A Look at Amish Shunning

TOLERANCE AND FORGIVENESS?
While many facets of Amish living are appealing: good values, a good work ethic, homegrown food and handmade clothing, close-knit families that respect and care for elderly family members, a cohesive, supportive group environment that sees neighbors helping neighbors, a faith that is supportive of the group as a whole, unfortunately, their shunning mirrors that of other groups and flies in the face of what it means to be tolerant and forgiving.

No one should be forced to adopt a religion nor have to return to one, in order to have a relationship with their friends and families.
While a spiritual relationship may have ended, groups that shun, push past the spiritual and into the family unit, thus stripping others of free will, decision-making, and robbing them of family relationships.

How Amish Shunning Has Affected Former Members

Rationales Used to Justify Shunning
Often, groups that shun, blame the victim or make all-or-none statements presented as fact

• "If shunning is done in the true love of God, it can be effective." It may be effective in forcing someone to go back but this does not make it right. Shunning is not a loving act and is in fact, an abuse of power/psychological abuse. By its punitive nature, it violates religious freedom.

• "They are unclean." Says who? This is an all-or-none statement. Someone who leaves a faith group may still believe in God/Christ and they may still live in a spiritually clean fashion. Their believing differently does not automatically make them unclean.

• "It's the disobedient people who leave the Amish Church." Someone who exercises religious conscience is not necessarily disobedient. 

• "How can you be obedient when you don't have any rules?" Obedience should be a willing act from the heart, not one forced upon someone by man-made rules.

• "When we lose obedience, we lose the church." An all-or-none statement presented as fact. And false. Many churches do not inflict shunning on members to force them to stay and these churches have a huge following and devoted members.