When Icelanders in the West had founded the Evangelical Lutheran Church Synod, it did not take long for a new religious trend to manifest itself in Winnipeg. The history of the Icelanders in the West (Saga Íslendinga í Vesturheimi), Volume V, says: “This was Unitarianism, and it probably had its roots among the Western Icelanders in the so-called liberal religious views, some which moved with them from Iceland. Then they were dissatisfied with the narrow-mindedness of the Missouri Lutheran Synod, and around the same time they became acquainted with the Unitarian message in Minnesota, where the poet Kristofer Janson had begun to preach this religion in 1881. The main advocate of this philosophy in Winnipeg was Björn Pétursson, and there he founded the first Unitarian congregation among Icelanders in the West….He moved to America in 1876; was first in New Iceland (and wanted to have an independent church founded there), then for a while in North Dakota and finally in Winnipeg until his death. After his death (1893 ins. JÞ), Lögberg’s words went like this: “Björn Pjetursson was given many good things. He was a remarkably sensible man, read a lot and had received a good education. He was a happy man, cheerful and playful and the best of all people. He was handsome and manly, very brave and the most skillful in his younger years. He was generous and kind-hearted; would like to do good to all people and make everyone happy.” It must have been around 1887 that Björn Pétursson stopped farming and began to devote himself to religious matters. This year through Kristófer Janson, he received some funding to become a Unitarian missionary among the Icelanders in the West. He presented his case with fiery conviction. His main field of activity was in Winnipeg, and there he preached and published several religious books, which he translated himself. Finally, he founded a congregation there on February 1, 1891, which was called the First Icelandic Unitarian congregation in Winnipeg. At the founding meeting, 36 people signed up. Björn became the first pastor of this congregation, which quickly built a church (around Christmas 1892).”
Lutherans condemn
“The Lutherans did not take this missionary activity of Björn well. Their opinion is clearly revealed in the presidential report that Reverend Jón Bjarnason presented to the Lutheran Parliament in 1890. Among other things, he said the following: “……..last month (a) regular mission has been started among Icelanders in Winnipeg by Unitarians of America. Since this winter they have had an Icelandic man (Björn Pétursson) there to try to preach their heretics to the Icelanders. That message falls into fertile soil in some of our countrymen, which is not at all strange, because it is both that the natural human heart is willing to deny Christianity, and in another place, it is known that the modern church in Iceland preserves a lot of the spiritual nonsense of Unitarianism in its own right. On top of this resistance, the newspaper “Heimskringla” has added almost constant insults about groups and employees of the church association, synod members and pastors, from the last synod meeting until recently. It has tried to arouse dissatisfaction among the people of the congregations with almost everything that they have tried to turn us in the direction of the church. They have tried to slip the opinion into the public that the policy of the leading churchmen is to oppress the people. And they have gone so far in their hostility to the message of Christianity that in recent times they have taken to have scouts at our services in Winnipeg to be able afterwards to publish to the public some satirical article of the sermons preached there. It is more than I know that any infidel paper or nihilistic language has any time made anywhere in the world.” These words of Reverend Jón were published in Sameiningin, the magazine of Lutherans in the West, and then in the publication Saga Íslendinga í Vesturheimi Vol V.
At the turn of the century – the early 20th century
The following is quoted from Saga Íslendinga í Vesturheimi Vol.V: “After Björn Pétursson’s death, his widow held mass for a while in English, until she departed from Winnipeg in 1894. Then Jón Ólafsson, the editor, held mass for a while, until Reverend Magnús J. Skaptason took over the congregation on August 1, 1894. He was pastor until he moved to Minnesota in 1894. Then the congregation was without a pastor until July 1902, but enjoyed the services of Reverend Jóhann P. Sólmundsson until the end of April 1903. In August of that year, the congregation received Reverend Rögnvaldur Pétursson as pastor, and he kept that position until the end of September 1909. …Reverend Rögnvaldur resigned his service in September 1909 and the congregation made a call to Reverend Guðmundur Árnason. Within the First Unitarian Congregation in Winnipeg, a lecture society was founded in 1906, which later took the name “Cultural Society”. Its purpose was to “acquire knowledge and increase openness”. Meetings should be held bi-monthly from 1 October to 1 June each year. The society worked for nine years, and 80 lectures were delivered during that time. Anyone who wanted could attend these gatherings, and discussions were free for everyone after the lecture”. See the story in Summary – Nuggets of information elsewhere.
English version by Thor group.