comprehensive review of the Hutterian Brethren than the article you recently published.
George Maendel 5/20/94 to The Boston Globe: Dear Editor, I'm writing in regard to the recent (5-15-94, pg. 38) article in the Globe about the "Hutterian Brethren" of Norfolk, Conn. The picture the article presents to the public of this group is not worthy of appearing in The Boston Globe. The group that Deerspring Community is part of, was started in Germany, by a man named Eberhard Arnold, in 1920, nearly 400 years after the real Hutterian Brethren (commonly known as Hutterites) began their Christian communal lifestyle in Tyrol, Austria, and other places in Europe. Eberhard's group has been known as the Bruderhof and as the Society of Brothers. They have from time to time contacted the Hutterites, beginning in 1932, to ask for material assistance and to say, "Hey, we are just like you". Some Hutterites have fallen for this ploy, mainly because they are vulnerable to smooth-talking, German- speaking Christians. Anyone who speaks German is automatically dear to the Hutterites for many reasons, a 400-year exile from the land of their beginnings being one. Eberhard Arnold's group, "the Bruderhof", now calling themselves "Hutterian Brethren", and having an alliance with a small part of the midwestern Hutterites, have around seven "communities", four in the U.S., two or three in Europe and a new one in Nigeria. The Hutterites, also know as the Hutterian Brethren, have around 300 colonies (as they call them) in the Dakotas, western Minnesota, Montana, Washington state, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Together these 300 colonies farm about 1.5 million acres of land, and produce almost a billion dollars worth of agricultural products each year. They are farmers, not highly educated, and although they use modern machinery, they do resemble their Amish and Mennonite cousins in many ways. Eberhard Arnold's group has found it desirable to cozy up to the Hutterites, and have received many thousands of dollars in gifts and huge non-interest loans from some Hutterite Colonies. They have also encouraged intermarriage between their young people and those of mid-western Hutterite colonies who are friendly to them. I think that this provides the Arnold "Hutterites" with docile, servile, Christian members to whom the Arnold leadership can point to as examples of how to live as good members of the "community". The real story of Eberhard Arnold's group, now calling themselves "Hutterian Brethren", is a horror story. A few men at the top run the whole show, using "Christian ideals" as a cover for their wanton use of power over every detail of members lives. Children growing up in the Arnold communities are especially manipulated. Children are endlessly "counseled" about their most intimate thoughts and feelings. Every aspect of every member's life is manipulated and controlled. In the past, mail has been censored, including personal letters sent or received by members. The Arnold Communities meet every criteria in the definition of a cult. They could hardly be more unlike the western Hutterites, whom they use for their own purposes, and manipulate at will. I for one would like to see a true picture presented of this group, one worthy of a paper like The Boston Globe. Sincerely,
------ From The KIT Archives ------
[The numbers of brackets coincide with the original pages in the German manuscript. Translated by Nadine Moonje Pleil]
James Valley Hutterian Brethren, Feb. 1956: To all the Churches of the Society of Brothers in North America and South America and England.
The Schmiedeleut Churches in North America have received your letter. The contents of this letter are so self-righteous, commandeering, quarrelsome, unfair and full of accusations! And you even support the wrong-doing of those who have caused so much trouble amongst us. You defend them, you cover for them, whereas you should have recalled them and excluded them,
You should have found ways to set things right again. Also we should have been able to come to a reconciliation with you. However you have not done anything to help toward reconciliation. You have defended those who were in the wrong, and it seems as if you condone all that they have done. You must feel the same as they do. The accusations have been so unfair, and everything has led to an unavoidable break between us. This break will have repercussions. We the Schmiedeleut Churches, herewith declare that you no longer belong to the Hutterian Church.
No one should have anything to do with you anymore. From now on, we forbid you to visit us. There should be no correspondence between us. You are enemies of Christ's cross and of the Hutterian Church. You have been feeding our people false teachings. We will have nothing to do with these false teachings nor with false Christianity. You never wanted to take advice from us. We were never able to counsel you, nor were we allowed to.
Now the punishment will be meted out Thess. 2: 10-12. From now on we follow through with what is stated in Roman 2: 16-17, also John 2: 9-11. We have let you know what we feel about the accusations in a letter written in Sept,1955, upon which 28 preachers unanimously agreed. So from that letter you will see that we have decided how to act.
All our efforts to let you know what has happened have all been to no avail. Your Jesuitic ways disturb the community. [50] It has become very clear to all of us which spirit you serve, and which you belong to. You are not one bit better than your representatives. You only want to aid those who are in the wrong. Now you will have to take the punishment from God. The leaders of the people are misleading everyone, and it is sad to see how people follow those leaders.
It is clear to us that since Arnold Vetter's demise, you have all gone astray. You are all so involved in false teachings. All this is leading you into darkness. Your arrogance has been revealed, and you spoke behind David and Michel Vetters' backs. They only meant well, but you despised them. You have fallen away again from your good intentions. [51] Now you are acting worse than before. You are so obstinate and blind, you are incorrigible and have sunk so low. We are afraid that you will never find your way back. The Bible says, "Many like to follow a certain way, but in the end it is their folly."
Now in closing, we say to all of you with Romans 11: If you want to quarrel, then know that we will not tolerate that. John 1.2. You never really belonged to us, because if you had, you would have listened to what we had to say.
We have not lost because of the separation from you. The Forest River dissenters will be lost to us as long as they stay with you and will not repent. They have to return to us like the Prodigal Son. This has been written by the undersigned for the Conference of the Hutterian Schmiedeleut Churches of North America. I have put my name to this with deep sadness of heart about this separation. You humble servant, Peter Hofer. /dl>
The Mennonite Weekly Review, excerpted from the column "Thinking With..." by Elaine Sommers Rich, 4/21/94:
The author (of Torches Extinguished, Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe) born in 1935, grew up in the Primavera Bruderhof (communal community) in Paraguay. She is a granddaughter of Eberhard and Emmy (Torches Together) Arnold, founders of the Sannerz, Germany, commune in 1921. Elizabeth became a nurse and later lived in the Bruderhof in Woodcrest, N.Y., from which she was summarily excommunicated without ever understanding why.
I admire many things about the Society of Brothers, have bought some of their books and have read their publication, The Plough, for many years. Nevertheless, along with other women living in North Newton, Kan., in the '50s and '60s, I have had reservations about them. People going into the group contribute all they own, in good faith, following the pattern of the early Christians in Acts 4. If they later choose to leave or are excommunicated, they go out with nothing. We grieved that our returning friend Esther no longer had her sewing machine. We thought it unfair that mail from the "outside' was (we learned on the return) often withheld or censored.
Bohlken-Zumpe chronicles both the bright side and the dark side of Bruderhof life. Reading her account shows how dangerous it can be to place any human leader on a pedestal. Beginning in the 1960s, "the Bruderhof increasingly displayed all of the symptoms of a destructive cult," the author writes. Leaders used denigrating techniques to try to bring members into line. A third of the membership was expelled and warned not to contact other ex- members. Recently, however, these ex-members have found one another through the Peregrine Foundation, designed to help them cope with the "outside" world. Bohlken-Zumpe now lives with her husband, also an ex-Bruderhoefer, in The Netherlands. Hers is a heart- wrenching but inspiring story.
KITfolk live along a continuum of attitudes that reflect all shades of opinion. The spectrum represents the varying distances or degrees that these individuals have traveled from the Bruderhof's values in their quest for their identity and self-expression. It seems possible to discern five major divisions:
The Lassez-faires : those who want get along with their lives and leave the Bruderhof to evolve or devolve on its own.
The Free Speechers : a mild activist attitude that includes the publication of personal memoirs or perhaps a desire for the wider distribution of the KIT Newsletters and annuals to include libraries, schools, other religious organizations and the like.
The Dialoguers : the group who desires dialogue and/or conflict resolution in either a 'secular' or 'sacred' context.
Secular: This latter category of approach first highlights the problem that KIT is a non-membership forum. In order to negotiate with Bruderhof leadership, there must be duly voted-on and accredited group representatives. But since there exists no membership group per se, there would have to be created a membership organization who then could claim status as a group and decide on representation, policies and procedures.
Sacred context dialoguers find themselves up against a similar problem because there is no philosophical editorial policy or slant to KIT whereby a Christian or other religious context could be advanced as a united voice.
The Activists (let's "do something!" about them!): This category breaks down into preferences for potential litigation, boycotts, picketing, exposes, sky-writing, bungee-cord jumping for brief visits. Activists similarly have no formal platform for organizing and decision-making.
A final category includes either those who have recently emerged and must focus exclusively on re-entry, or those who were so damaged that their attention is entirely focused on psychological healing.
Martin &Burgel Johnson on behalf of the Bruderhof, Plough Publishing House
A MESSAGE TO OUR FRIENDS CONCERNING PALMGROVE, NIGERIA, 6/25/94: Dear friends and Plough readers, As you know, three years ago the leaders of a small congregation in southeast Nigeria wrote to us on behalf of their people, looking to join the Hutterian Brethren. In response we have been working together with them to build up Palmgrove, a community of brotherly sharing and working together, having accepted them fully into the Hutterian Church as they so much seemed to want.
Recently, to our great shock, the very leaders who originally pleaded to join with us secretly assumed complete control of all assets, properties and bank accounts belonging to the Hutterian Church in Nigeria. They declared their wish to be independent and made it clear that we are no longer wanted. When these brothers were confronted about their action, they strongly defended it, even in the face of urgent appeals by our other Nigerian brethren. Because of the general control they have over Palmgrove, we felt that we should not become involved in a power struggle that might seem to be seen as a question of "black versus white" leadership. So we have decided to withdraw from the property with all those wishing to remain faithful to their promises to the church.
We believe that to withdraw, at least temporarily, is more consistent with the Sermon on the Mount than to live together in one community where there are two or more differing parties which cannot reconcile in the spirit of the New Testament. This is very painful for us all, and we hope and pray for a change in the situation so that all can return and continue to build up Palmgrove as a center of brotherly sharing and devotion to the cause of Christ, with no seeking for personal power over others.
We want to strongly emphasize that this is not a struggle against people or of "black" versus "white." The basic issue is a struggle as to which spirit shall prevail. We have made all efforts to leave everything in order for those remaining in Palmgrove. These include many brothers and sisters and young people who, despite their leaders, wish that those of us from Europe and the United States would stay.
To make sure that those left behind would be taken care of physically:
-- all outstanding bills and debts were paid off.
--enough bulk food for at least 6 weeks was acquired (including canned meats sufficient for 4 months).
In addition, we left:
-- a very productive garden and chicken operation for consumption or sale.
-- the means to earn a livelihood from a well-established palm- oil production plant and a flourishing roofing tile industry of tremendous potential, as well as a concrete/brick production operation.
-- seven new, simply furnished apartment houses, a large kitchen and dining room. a power plant, seven or so vehicles and tractor, as well as all our building equipment and tools, etc.
-- a large water storage tank to provide clean drinking water for the whole household. (There is a good supply of bore-hole water.)
-- a substantial sum of money for the community to live on. This was a very hard decision for us to make, but it seemed the only way to keep things peaceful up to the last departure of our American and European members. Most of our African brothers and sisters at Palmgrove want to remain faithful, and we will make every effort to keep in touch with them, hoping either to bring them to one of our other communities, to establish another temporary refuge elsewhere in Nigeria, or best of all, to rejoin them in a newly re-united Palmgrove. We currently have nine Nigerian brothers and sisters living with us already in our other communities.
The door remains open to all those unfaithful ones to be re- united through repentance. We have hope and longing for each one.
We know that God has given much to our whole movement through Palmgrove, and we earnestly believe that what is of God will never be lost and that much more will yet be given. The struggle is not over, but it must be fought with the weapons of the spirit, not with the weapons of the world.
At this point we want to thank all our Plough readers and other Friends who have so faithfully contributed to our effort in Palmgrove. None of this will be in vain.
Burgel and I have only recently returned from a year with our community in Palmgrove. You can imagine how our hearts ache for the circle there and also for the painfully broken trust. Our aim was to build for the kingdom of God in Nigeria, in love and trust alone. We continue to love our brothers and sisters there. But it is obvious that the power-seeking of a few and the peaceful building up of others cannot live side by side for long. The spirit of God flees when not welcomed, and never forces itself on anyone.
On the following pages we reproduce excerpts of recent letters from some of our young novices and household members currently in Palmgrove who all express their longing to remain faithful to their vows and vision.
We greet you very warmly and thank you for all your support and interest. We will keep you in touch with further development in Palmgrove.
Teresa Hsu
Never Too Old To Be Useful by Tuminah Sapawi (in a Singapore newspaper sent by Clementina Jaime via the Hazeltons)
POVERTY was what drove the 94-year-old winner of the 1993 Life Insurance Association (LIA) award, to charity work. When Teresa Hsu was young, her father walked out on the family for another woman. Her mother, who had no education, had to fend for the three girls. "We were so desperately poor that there were many times when we did not even have rice for meals. Instead, we had sweet potatoes, which we grew in the backyard. And with ten small coins that added up to one cent, we bought tofu for added nourishment," says Miss Hsu.
Miss Hsu runs a counseling service for families in distress and the Heart-to-Heart Service, an informal direct-help service that she set up in 1983, which distributes food and provides cash to those in need. She looks after ten families and seven elderly people on a regular basis, work that won her the award in the individual category for her contribution to community service. She received the award yesterday.
The group category was won by Kim Seng Community Clinic, which provides medical consultation, treatment and medicine free or at nominal rates to the poor in the Delta, Havelock and Bukit Ho Swee areas. The annual awards were given in recognition of a person's or a group's contribution to community service. Each award winner receives $5,000, a trophy and a certificate. Last year, the award was given to 41-year-old Pastor Philip Chan Choon Cheng, who set up the Hiding Place Christian Home Mission for ex-drug addicts.
Born in Swatow, a coastal city in south China, Miss Hsu expects no awards or recognition for her involvement in charity work. "You give to the people what you receive from them," she says, recalling neighbors and friends who helped her family when her father left them. Life in China in the early part of the century was hard because of the political upheavals followed by the two World Wars.
"We lived day to day. But we never complained," says Miss Hsu, whose family later moved to Penang in Malaya
In her younger days, she worked as an interpreter as well as in the administrative line. But charity work is closest to her heart, having devoted three-quarters of her life to it. Her work has also taken her off the beaten track, to Paraguay, for example, to help children in need and poor people. Three decades ago, she founded the Home for the Aged Sick on 0.6 ha of land at Jalan Payoh Lai, bought by her older sister, the late Ursula Hsu, who was the principal of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Bukit Timah. The servants' quarters and a bungalow were converted into wards for patients, who grew in number to about 100. When the number got bigger and money became a problem, the two sisters approached the Rotary Club for help. The club agreed, provided that the running of the home be handed over to the Society of the Aged Sick. Miss Hsu became the home's matron until ten years ago, when she retired. No longer qualified to drive because of old age, Miss Hsu is now driven around by six or seven volunteers who take turn to distribute dry rations -rice, sugar, biscuits, beverages -- and monthly cash allowances to the homes of 14 elderly women in Chin Swee Road, and three families in Bukit Merah, Aljunied Road and Ang Mo Kio.
"These people are my 'children'," says Miss Hsu, who never married. "I would not have been able to concentrate on charity work if I had married. If I had been out there doing charity work and it had rained, my thoughts would have turned to my husband at work or my children at home. Were they okay? And the next thing I would have done would probably have been to rush home to attend to them. And what would have happened to my charity work?"
Her generosity is evident from the way she forgave her father. When he fell ill in the early '50s, she brought him from China to Singapore and nursed him till his death. "He was still my father," she says.
------ Book Review ------
The Dark Years Of The Bruderhof
by Katie Funk Wiebe in The Mennonite Weekly Review column, "On My Desk" 6/9/94:
On my desk is Torches Extinguished: Memories of a Communal Bruderhof Childhood in Paraguay, Europe and the USA by Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe published by Carrier Pigeon Press, San Francisco, 1993, 300 Pages
Details of the lives of people who live in intentional communities are seldom revealed to the public. Even less appears about the role and daily experiences of women in such communes. This book, therefore, is rare and significant. It follows two other books written about the same events. In the first one, Torches Together, Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe's grandmother, Emmy Arnold, describes the origin of the Bruderhof, an Anabaptist-related communal movement, in Germany in the 1920s. In 1930 the Bruderhof united with the Hutterian Brethren in North America. The second book, Torches Rekindled, was published by the Bruderhof. It sought to show that through the false leadership of Hans Zumpe, the father of Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe, the communities lost their "light." The Bruderhof refers to this period as the Dark Years. The prophet Heini Arnold rekindled their torches and brought new stability to the Bruderhof.
Bohlken-Zumpe's book returns to the Dark Years to bring to light her view of the leadership conflicts, the shift in goals, the hurtful child-raising practices, the many expulsions (including hers) and what she sees as movement in the direction of cultism. She quotes her grandfather, Bruderhof founder Eberhard Arnold, as saying, "The first generation has the spirit. The second generation, the good example. The third generation, the vivid memory. And the fourth generation is often stuck with all rules and regulations. This will turn them into a sect -- a cult."
This book covers all those stages. In one sense it is the history of the family of Eberhard Arnold. The author describes her childhood as almost idyllic: sheltered, joyous, carefree. She also gives a valuable insider's look at a social movement based on Acts 2. The movement appealed to countless people, particularly after World War II. Founder Eberhard Arnold wanted to live in the pattern of the early church, in a spirit of humility, controlled by the Spirit. Arnold's choice to succeed him as leader was his son [sic], Hans Zumpe. Zumpe led the Bruderhof for 20 years until he was expelled. Bohlken-Zumpe gives her view of the period that nearly tore the Bruderhof apart. The turmoil hurt the lives of many people, including the author, who was expelled as a young adult. Hundreds were sent away from the communities in a kind of purging or left voluntarily. Bruderhof communities in Europe and South America were evacuated and sold. In 1974 their new leader, Heini Arnold, led the Bruderhof into reuniting with the Hutterite communities of North America.
The Bruderhof, according to the author, lost its original spirit of love and nurture. Instead, Bruderhof leaders made one of their main tasks judging the "spirit of the brothers and sisters." In essence, they became evil chasers, especially searching for interesting sins, usually related to sex, beginning with young children.
Children grew up in "a special garden with special soil and fertilizers and with a fence to protect from parasites and disease." They were not taught to use their minds or make decisions. These were made by the leaders. Children coming out of such an environment are stunted in their ability to face the world. They are so enmeshed in what they have been taught that it is almost impossible to disentangle themselves as adults. Independent thought is discouraged, and "group think" takes over.
This broke the self-esteem and confidence of some children. The author sees such children as sacrificed for the sake of the community. Conscientious members found themselves trying above all not to do the wrong thing rather than trying to do the right thing. Zeal for outward piety overcame the goal of helping the needy. Cultism took over.
She concludes: "For many of us Bruderhof children, it took much pain and anguish and many years of living away from the communities to discover that we also are held in God's almighty hand. We had to learn that our individual consciences were a precious gift from God. Scholar John A. Hostetler calls this "The best book I have read about the Bruderhof."
The following list of concerns was compiled from various contributions to the KIT newsletters and from concerns and personal experiences expressed and discussed at various KIT conference workshops. It does not pretend to be an exhaustive compilation, but just to serve as a starting point for further discussion and dialogue. -- KIT staff.
List of Expressed Concerns
Concern A) Visiting privileges: Although guaranteed verbally and IN WRITING by Johann Christoph Arnold, visitation rights have been denied to almost all those who read -- or who write letters to -- the KIT Newsletter. When this is pointed out to the Bruderhof leadership, their rationale is that "these are family matters that each family decides individually." However. that is an evasion. All that Johann Christoph has to do is put a 'spin' on a remark such as "I'll leave it in your hands as a family to decide what to do about these relatives of yours that are connected to this horrible newsletter..." Also, we definitely know that there is no difference between what an individual or an individual family decides to do and what Christoph decides -- and the brotherhood rubber-stamps. The system is coercive and monolithic.
Concern B) So-called "clearances" in the children's community: In the past, as recently as the 1980s, children were isolated and interrogated for lengthy periods of time either over some so-called "impurity" (such as commenting on two mating animals) or so-called "sin." Frequently the children did not know why they were being interrogated or could not even understand the implied sexual references. A six-year-old girl once whispered to her friend, "Just tell them that we looked at each others' bottoms." Children have been removed from their families and/or their age group for long periods of time, sometimes for more than a year. Many who grew up in the Bruderhof suffer from the trauma of these incidents, even after many years have passed.
In the past, the Bruderhof practiced canings, thrashings, boxing of ears and switching of girls' bare legs with willow or mulberry switches. For the most part these physical abuses were stopped in the 1950s when the Bruderhof started communities in the USA, but certain individuals continued aspects of these practices. A particularly extreme example was the Servant of the Word at the Deer Spring community in Norfolk, Connecticut, during the 1970s. He was responsible for the departure of up to fifteen boys from the communities because of his tendency to pull them around his office by the hair and hit them. In one case he actually inflicted permanent damage. The Bruderhof's emphasis on "purity" in the children has led to many abuses, psychological, sexual, emotional as well as physical. Their addiction to what has been labeled "worm theology" (the theory that Man is hopelessly sinful and must die to his/her own sense of self) has led to many psychological breakdowns and depressions, especially among the younger women. The same cluster of symptoms has been treated so often by the psychiatrists and therapists in the surrounding towns that it was given the name "The Society Syndrome."
Concern C) We are concerned about the paranoia running rampant among the leadership that has infected the membership as a whole. The Bruderhof seems to be withdrawing more and more from society-at-large and from the Christian fellowship in general (including the Anabaptist groups such as the Society of Friends, the Mennonites, etc.) An indication of this is that their Elder, Christoph Arnold, armed himself with two handguns, and owns a permit to carry a concealed weapon. This gives the lie to the Bruderhof's witness as a pacifist organization.
Concern D) Children are given college educations or specialized trainings on a selective basis that include a caste and class value system. Wealthy relatives on the outside tend to improve a child's chances to go to college. For children who leave the community after college, Bruderhof leaders dun them for repayment of tuition moneys, threatening them either with a lawsuit or with loss of visiting privileges to their family until the money is paid.
Concern E) The possibility exists of medication being used to control the moods of individuals within the Bruderhof. According to one source, there seems to have been an increase in the amount of antidepressants ordered. In one recent case in Pennsylvania, a member was brought to a local hospital so overdosed on prescription drugs that the staff reprimanded the attending member. There have been other reported cases of young women seriously overmedicated by the Bruderhof medical staff.
Concern F) Families who are kicked out or who re-settle outside do so with minimum assistance from the community. They have no health insurance. Frequent cases are reported of individuals being driven to the Greyhound depot and given $50, or families with eight children told to apply for Welfare and food stamps.
Concern G) Upon a person becoming a Novice, all his or her worldly possessions are taken by the Bruderhof. If the person decides that the life is not to their taste, they leave all their possessions behind except for perhaps a suitcase of clothes and whatever personal objects they keep in their room. In certain cases, people were kept just long enough to sign over their property and then, a few days later, told to leave.
Concern H) In some instances the Bruderhof grabbed for inheritances against the express wishes of the deceased. They have harassed family members on the outside over legacies and trust funds.
Concern I) A tendency exists in the Bruderhof, the Hutterites and other 'withdrawn' sects to view property and goods in the "outside world" as tainted by the devil. With that attitude held firmly in mind, anything that can be 'liberated' for the Church (and by implication, for oneself) becomes a minor victory. This attitude carries over to milking the government bureaucracies for whatever the communities can get away with: Social Security, Food Stamps, Medicare, School Lunch Programs, 'cooking' the account books, etc. etc.)
Concern J) The German Reparation moneys paid to individuals in the Bruderhof in the early 1960s to compensate them for their lack of education, etc., should be given to those named on the checks. The German victims never saw one pfennig of those moneys that were due them. Also, it seems that the family who now owns the original Rhon Bruderhof in Germany is having to buy it over again by paying the Bruderhof for the value of the property (the German government's somewhat strange way of settling reparations on property) even though they themselves bought it from the family who originally bought it from the Nazis as confiscated property. Does this seem fair to these poor people? It is not, after all, as if the Bruderhof is a poor organization. They should let the current owners off the hook.
Concern K) Financial support for elderly indigent ex-members, and contributing to the medical and therapeutic costs for others suffering from emotional abuse.
Concern L) Speaking of Social Security, why does the Bruderhof place all their elderly folks on SSI? By some strange technicality, it seems that everyone there over the age of 65 can receive a monthly check from the Federal government even though, to our knowledge, the communities do not pay into Social Security and also have a per capita income high above the poverty level!
Concern M) The Bruderhof keeps extensive records on any and all ex-members and members. These include letters of confession that can be used -- and are used -- to smear or control the individual, sometimes even brought up many years later. In the outside world this would be called "blackmail." Their manipulation and misuse of confidential data stands in direct contradiction to the Bruderhof's own insistence that once something is forgiven someone, it is forever forgotten. One outstanding example of misuse of the archives was the publication of ex-Servant of the Word Gwynn Evans' letter of contrition and confession in "Torches Rekindled" without including his second letter that withdrew his statements. Also the recent publication and dissemination of the personal confessions of members of a Hutterite colony was judged in extremely poor taste and 'beyond the pale' by many other Hutterite colonies. It served to confirm them in their stand against the Bruderhof's attempts to interject their values and life style into the Old Order Hutterite colonies.
Concern O) Rumors abound of financial mismanagement and possible skullduggery, including money-skimming, private bank accounts, credit cards for the senior servants, and odd money trails that disappear over the horizon. Are the books being 'cooked?'
Concern P) The Bruderhof does not allow its members free access to outside information. Mail is scanned and carefully watched. In the past it was even censored by the Servant and in certain cases not delivered at all.
Concern Q) The Bruderhof system stifles dissent and does not offer a real opportunity for its members or their children to make informed decisions. Over the members' heads hangs the very real threat of expulsion with nothing to show for many years of faithful service except a very large family and no credit or work references. The "No Gossip" rule, known as "The First Law In Sannerz," protects the leader from any small group getting together to discuss the leader's failings before confronting him as a group. Thus each individual must approach the Servant with his or her own private accusation and thereby exposing him or herself to the very real danger of immediate expulsion.
Concern R) The 'no personal property' rule disenfranchises the members just as thoroughly as if they were in a perpetual state of servitude.
Concern S ) Women are treated as second-class citizens. The Bruderhof still remains an orthodox patriarchy, with the woman's place seen as in the home, in the kitchen and as the bearer of many children. She is expected to express herself in meetings through her husband's voice, keep her head covered in public and not talk too loudly or laugh too much.
Summing Up: The Bruderhof system has trapped both the rank- and-file members and the leadership in a stagnant puddle of fear and rigidified power. Power that is not shared becomes a dictatorship. Power that is not based on love becomes authoritarian and judgmental. This is not what Christ taught his friends and followers, and the hope for the future is that the Bruderhof can find their way back to their First Love, drop their fears, peek out from behind the demons of their own making and discover that the world out here wants them, begs them, to become their own best dream: the devoted followers of the Universal Christ of Love and Understanding (for others the coming Messiah, or the Avatar Kalki, or the Maitreya Buddha) whose coming world democracy of will embrace everyone everywhere! PEACE!
Migg Fischli 7/15-27/94: Arrived at Robertsbridge [Darvell Bruderhof in England] at 2:45 PM. Uphill walk to Darvell entrance, and meeting with Heimer, the gardener. He proudly showed me his thriving vegetables. Also he offered me a lift to the 'hof with my heavy pack. I accepted. "Gottlieb [Migg's son - ed] is now living in the main building," he said. Mathias (my grandson) he called and called again (he is now storekeeper). Nobody arrived. Then he called Sheila, Nathan's (my grandchild) wife, apparently working with him. Nobody appeared. So I went on the center under the big nice trees. One of the Hussy twins greeted me warmly. We went to the Snack Room of the workshop where the brothers had just finished their break. I was met with great, genuine joy, and warm words were exchanged. I met Olive Rutherford and had very good understanding, also a cup of juice was offered for my thirsty tongue. Dani Meier arrived, and a bit later Jere Marchant. Since I am Dani's uncle, I asked about his father Hans, about the health situation of his daughter Christa who recently had a baby and was flown out of Palmgrove [in Nigeria - ed] because of severe health problems. I asked him who was taking his place in Palmgrove. He evaded and did not even tell me that the Bruderhof had moved out of there (of which I had heard only rumors). They challenged me again (perhaps the 12th time) to keep to my baptism vow, and I explained (for the 12th time) that they had broken the vow to me, for which they officially asked my pardon after 20 years. My question about whether there was a Gemeindschaftsgewissen -- church conscience, was not answered. How often have I found out that 'no answer' is also an answer!
Meanwhile Jere was constantly watching the door of the main building -- Gottlieb's residence -- and the situation on the 'hof intently. After an hour of talking, I wondered aloud why Gottlieb had not turned up to greet me, his 78-year-old father. "Gottlieb and his wife Celia had suddenly traveled to Michelshof [in Germany - ed]," I was told. That was a great surprise to me, for between Gottlieb and me there was a very serious and important talk at stake (he had accused me of believing lies concerning community matters, something that I wanted to get clear about regarding weapons [Christoph's handguns? - ed]). Without answering my letter concerning this matter, he just sent me a short card requesting an eye-to-eye talk with me, but outside of Darvell. Now, since I lived in Switzerland, how could I name a place to meet? Darvell itself was simple and good enough for me. I had announced my coming weeks earlier over the phone and when he started to question me about KIT, I laughed at him and said I would not talk about this over the phone because this would become too expensive for me, but that I was just coming for a visit and anticipate with great joy meeting his family -- also my family -- my grandchildren and great- grandchildren -- as well as the whole community for which I had given 26 of the most active years of my life.
In my talk with them, I told them that my parents had an open house -- the front doors never locked, that Eberhard Arnold in his various Swiss journeys always stayed in our house with his fares paid and all kinds of help given to him, his family and the community. They also gave three of their five children to the Community -- Margrit (later Meier) Trudi ('Trautel,' later Dreher) and me, the youngest one called 'Migg.' When neither Gottlieb nor Celia nor any of my family appeared (only Dani Meier and my niece (Neffa), it dawned on me that I was not welcome. I felt that in their eyes, I must be a very dangerous person (something quite new to me). So I said again that I wanted to meet with joy my family, big and small , and ever so many former brothers and sisters whom I still love and care for. They, the "Brothers," suggested that I could stay with my daughter Susanne in Olifant St Peter. Now, she was in hospital recovering from surgery (replacement of her left knee.) So I asked them to find a place, a hotel, for me where I would expect the visit of Gottlieb and Celia one afternoon, Jessica and Jeff Bowman with their children the next afternoon, Mathias and Sheila and child another afternoon, and then [illegible] with wife and child. Also I would have liked to see Johnny Robinson. And, as hospitality goes against hospitality, I took it for granted that they would cover my hotel bill.
Their hearts being blocked for a straight answer, they asked for another "Servant" who presently arrived on a bike (was it magic?). They started to confer with one another, but since I have a great aversion against being handled, I got up and said, "God has created not only Darvell but the whole world around it, and we're all created as children of God." With that I marched out and walked to the big tree in the center where I had left my pack. Not a soul was to be seen. So even looking at me seemed to be ever so dangerous -- or did they want to play 'Hide and Seek' as children of God? Since I did not want to cause trouble, I shouldered my pack and marched sadly down the driveway. For five minutes I sat on the bench at the bottom, thinking that perhaps somebody might be running after me. But no, so up with my forty-pound pack to the next bench overlooking the shallow valley with the 'hof at the back. I needed time to take leave. Reflecting on my idea to meet my family outside in a hotel or some other place, I concluded that this would not work well because I felt a great wave of fear against me. It would have quenched all warm, genuine and childlike contact between us, something I had hoped for so much. In fact, not only from my side, but I am sure that deep in their hearts, my children and grandchildren felt the same. What a "black-out!" had come over them! What a "black-out" is smoldering within the community I lived for and still love! That went through my mind, and I still ponder over it now.
Two cars drove past towards the outside world and waved to them. No response. Taking my pack, I went on. Another car came from outside. A young bearded brother sat in it and he stopped, opening the window. "Hey, Migg, where are you going?" he asked.
"Well, I am going again," I said. "I must be a very bad and dangerous persons. They would not let me stay. So I am going. But I will pray for you, that the right light may break in."
"And we will pray for you," he said and drove on.
For justice's sake, I was offered a cup of juice. After leaving "the Holy Land where only the loving spirit rules," I went down the road and was ready for a soothing cup of beer at "The Ostrich." After a while, I went in the back garden to sit outside.
"What can I do for you?" asked the barkeeper, noticing my returning with my pack and sitting there with a not-just-jolly-go- happy face.
"Please, could you find a place for me to stay overnight?" I answered. "A Bed and Breakfast or a not too expensive hotel?"
He phoned around for at least ten minutes and found a place in the neighborhood called "The Swan."
"Would you please phone a taxi to take me there?" I asked.
"If you wait a half an hour, we will take you there," he said.
"How kind! Thank you!" I replied.
So he and his lady took me there. On arrival, he refused the money I had prepared and instead said,
"We invite you to have supper with us. What would you like to drink as an aperitif?"
Of course I accepted gladly, and the innkeeper took me up to the tiny bedroom he could let just for a night. We then had supper together and as our conversation grew good and deeper, we exchanged addresses.
"We are going to be married in September," they said.
"Where are you going for your honeymoon?" I asked. "Will you see me in Switzerland?"
"No, we will perhaps fly over, but we will land in Egypt. But we promise you a photo and a Xmas card."
Well, I went to bed with a very sad heart, but also with a happy one. I wondered and pondered about speaking of love and doing love.
Name Withheld, a private letter to Mr. Peter Brose:
I have been aware of your little story about the Hutterian Society of Brothers in the Register Citizen, the published response from Mrs. Tsukroff and your follow-up letter most recently. Honestly, it reminds me of the story of the three blind men trying to describe an elephant! Each of you brings a different perspective to the description of the Bruderhof. Yours is that of a frequent visitor, while Mrs. Tsukroff and my spouse lived in the community for many years, and that long association offers them a radically different view. Which is correct? Perhaps both have validity.
I've had the pleasure of meeting many ex-Bruderhoefers over the past five years and most have openly expressed fond memories of their time living in community. Some I've met have returned to the life and, while no longer in touch, seem completely content with their decision to live inside. Many others who have left and remain outside have spoken of deep problems within the communities about which, I daresay, you have not become aware.
For example (in your letter) you mention a pacifistic policy of no guns or drugs. Are you aware that the senior Elder of the HSOB was (and may continue to be) licensed by the State of New York to carry a concealed weapon for the purposes of self-defense? The weapon in question was a .44 magnum revolver. When the license was revealed (public record in NY state), an explanation was offered that the gun was acquired for the protection of community members from rabid animals. You may be aware, as most would be, that the weapon described is not suitable for the purpose stated. It is manufactured solely for the purpose of shooting people -- and the size and calibre makes it extremely effective for that purpose.
When applying for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in NY, one must have several character witnesses. Not one of the witnesses for the permit in question is a member of the Hutterian community. One, I believe, is the owner of a tavern in Rifton, NY. Therefore, I ask, how could a community member faced by a rabid animal have known on whom to call...? The whole story doesn't wash.
Please believe me when I say that I'm not trying to badger you into changing your mind. One would need a great deal more information than I could possibly offer in order to change the convictions you have built up over a period of time -- and, even if provided, you might still hold to your original belief. Just the same, as an intelligent man, you surely will appreciate any information that might help you to understand another person's perspective. Perhaps others may respond to your correspondence, and all I would ask is that you consider the information provided in an open-minded manner. If you have questions, ask them of me or any others who may respond. Ask them of Bruderhof members who, I suspect, will evade straight answers or be unable to provide them -- because they will not be at the leadership level and thereby lack the information required to answer them.
I will ask you, please, not to use my name in raising any of these questions with your community friends. We have relatives within the community and wish to maintain whatever familial relationships we may still have, a goal we've found difficult to accomplish. At the same time, we believe the whole truth about the community is vitally impoortant and must be told openly.
Is the community a cult? I've read the books on cults and hold one belief. Perhaps you've read them as well, but I don't believe you've asked the questions of the right people, both within and without, required to find an accurate answer. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Very truly yours,
Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe to 'Viewpoint,' Mennonite Weekly Review: This is a response to a letter written by my brother-in-law Martin Johnson from the Pleasant View Bruderhof to the MWR 7-21-94 in answer to a book review by Katie Funk Wiebe June the 9th "On my Desk" and of Elaine Sommers Rich's comments April 21st 1994 "thinking'.... " concerning my book Torches Extinguished: Memories of a Communal Childhood.:
Any one who has truly read my book with an open mind will feel that there is nothing within that wants to destroy the Bruderhof communities started by my grandfather, Dr. Eberhard Arnold, in the 1920s. No, my concern lies much deeper: How on earth is it possible that a Christian community rejects their own children and twists their words into lies to make them fit the enormous fear of being exposed to what they really are? I do not intend to get into discussion of my word against your [Martin's - ed] word, but I do want to react to some serious accusations. The answer to almost all problems concerning the Bruderhof lies in the power of their Elder -- their leader. In the last Plough : issue of Summer/Autumn 1994, my uncle Heini Arnold defined what leadership means:
"True Leadership means service, so it is a terrible thing to
use it as a position of power over others. When such abuse
of leadership takes place in a church community, it is especially
devilish, because brothers and sisters give themselves
voluntarily, trustingly open-heartedly to the church. In a
dictatorial state, people might yield to a greater power even
though their soul rejects it as evil. But in a brotherhood of
believers, where members trust their leaders, the misuse
of power is real soul-murder!"
What and who is our leader? I believe Jesus Christ alone. Once we let go of this leading hand and take and accept leadership from man, we let go of the guiding hand of Jesus himself. Fear will take over the peace of our mind, as we fear the man who has power over our soul. How can the Bruderhof Community be so blind that they print such a statement without realizing that this is exact the sin they have fallen into?? Is it an attempt to extract the splinter in our brother's eye without realizing the blindness caused by the beam in our own eye??
The Bruderhof of Eberhard Arnold will never become a Hutterite community, because they lack humility to accept their place within this large church. No, they will always want to be the enlightened ones to show others the true way.
Now my reaction to some of Martin Johnson's statements:
1). When I was excluded in January, 1960, it was because I was asked to examine my true self and whether my baptism vows (1954) were really taken in the full understanding of what it means to follow Christ. (I had been baptized by my father who was shunned from the church, so all who were baptized by him had to reconsider their true calling!!) My being sent away from the Community was, as far as I understood, because I was not in the right spirit of mind. The leaders wanted me confess to some sin, but I had no such sin to please them with.
No Martin, this book was NOT written as a defense of an unrepentant attitude, nor to destroy your attempt to follow early Christianity, but it was written to make clear, that the Bruderhof is gliding away from its original source -- the love that embraces all men alike!
2). That you, Martin, experienced your "distance from the Bruderhof" as a great spiritual blessing is your personal experience, but you must not forget that you came from the outside world, a student from a Quaker family, and that you had an extremely good job with IBM in Kingston! We community children were left to swim or drown with no help, cut off from our families.
3). Please do not put yourself on a pedestal about bringing LOVE into this desperate world where more and more churches condone, tolerate and even defend terrible sexual practices! What matters is not the "stand" you take, but the faith and love that will embrace all of mankind! You feel attacked, especially by the publishers of my book, The Peregrine Foundation, and you dare to say: "Her and their only aim is to destroy our commitment to Jesus and the witness of our Hutterian and Anabaptist forefathers ....... because they do not accept their lifestyle!" This is a most terribly judgmental statement! You also say that during the last 30 years a lot has changed. Why then are the fruits of the Community tree so rotten and so many of your young people in such great inner turmoil and need?
4. That the Community mail is and has been censored is, for all of us coming from the Community, common knowledge. Do not deny this Martin. You will make yourself more guilty in doing so. I have not heard from Martin or any of my family for years. So let us at least be honest!
5. Martin Johnson asks for the Community, "Why are extracts of Bohlken -Zumpe's book published so uncritically and without asking for our feelings and whether what she said is true!" Martin could have written to me, but he did not, nor has anyone of my family, although I do keep on writing to my mother. Here again I do feel the fear -- FEAR! -- that the practices inside the Community will be brought out into broad daylight. Why should I lie, it is my own family -- my home -- the nest I was born into. If Mennonite friends see what is happening to their brothers, they can reach out to them and help them back to solid ground and a solid foundation of faith and humility in Jesus Christ. Rejecting lies is one thing, but being open for a brotherly word of advice and correction is another thing! I think it is quite wicked to hide behind the word of Jesus: That "we must expect lies to be told about the faithful," and bringing up the story of the rumor that the early Christians were eating their children. (Which I have never heard before!) In this context the story is used to convince the reader that my book is full of lies and distortions!! I do not doubt that the individual is faithful, but the leadership has forced the Community as a whole to make themselves guilty of a mass hysteria that allows terrible things to happen, especially to the young folks of the Community and their children.
If the light of Jesus is really burning and shining in the Communities, there would be no darkness and the rays of light would be the witness of "the city on the hill." My book was mailed to the Bruderhof free, by myself (to my brother Ben Zumpe) and I do not believe that all the Hutterian Bruderhoefe had it free of charge. The Peregrine Foundation is not out to destroy trust and bring division, they have tried again and again to come to a verbal understanding and arrange a meeting with the Bruderhof. But the Bruderhof has rejected all their efforts!
Martin writes: "As a Anabaptist church, we are not about to bring suits for libel against the author, as they well know and so they attempt to destroy our inner life with great inner freedom and abandon. All people of faith should reject this!"
In answer to this one, I want to ask the reader to please read my book. It was not written as a book in the first place, but more to order my confused mind about the Bruderhof and the life I was baptized into with heart and soul. As a member of the family of the founder of the community, I hung on to the last shreds of that life until I felt: "This is not what God wants from me, to compromise for the sake of a lifestyle. No he wants a free and committed heart of love and faith for our fellowmen, and if the Bruderhof want to bring suit for 'that libel,' I should say: Go right ahead, I am a free Christian and have nothing to hide, not from them and not from God!
In closing, just one more word: Living in community of goods does not provide us with a free ticket into heaven. No, it is the individual commitment of faith and love that counts.
---- In Remembrance ----
Miriam Brailey
by Margot Wegner Purcell with additional recollections from Adolf Wegner
I first got to know Miriam Brailey when she moved to Oak Lake in the early years of the 'hof. She came along with the Kurtz family and their cat, Mittens (the first cat to live in Oak Lake, and he seemed to have attached himself to Miriam more than to the Kurtz family). I was in the middle/upper school years at the time, and Miriam seemed to me to be a powerful individual. She was tall and freely spoke her mind.
Miriam was our first on-the-'hof doctor. Before she arrived, all medical care was done in the nearby towns or taken care of by a doctor who came by on a weekly/monthly basis. An office was set up on the first floor of the main building with a room for her next door. She was a wonderful doctor to us. I was impressed that she had completed medical training and had so many other interests. I always felt very comfortable talking to her about anything, and she always listened with great interest.
I don't know much about her pre-Bruderhof years. All I recall is that she came from Baltimore, MD, had trained and/or worked at Johns Hopkins. I had many occasions to be treated by Miriam because I had many ear infections as a child. She was so gentle and patient. Many times after being treated in her office we would talk together while Mittens would beg to be the center of attention. She knew that my brother Adolf and I loved the cat too. She treated Mittens with so much love, and spoke to him as if he were a person. She called him "Mr. Mittens," and we loved to hear her discuss things with him.
She loved to play "brain games' in the lobby with Charles Masterson, Alex and Ruth Dodd, and anyone else who could keep up with them. The older children would be taught how to play, while the younger children would group around them and try to understand these complicated games. Her unending knowledge, which she shared readily, impressed us children. She had an infectious laugh that I can still hear, and a wonderful, dry sense of humor.
Afterwards we lived on different 'hofs, so I did not get to see her as much. I saw her again on my weekend visits to Woodcrest when I was in nurse's training and working as a nurse. She would always greet me and TALK to me. She always remembered my name and did not call me by my sisters' names (which many folks did). She wanted to hear how I was doing and how life was for me. She looked much thinner and bowed-down. Her spirit seemed crushed, which was distressing to see because she had been so vibrant. The sparkle in her eyes was still there, but I could sense that it could not light the fire she would have loved. Her vision had deteriorated, and now she required thicker lenses (I don't know if she was legally blind near the end of her life). The last few times I visited and saw her, she was being pushed to meals in a wheelchair. This made any conversation we had more difficult, as other ears were listening, but she still had a warm greeting and handshake for me.
On one visit I realized that she was not there, and inquired about it. I was told that she was not with us at this time (this did not surprise me, as several years before that my grandmother had been put out too, only to return as a former shadow of herself). I did not realize the situation Miriam Brailey was in. It was several years later that I learned she had died in a nursing home, away from those who loved her.
I am angry for the way she was treated. I am sad that I wasn't given the chance to be there for her. It upsets me greatly that she was "dumped" by the Community. She was a great asset to the community in Oak Lake, and all of my family remember her with much love.
Name Withheld, 10/3/94: I have opened the latest Plough, after first having thrown it into the waste bin, but then I retrieved it for a quick scan and to see what they (the B'hof) have to say for themselves. "Anabaptism Today" was the article that caught my eye, and I will include excerpts with this letter. My blood just boiled when I read superlative, hypocritical statements such as:
"How to choose the right minister for one's congregation
is a burning concern. Many participants, including ourselves,
have experienced the disastrous reality of false shepherds.
We spoke about choosing ministers by full consensus as
opposed to the usual majority vote."
Well, the workshop participants were being misled by a pack of wolves who are out to devour the weak and stragglers. Even to refer to this group of dictators as "false shepherds" is, to put it mildly, doing a disservice to the English language. "Choosing a minister by full consensus..." and this idea being "new to most participants," is not at all strange, since in the real world, no such thing as "full consensus" exists, and at the SOB, only because the hierarchy wields absolute power and dissenters are immediately ostracized and expunged, so that they might be prevented from contaminating others. It stinks to high heaven! Regarding consensus:
"It is possible only if each member of the congregation
is active and alive in the church, and filled with the Spirit,
and if the ministers encourage each church member to
take full responsibility for the spiritual quality of the church."
Translated, this means that what "Tehdel" decides is synonymous with "the Spirit." "The ministers encourage each church member" means that if they don't toe the line, they are kicked out.
"The Kingdom of God is far bigger than this question,
and far bigger than each of us as individuals."
But why don't they act accordingly? "As individuals" means that independent thought and action is out of the question, and "the role of unmarried persons within the body of believers" means that these individuals are treated as second-class citizens, which actually is stated by Veronica, one of the participants, albeit in a different way. A single sister sums up beautifully how she has come to terms with her second-class citizenship: "I do not see them first as male or female, married or unmarried, but as persons who need my love and service." Yes, she has to do all the extra work, helping to look after other people's children, doing extra chores, since "the family should have extra time together."
Ed Zundel commented about the Bruderhof, "I can see by the relationships between you that you don't really have a problem between men and women."
Now, of course, he can't since the woman is totally subjugated to the man. The SOB still bases their subjugation of women to a lowly position within their structure on Paul's statement that the man should be the head of the household as Christ is the head of the church, and that the women should be silent and obedient to the husband.
"None of our visitors had experienced church discipline
as a redemptive, freeing experience. From our own
experience, we know how harsh and cold church
discipline can be when wrongly applied. But a number
of Darvell brothers and sisters were able to witness
to the blessing they felt in their lives through the
discipline of the church. They also pointed out that
it is the sin, not church discipline, that separates a
person from the church. The goal of discipline is to
bring the sinner back into the unity of the church. A
person who has been placed under discipline should
therefore be treated with love."
How can they say "church discipline can be [harsh and cold] when wrongly applied"? I like the qualifier wrongly! So they, inevitably, make the decision when an expulsion is in "the right spirit," when it is right, etc. etc. I have never read such a set of bigoted ideas and arrogant self-justifications! "It is the sin that separates a person from the church." Who defines what the sin is? Is it that it is a dissenting, a critical awareness by an "ordinary member" who questions the hierarchy that not all is as it should be?
"The goal of discipline is to bring the sinner (dissenter) back into the unity of the church," which means that until the individual renounces his/her uniqueness of his/her "self," he/she cannot be part of this esoteric gathering, club membership supreme, the selection being made by those in power.
The statement "should be treated with love" implies that this does not always happen. It is an admission that things have gone gravely wrong in the group, and still have not been rectified. "Church discipline can only be a blessing if the church is spiritually alive." Very true, but since the expulsions by the SOB are so vindictive and cruel, they certainly have =not been a blessing, and the SOB for this reason certainly is not spiritually alive.
The "Education for the Kingdom" workshop, led by Darvell teachers Peter and Lisa Maas, claim that the focus of education "must be on the whole child within a living community of faith." Well, I have never heard of a dead community of faith. If one believes in something, the mere nature of belief is an active, participatory involvement of an individual in either his/her own faith or contributory to corporate worship. It therefore must be living, which goes without saying and becomes, in the context, as stated, tautological. Now the group holds the key to stated or non-stated criteria of expected and accepted behavior. Therefore it is the group that shapes and forms the child when living in intentional community. The parents have very little input into the character formation of the child because parental divergence from the group ethos would result in conflict situations for the child and parents alike, and therefore will be avoided at all costs.
"This goal can be achieved only if the community as a whole and especially the parents-- the emphasis should have been on the community as a whole. Then it would have lent credibility to the "communal" rearing of children. This realization then also would exclude holding the parents responsible for the "wrongdoings" of their children. The intentional community would have to examine its role as educator and look at its "failures" openly and squarely without passing the buck and holding the parents responsible if children and young people fail to come up to their expected standard of behavior.
It is remarkable how the SOB manages to mix metaphors and linguistic concepts for which they hold a frame of reference totally different from that of "outsiders." It is quite clear, when one reads this article, that the participating nonmembers have quite different expectations and frames of reference. Both groups speak totally different languages, but don't even realize that this is happening. It is also interesting that the SOB writes, edits and prints the article, and that we have only limited'reported input by nonmembers, reported by an SOB member within his frame of reference, prejudices, hopes and fears.
Blair Purcell, 10/22/94: This morning, on the car radio, I heard a PBS commentator remarking upon the 50th anniversary of the first kamikaze attack on an Allied ship by Japan during World War II in the Pacific. I believe he indicated the first casualty was HMAS Australia. Several hundred more vessels ultimately were sunk by Japanese fliers using this futile method of suicidal warfare -- and after all, the Japanese still lost the war.
The commentator, Scott Simon, went on to draw a parallel between those long-dead pilots and the young man who apparently just blew himself up along with more than twenty others riding a civilian bus in Israel. He noted that both the pilots and the young man died bravely while firmly believing in the certainty of eternal life which would directly result from the sacrifice each willingly undertook.
The most significant difference, however, between the pilots and the bus-riding suicide bomber was in the nature of the targets that each had selected against which to carry out their missions. The pilots directed their attacks against military objectives with a strategic purpose in mind -- the sinking of allied vessels engaged in an active, shooting war against their comrades and homeland. The bus- bomber targeted civilians -- retirees, women, children -- engaged in their normal, peacetime activities.
Simon then asked: how anyone could expect entrance into the kingdom of heaven over the mangled bodies of such innocents?
Likewise, there are those in the Bruderhofs willing to give up their own eternal lives in the flawed pursuit of the "right" way to address God. Not only do they surrender their own freedom of thought and association and respect for differing views, but they are also completely willing to pile up the "bodies" of innocents in this pursuit.
Are the victims of war only to be found physically bleeding and mangled only on traditional battlefields or buses -- or may they not also be found in homes of Bruderhof children throughout the world, suffering the heartbreak of parent separated from child, brother from sister, grandparent from grandchild and friend from friend?
War is not just the taking of physical lives. For a reportedly pacifist organization like the Bruderhof to practice the type of warfare they conduct while claiming to be "peace-loving" and "pacifistic" must be the ultimate hypocrisy.
THESE wounds manifest themselves in the agony of maladjustment to the outside world, alcoholism, broken relationships, all the individual stories from these KIT pages. Some have physically died from the wounds.
And the members of the Bruderhof also must be included in the list of victims for, in the same manner as in all wars, they suffer precisely the agonies they inflict -- the same heartbreak of family dissolution in flawed pursuit of the kingdom of heaven.
As with kamikaze pilots and bus-bombers, the B'hof "system" developed by it's leaders to achieve the objective of everlasting life has allowed too many bodies to pile up along the way. They, too, cannot achieve their goal -- it's just another suicide mission.
Ramon Sender 11/29/94: I believe that in connection with some recent testimony from a seeking Christian brother (and B'hof graduate.) I have been able to put my finger on the corruption at the heart of the Bruderhof. What is it? It involves the vow taken at Baptism "always to speak out if one sees that the Church is moving in the wrong direction." The irony is, if one speaks out, one is slammed into church discipline and THEN the truth comes out. And what is the truth? That the REAL baptism is not the baptism by water upon confession, but a baptism by the fire of church discipline, i.e. by the new member's willingness to surrender to church discipline whether applied correctly or not. You must be willing to be crucified by the Servants for the sake of your brothers' sins, the rationale being that, since we are all sinners anyway in the eyes of God, what does it matter if it was this particular brother in question that erred or not? The tragedy is that what dies in this crucifixion is the voice of the individual conscience -- and truth. What emerges from the surrender to the will of the leadership ("Whether I am actually guilty or not, I am guilty because we are all guilty and I must submit to the Servants' superior vision.") is a hollowed-out husk of a person, completely malleable by the leadership.
The Bruderhof leadership is very skilled at helping the new brother through the baptism by water upon confession of his sins. They are equally adept at manipulating the brother through church discipline and'the baptism by fire' whereby the individual conscience is forced into a posture of total surrender. But they are equally skilled at making sure that the new brother never receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit but remains forever a worm, forever out of direct touch with God, constantly reminded of this fact and open to being manipulated at the whims of the hierarchy. It sounds horrible -- and the truth of the situation is that it is horrible. It has been extremely interesting to hear this brother tell his story, because he is very clear-sighted, and sees exactly how, step by step, he was led towards the Servants' goal of denouncing the voice of God in his own conscience (my words). He also pointed out, however, that this 'baptism by fire' process is not completely conscious on the part of the leadership. It is more like, "Now it's your turn to experience what I experienced when I was 'out'." It parallels the initiation rituals practiced in boys' schools or fraternities. But in terms of the teachings of Christ, it is an abomination and sadistic heresy.
The heresy that one must allow church authorities to crucify oneself in order to faithfully follow Christ's example can be refuted by Scripture, and here I quote from a more knowledgeable friend:
"Accepting false accusation in imitation of Christ is easy to rebut. Christ never agreed with the accusers that he was guilty of the false charges they made. He said to Pilate '...therefor he who betrayed me to you hath the greater sin...' implying that the false charges were sinful. Jesus said the devil is a liar and the father of lies, implying that untruth is of the devil... He said 'I am the way, the truth and the life...' implying that what is not of the truth is not from Him... He defended himself vigorously against the charges of the Pharisees and Saducees. Jesus suffered 'for the sins of the world' but not in order that religious authorities could inflict suffering on others... that is a diabolical twisting of the Christian doctrine. Jesus very certainly said, 'Inasmuch as you did it (i.e. anything) to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.' If the Bruderhof authorities want to claim the right to make false accusations in the name of Jesus for the sake of His humility, then there is no further arguing with them... They haven't a leg to stand on according to Scripture... One could go on and on. There is also 'For freedom Christ has set you free.' He did not die for you so that you can be enslaved by religious authorities."
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