Today in Labor History January 21, 1525: Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and George Blaurock founded the Swiss Anabaptist movement by baptizing each other and breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. The Anabaptists were considered Radical Reformers. They preached against hate, killing, violence, taking oaths, participating in use of force or any military actions and against participation in civil government. They also believed in separation of church and state. However, some Anabaptists went even further, like those in the Munster Commune, who called for the absolute equality of man in all matters, including the distribution of wealth. They called upon the poor of the region to join them in sharing all the wealth of the town. Many also believed in polygamy and free love. Not surprisingly, both the Roman Catholics and the nascent Lutherans persecuted them heavily. This history is wonderfully portrayed in the epic novel, “Q” by the Italian fiction collective, Luther Blissett.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasants #protestant #Reformation #LutherBlissett #anabaptist #equality #freelove #communal #polygamy #lutheran #books #novel #fiction #historicalfiction #author #writer #collective #freelove @bookstadon

https://anabaptistworld.org/u-s-defense-bill-calls-for-automatic-draft-registration/

#Conscription #Draft #SelectiveService #Mennonite #Anabaptist #Peace #ConscientiousObjection

Tagging: @MilitaryLawTaskForce @ehasbrouck

Hype for the Future 40C: Southeastern Pennsylvania

https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2025/12/10/hype-for-the-future-40c-southeastern-pennsylvania/

https://anabaptistworld.org/whistles-a-nonviolent-way-to-resist/

#Mennonite #Anabaptist #ResistFascism #Fascism #Whistles #Ice

Sharing this from another Social media platform:

#MennoniteAction is turning two, and it's a sobering anniversary. We wish to see a free #Palestine, and see our work become obsolete. And yet, we're encouraged by two years of faithful expression of #solidarity, two years of learning, training, taking bold public action, and experiencing unity together in this movement. We invite all in our community of #Mennonites 4Ceasefire
to join us on November 20th for our Anniversary Call, this month's Mass Call oriented to reflection, remembering, and recommitting to the work that still lies ahead. RSVP to join here: https://www.mennoniteaction.org/call

#Palestine #Mennonite #Anabaptist #Peace #ShalomSalaam

My interests and hobbies are quite varied!
You may not want to sign up for all of it?
These are some of my common topics that you may wish to follow or mute:

⚽️ football/soccer (#fedifc) particularly #USWNT, #USMNT, #IXI (#USL), #CFC (#championsleague), and now #Bundesliga
🎶 music, particularly electronic, metal, and genre crossover things like industrial, darkjazz, trip-hop, etc.
🎲 table games, especially #ttrpg games
🚲 cycling and alternate transportation #waroncars
🕊️ faith with an #anabaptist and #mennonite perspective
🗳️🏴 politics with a left-libertarian, pacifist (see above) and anarchist perspective
🛡️ product and cyber security
🔎♻️ wildlife and watershed discipleship
🛶🥾 outdoor activities

This 500th anniversary of the founding of the #Anabaptist movement (from which the Mennonites, Brethern, Amish, and realted traditions sprung forth --- and that were theological cousins of the early Baptists) is all the more important to me this year, because of what happened yesterday in this nation. I'm grateful that the Anabaptist tradition is very clear that we do not kiss the ring, we do not bow the knee to the empire, ever.

This is one of the reasons I treasure my connections to this tradition.

One detail of my religious journey that many do not know, is that I chose to become Jewish through the Humanistic movement primarily because it was (and as far as I know still is), the only Jewish movement that is open to biereligous converts (those who are seeking to become Jewish, while still maintaining connections to another tradition). I had fallen in love with #Judaism (thankfully a passion that still is with me 10 years later), but I also loved the Mennonites, particularly its strong belief in the moral imperative of peace (or rather the Hebrew concept of Shalom which is far more than the cessation of hostility but also has the connotations of harmony, equity, and wholeness), a belief that #nationalism is just another form of idolatry, and the power of simple living (even though I do a lousy job of living this out). In other words, at its best moments, the #Mennonite / Anabaptist tradition provides a critical witness against the values of the American Empire through its focus on the ethical earthly teachings of Jesus.

I am grateful that I was able to find a path to embracing Judaism that did not require me to leave my Mennonite values out.

And so I say, Happy 500th birthday to the Anabaptist movement! And thank you to #HumanisticJudaism for giving me a way to be true to my #bireligoius values.

(graphic from Druhart on FB)

#Anabaptism500 #Theology #AntiNationalism

Today in Labor History January 21, 1525: Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and George Blaurock founded the Swiss Anabaptist movement by baptizing each other and breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. The Anabaptists were considered Radical Reformers. They preached against hate, killing, violence, taking oaths, participating in use of force or any military actions and against participation in civil government. They also believed in separation of church and state. However, some Anabaptists went even further, like those in the Munster Commune, who called for the absolute equality of man in all matters, including the distribution of wealth. They called upon the poor of the region to join them in sharing all the wealth of the town. Many also believed in polygamy and free love. Not surprisingly, both the Roman Catholics and the nascent Lutherans persecuted them heavily. This history is wonderfully portrayed in the epic novel, “Q” by the Italian fiction collective, Luther Blissett.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasants #protestant #Reformation #LutherBlissett #anabaptist #equality #freelove #communal #polygamy #lutheran #books #novel #fiction #historicalfiction #author #writer #collective #freelove @bookstadon

Followed hashtags don't migrate, and weirdly you can't find a hashtag to manually follow it if you haven't federated with enough instances yet for those hashtags to have been used.

So I'm writing a post with some of my hashtags so I can click on them and follow them.

#Kitchener #Waterloo #WatReg #WaterlooRegion #RTZ #WeTheNorth #WNBA #Drupal #PHP #WordPress #Mennonite #Anabaptist #H5P #CarryShitOlympics #Bloomscrolling #WRAwesome #KWAwesome #PowerPlatform #Microsoft365 #SharePoint

Today in Labor History June 24, 1525: The Church reconquered the Anabaptist free state of Munster. The Anabaptists had created a sectarian, communal government in Munster, Germany, during the Reformation. They controlled the city from February until June 24, 1525. They were heavily persecuted for their beliefs, which included opposition to participation in the military and civil government. They saw themselves as citizens of the Kingdom of God, and not citizens of any political state. Their beliefs helped radicalize people during Germany’s Peasant War, a revolt against feudalism and for material equality among all people. Some of the early Anabaptists practiced polygamy and polyamory, as well as the collective ownership of property. The more conservative decedents of the Anabaptists include the Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites.

The Munster rebellion has been portrayed in several works of fiction. My all-time favorite is “Q,” (1999) by the autonomist-Marxist Italian writing collective known as Luther Blissett. They currently write under the pen name Wu Ming. Giacomo Meyerbeer wrote an opera about it 1849, Le prophète.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #polyamory #anabaptist #germany #protestant #reformation #amish #feudal #equality #collective #books #fiction #novel #historicalfiction #author #writers @bookstadon