The same magazine also published articles urging government to “spend less money on war.” There was another story urging compassion for the poor.

There was also one applauding young Mennonites advancing the tenets of their faith through involvement in politics.

For those sins, some faceless thugs at the Canadian Revenue Agency sent a letter to the Mennonites. The letter warned them they were going to lose their charitable status if they published “editorials and/or articles that appear to promote opposition to a political party, or to candidates for public office,” and that under the Income Tax Act, charities are “prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities.”

The letter blandly described itself as a “reminder,” but Canadian Mennonites knew what it was. It was yet another government telling them what to think — and threatening to punish them if they didn’t.

The Mennonites quietly noted that they’d once been critical of Toews. Maybe that’s what it was all about. They’d been critical of a powerful man.