SASKATOON, February 17, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another group of traditional Christians has weighed in with their objections to the imposition of homosexual ‘marriage’ in Canada. The latest protest, however, is unusual since the group in question, the Hutterites, have a 477 year-old policy of staying out of politics.
“We were taught to obey the government as long as it’s not against our conscience,” said one Hutterite minister. “We felt we had to say something to let the world know we’re against this.”
There are 31,000 Hutterites in British Columbia and the Prairies and in a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin, the community has warned that Canada is on its way to becoming the next Sodom and Gomorrah. If Parliament continues with its homosexual activist agenda, the letter says, a fate awaits Canada similar to that of the ancient twin cities, destroyed by God for their sexual sins.
The Hutterites, a branch of Anabaptists tracing their religious roots to 1528, do not engage much in public life, preferring the quiet life of farming and raising families. Hutterite history is, however, one of standing up to religious persecution. Many Christian groups both Protestant and Catholic, have warned that the imposition of homosexual ‘marriage’ will open their ministers and lay organizations to prosecution for discrimination.
Mike Stahl, a preacher living in the Hutterite Colony north of Saskatoon, identified marriage as something naturally connected with childrearing. He said, “It doesn’t take the kids long to find out about the birds and the bees. They know there’s got to be a bull with the cows, that there’s got to be a stallion with the horses and that when you’re raising rabbits, there’s got to be a boy rabbit and a mother rabbit.”
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, individual pastors and other groups have warned that the Liberals’ touted protection of religious freedom in the same sex marriage bill is meaningless.
Read previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage: Evangelical Fellowship Calls Liberals’ Bluff on Religious Freedom