Free Republic

Woodrow Wilson had no qualms about jailing people he disagreed with. His persecution of the Hutterites can attest to that. Campaigning for President of the United States in September 1912, “progressive” icon Woodrow Wilson said something that would gladden the heart of any libertarian: Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. That was two months before the election that Wilson won. He garnered...

Diverse Group of Amicus Briefs Ask the High Court to Protect a Peaceful Hutterite ColonyFor Immediate Release: May 3, 2013Media Contact: Emily Hardman, ehardman@becketfund.org, 202.349.7224Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the State of Michigan, twenty-one First Amendment scholars, and eighteen religious organizations representing tens of millions of religious believers filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the Court to hear a religious liberty appeal on behalf of a Hutterite colony in Montana. The question in the case is whether the Hutterites, who trace their history to the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, can be forced to provide workers’ compensation insurance...

HELENA -- The 53 members of the King Colony Hutterite community in central Montana live a communal, mostly self-sufficient life. Members of the religious group don't believe in individual property ownership and shy away from most government aid, including health care. But now the colony is at the center of a dispute coming before the state Supreme Court this week over whether members are eligible for Medicaid benefits. Seven women members of the colony, formally known as King Colony Ranch Inc., sued the state, arguing they were denied benefits because of their religious beliefs. The state of Montana contends members...

Hutterites warn Martin that Canada could face biblical wrath for same-sex law Opposition to Canada's proposed same-sex marriage law has galvanized Canada's 442 Hutterite colonies to take a rare political stance, warning in a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin that if such a law is passed, "We will be classed as traitors in God's eyes" and "we will live the darkest day in all of Canada's history." The letter was sent last week on behalf of the Hutterian Brethren Church of Canada, representing 31,000 Hutterites in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It makes reference to the biblical legend of...

ARM RIVER HUTTERITE COLONY, SASK. - Canada's Hutterite community has taken an unprecedented political stand, writing the prime minister to warn that the country could become the next Sodom and Gomorrah if same-sex marriage is legalized. Hutterian Brethren Church of Canada, which represents about 50,000 Hutterites in British Columbia and the Prairies, urged Paul Martin not to adopt the proposed legislation. "We will be classed as traitors in God's eyes, and we will live the darkest day in all of Canada's history," says the letter. Never before have the intensely private Hutterites taken such a public, and political, stand. The...