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| (Photo by Stefan Kuhn) |
embraced this message literally. Hutterites are among the few who have.
Wikipedia tells us that they originated “in the Austrian province of Tyrol in the 16th century,” but then migrated to Moravia, to Transylvania, to the Ukraine, to the United States, and to Canada – generally for the same reason – in order to escape religious persecution. It seems that taking the Bible literally has been a dangerous undertaking throughout many phases of history.
These days, however, Hutterites are (ironically) quite popular with the reality-TV set. The National Geographic Channel is running a ten-part special, American Colony: Meet the Hutterites, which features everyday life
within the context of a Montana Hutterite commune.
The Associated Press describes one of the “stars” of this series, Bertha Hofer, as “a widowed mother of three balancing her religion’s strict tenets with her children’s hopes for the future…” Hutterites in general are described by the AP as “Protestants who are similar to the Amish and the Mennonites,” but “are communal and have no personal property.”
Although “reality TV” may seem like a strange juxtaposition to the Hutterite lifestyle, negotiations for this series have been refreshingly ethical. The initial contact came through a young filmmaker who had grown up near the commune. Members of the commune were already favorably predisposed to National Geographic because a 1970 issue of its magazine had “featured a measured, insightful piece on the Hutterites…”
The Hutterites’ affinity for literal communication was honored by National Geographic during this filming process. It
was agreed upon beforehand that there would be no typical reality-TV ploys such as “feeding” dialogue to the participants.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutterite
http://news.yahoo.com/american-colony-peers-inside-religious-commune-205819964.html
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