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Amish men ‘shunned’ after nationwide emergency alert outs them for having phones
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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I once called a guy about something he was advertising in the classifieds. I called him on Easter Sunday. He answered, but said he needed a second before he could talk.
Turns out he was Amish. I called an Amish man on the phone... on Easter Sunday. He answered... while he was in church.
I called an Amish man on his cellphone, which he answered in the middle of Easter mass, to talk about his classified ad.
This was the most tame interaction I've had with Amish folk. They're fucking hardcore.
You know that scene in Parks and Rec where Ron Swanson tips a jug of moonshine up onto his shoulder and pours it down his gullet? I've fucking seen a bearded guy with a big hat and no buttons do that IRL.
The Amish know how to party.
Not all Amish view technology as entirely something against their religion. Peter Santenello has a bunch of great videos where he interviews Amish people and understands their culture. This is a good one on that topic: https://youtu.be/EgY1SVXiBrU?si=E2zTNOhQxm6Qcgff
Correct. Amish are Mennonites who shun other Mennonites. The elders of their church decide for the local congregation what is and isn't appropriate conduct. If you disagree, you are shunned.
If the congregation down the road disagrees, those folks are shunned.
So you get very customized, local, specific lists about what is and isn't allowable.
Really, it looks more extreme, but it's no different than independent baptist churches or churches of christ 'disfellowship'-ing with other congregations over doctrinal minutia.
In all cases you will get a few congregations thinking that only their congregation of 20-50 folks are the only ones in the world who "go to heaven". 😂
So, all Amish might not agree what technologies are worth shunning over, but they all agree that some technologies are worth restricting their members access to, upon penalty of shunning.
I once knew a guy that lived in an area with a large Amish population, and at one point he saw an Amish kid playing a handheld game. He asked him hey, aren’t you Amish? I thought you guys weren’t allowed to have electronics? And the kid told him that his dad said that since it wasn’t Nintendo it didn’t count, lmao.
How did his dad even know what Nintendo was?
"The card game manufacturer?"
I know this is pedantic, but that's just not right. Amish and Mennonites are generally distinct. One group does not belong to the other, though some groups in the middle claim to be part of both. Regardless, the umbrella term for both is "Anabaptist".
I've not known there to be much animosity between neighboring groups, but I guess I haven't witnessed an Amish church split up close. I know they happen though, but all Anabaptist groups in my area are quite friendly with one another.
Shunning seems to be more of a way to have their own members conform to their local rules. They really don't care what others in the community or neighboring Christian groups do. I think it really is a control mechanism -- e.g. "Do things this way or you are going to lose your family/friends/community support".
(Source: My dad grew up Old Order Amish, his family was kicked out of the church (over some farming rules). My grandpa transitioned to be Beachy Amish at some point, while my dad joined a (now progressive) Mennonite church that I grew up and remained in for a long time)
Well, Jakob Ammann, who the Amish are named after, was a member of a Swiss Brethren church (now called Mennonite) who didn't think his Mennonite brethren did enough shunning (a core principle of the Swiss Brethren).
So he formed his own church. Eventually members in his church (surprise!), shunned him over some different differences, as it happens when you join a group with all the cantankerous people. And it continued so on and so forth.
The distinctions might be in practical matters that arise over time--like fabrics used in their dress, use of buttons vs hook fasteners, or use of technology, or use of English vs German, but theologically they're pretty much identical and these differences are just natural things that happen over time.
An Amish church split is really just two groups mass shunning each other. There's no real difference.
And I'm aware it probably doesn't seem like that closer up, because I'm speaking very abstractly. But I can't see how anything you've said disagrees with what I've said.
And, I want to say I do appreciate hearing your experiences. For the record: I have a degree in Bible, did some post-grad study on church history, have some family members who are Mennonite, and grew up pretty close to a large Amish community.
Yeah, the dude I called lived in a much more progressive sect. He was actually the "cab driver" for his community, which is why he had a cellphone. He also had a computer and a very rudimentary website for the stuff he was selling in the classifieds.
That's amazing.