The movements most distinctive tenet was adult baptism converts consider second baptism a crime punishable by death. The Anabaptists also believed that the church, the community of those who have made a public commitment of faith, should be separated from the state, which they believed existed only for the punishment of sinners. Most Anabaptists were pacifists who opposed war and the use of coercive measures to maintain the social order; they also refused to swear oaths, including those to civil authorities. For their teachings regarding baptism and for the apparent danger they posed to the political order, they were ubiquitously persecuted. The Anabaptists, like most Protestant Reformers, were determined to bring back the institutions and spirit of the primitive church. Quite confident that they were living at the end of time, they expected the imminent return of Jesus …show more content…
An exclusive type of Anabaptism, recognized later in Moravia under the leadership of Jakob Hutter stressed the common ownership of goods modeled on the primitive church in Jerusalem. The Hutterite associations first established in Moravia survived the Reformation and are now located primarily in the western United States and Canada. Another important leader, Melchior Hofmann, established a large following in the Netherlands and inspired a number of believers. He taught that the world would soon end and that the new age would begin in Strasbourg. He was imprisoned in that city in 1533 and died about 10 years