History: Anabaptists

1525- Following the path paved by the Protestant Reforms the Anabaptists pushed for further reformation of church doctrine. Anabaptists tended to be peasants and working poor. The Anabaptists believed in adult baptism, rather than infant baptism, taking the approach that all believers were baptized into the church of their own accord and thus were conferred with the same rights and privileges. The Anabaptists attempted to live in accordance with early villages described in the New Testament, they organized democratic communities where each and every believer was seen as sharing the same rights. Further, the Anabaptists believed in secular government, they refused to hold political office or bear arms.