Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
In Montana and South Dakota, the Council of Defense forbade German “in the pulpits” and even pressured Mennonites not to hold German services in private homes, limiting them to “family worship”; how would early Christians—who often met in homes and were accustomed to state suspicion—have heard this kind of state intrusion into worship, and what does it say about who is being treated as “lord” in practice?
Another way to ask: If the state banned German in sermons and even pressured home services, how might early Christians—who often met in homes—have reacted? What does it show about who is really being treated as “lord” when the government controls worship?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests early Christians would recognize this as the state claiming authority over worship itself—what can be preached, prayed, and even spoken in homes. In practice, it treats the Council of Defense (and the wartime state) as the deciding “lord” over church life.
- South Dakota’s Order #4 prohibited German in “public and quasi-public meetings, including sermons or public worship,” unless a permit was granted.
- Montana’s Order #3 forbade German “in public and private school and in the pulpits of the state.”
- A Montana letter exchange shows the governor narrowing permission until “services in the German language” were confined to “family worship.”
- The speaker is “shocked” that Montana effectively said you could not have “a prayer meeting… Bible study in your home if you use… German.”
- Enforcement was real: South Dakota “did enforce this,” with people “fined,” and Montana kept the ban even after the war.