Why were both Protestants and Catholics alarmed by the Anabaptists?

Answer 1

They were both alarmed because they were very radical and denied both of their religions.

.

Catholic AnswerThey were alarmed because they were endangering the eternal salvation of those children whom they refused to baptize.

Answer 2

Because, given the freedom to do it, members of one religion will always persecute members of another. Religions hate the inference that there might be a fault in their doctrines. The emergence of new religions indicates that some people perceive faults/shortcomings in existing ones.

It is true; as Anabaptist, I know that there are people within the same sect that will ridicule or attack one another! But this is because they, as religious professionals, need to keep the customer-base coming back for more. The mammon-dependent will suffer (or in the past, even die) if they do not get enough money to live on. The human predilection to exploit other humans is the sum of human History; religion is no different. Conversely, the lifestyle of the true Anabaptist is Agrarian; we grow our own organic food and build our own homes. We need money to pay taxes like everyone else, but we sell our excesses for that; we also build & sell products and services for money needs. Our Communities are unified by our faith, and there are no paid hirelings; we have no religious staff! Everyone labors and contributes as they can! Many formerly Anabaptist groups are also going the way of the culture they're shaped by; they are becoming Protestant/Catholic (Anabaptists are neither)! But if you are a Religionist (a religious professional), and then someone comes along and says that you do not need church or religion to know God, well of course, those businessmen (who sell God for mammon) will say, just what your own mind can imagine they'd say, to protect their own incomes! Bottom line? We serve God, or mammon, not both! Use your own common sense to tell the difference!

Answer 3

Catholics and Lutherans found common cause in persecuting Anabaptists because of the Munster rebellion of 1534-1535 and the excesses of the Anabaptists during that period. The Munster Anabaptists were not representative of all Anabaptists, but held simplistic religious beliefs and attempted to implement a stringent form of what we would now identify as communism. Polygamy was encouraged and the more extreme members believed force was justified against anyone not in their sect.

Answer 4

Lutherans rejected the Anabaptists because they deemed them to be too radical