Bernhardt (or Bernhard) "Ben" Klassen (Ukrainian: Бернар Классен; February 20, 1918(1918-02-20) (O.S. February 7, 1918) – August 6, 1993(1993-08-06)) was an American religious leader who founded the Church of the Creator with the publication of his book Nature's Eternal Religion in 1973. Klassen was also a Florida state legislator, supporter of George Wallace's presidential campaign, and inventor of a wall-mounted electric can opener.
Klassen was...
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Bernhardt (or Bernhard) "Ben" Klassen (Ukrainian: Бернар Классен; February 20, 1918(1918-02-20) (O.S. February 7, 1918) – August 6, 1993(1993-08-06)) was an American religious leader who founded the Church of the Creator with the publication of his book Nature's Eternal Religion in 1973. Klassen was also a Florida state legislator, supporter of George Wallace's presidential campaign, and inventor of a wall-mounted electric can opener.
Klassen was born on February 20, 1918 in Rudnerweide, Ukraine to Bernhard and Susanna Klassen. He had two sisters and two brothers: Sarah, Katie, Korni, and Henry; four, six, ten, and twelve years his senior, respectively. When Klassen was nine months old, he caught typhoid fever and nearly died. His earliest memories were of the famine of 1921–22. He remembered his father rationing to him one slice of dark bread for dinner. Klassen was first introduced to religion at the age of "three or four." Klassen recalls his mother praising him for the "verve and...
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