The Amish!!

[ToomuchaT]

Today I was reading an arabic magazine called ( الثقافية ) issue 66, March-April 2007, pages 20-24.

An article about an American religious group called The Amish!!

A five pages article I really enjoyed reading as it was the first time for me to come a cross such information about such people.

The following web site give some statements about the Amish people:

How Much Do You Know About the Amish?
(http://www.wvup.edu/Academics/humanities/Oldaker/about_the_amish.htm)

Thought of sharing if someone got free time to read and search more. :)

[MsKnuckles]

i was watching For Richer and Poorer once again.... shows you a lot about the Amish :p

stop there women from what?... what's tabarruj again?

some arabs talk like their women do all they want :hmm:

[BliNd_MelOn]

Wow..At first I started reading, what? true or false, read on and thought, hang on, that can't be true.. Well what do ya know? They're all true!!

Thanks for sharing, this was really informative! I've always wanted to know more about the Amish, but never knew where to look, this website has everything! My initial idea about the Amish was that they were good Christian people that wanted to be left alone! Live in groups, don't marry outside the big family or group. Do not accept change, technology and development.

[Jeff]

Ask Charm. She just visited them! :)

[Nella]

She did? Interesting! Chaaarm! Come here! :p

I've always wanted to know more about them.
I've watched that primetime: outsiders show the other day? and a story about an Amish girl was heartbreaking.

This is a preview of the show:


"Primetime: The Outsiders - The Amish" looks at people who are radical believers. Elizabeth Vargas reports on a disturbing side of the Amish community and interviews Mary Byler, a woman who broke the Amish code by reporting sexual abuse to authorities. Byler became the center of the scandal that rocked her tight-knit Amish home in Wisconsin when she told the Sheriff's office that she was raped hundreds of times - by eight or nine men, including her own brothers, who did confess to the crime. According to sociologist Donald Kraybill, confessing in the Amish Church for wrongdoings is the key step to forgiveness, and the standard punishment for any infraction is banishment from church activities for six weeks. Byler, on the other hand, felt the punishment was not enough. "You're being grounded for six weeks," she says. "It's just really ridiculous punishment. The funny thing is that they view drinking alcohol until you puke as bad a sin as raping somebody." She also speaks out about what brought her to her final decision to go to the authorities and what life after leaving the Amish community is like.

it's so sad how her older brother raped her almost 150 times! Starting from the age of 6, and the whole thing lasted 10 years, before she contacted the Sheriff's office and told him about the abuses.

what's even more frustrating is that the Amish who were there for the trial, were crying for her brothers who are going to go to jail after confessing, since they think confessing is enough :os
and she's considered an outcast now, not even allowed to contact her other innocent siblings, thinking she might convince them to leave.
her younger sister (4 years old) did mention to her that one of her brothers is bad to her, apparently they didn't know what the act of raping is called, they only thought their brothers were bad to them. she still believes in god, she does have things far from an Amish woman would ever have now though, like having a driver license, and developing a smoking habit.

It's just one side of the community though, it's pretty nice how they teach children to be disciplined, respectful, obedient and to never lie (like how Mary's brothers confessed that they did abuse her when they were asked).
but I'm not sure I like all of the things mentioned in the link provided :XD:
thanx for sharing ToomuchaT :) interesting indeed.

[Geya]

I read a lot about amish ppl and i wrote a small novel about amish love


there really back in the old days type pf ppl..really just to themselves dont want to get involved with the outside world they believe its a world that just basically makes ppl hate each other and what not and i that the Amish are really amazing ppl...i have seen some they were in the same hotel as i was in Niagara falls and they looked cute!! the grls dont wear make up and are just beautiful...

[Jihad4Truth]

The expert on the Amish is Weird Al.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsfVw9xxoNY


I never wear buttons but I got a cool hat,
And my homies agree I really look good in black... fool

[Jeff]

Nella's post is a really important reminder never to idealize or romanticize a group of people too much. People can shock or disappoint you if you do; we are all sinners and every group of people can do terrible things.

But after you are disappointed and disillusioned, you can get surprised again.

In October 2006, a guy came to an Amish girls' schoolhouse with a gun, maybe to rape some of them or something. But when he took out his gun and pointed in a girl, the oldest one in the classroom said, "Shoot me first." So he did.

They were so calm and peaceful and prayed so well, that he stopped before killing all of them, turned the gun on himself, said, "Pray for me" and shot himself.

[Jeff]

More on the schoolhouse shootings, from Wikipedia:


CNN reported a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls said of the killer on the day of the murder: "We must not think evil of this man."

Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts," he told CNN.[31]

The Amish have reached out to Roberts' [the murderer's] family. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.

An article in a Canadian newspaper the National Post stated that the Amish have set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.

*****

Also amazing to some was that the fathers of the Amish girls who had been shot went to the killer's parents and asked what they could do to help them.[citation needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting

[Jihad4Truth]

Lovely story Jeff.:)

I like that the Amish ride around in horse drawn buggies instead of cars. That could be neat in a way. :no: Or maybe not.

[Jeff]

^^

They drive the carriages. But they can RIDE in cars. I know because I gave an Amish hitchhiker a lift once in Lancaster County and he explained it to me :p

[Jihad4Truth]

^^

They drive the carriages. But they can RIDE in cars. I know because I gave an Amish hitchhiker a lift once in Lancaster County and he explained it to me :p

Yes that is right. I once shared a small bus ride with 3 Amish couples who were much older than me. It was the only way up a mountain in Aspen. I was going on a hike. So I am up in the far side of this remote alpine lake. I assume most people do not make it this far. It starts misting and I am just chillin ;) and taking in the rugged view. And then the Amish couples strolled by in the meadow. I was impressed. And naturally, they were wearing the Amish style of clothing. And the whole scene looked right out of the 1800s. It was a trip.

[poisonillusions]

Salaam'alaikum,

In Missouri there is a lot of Amish people. I've met with a family before about two years ago. I find them to be very nice people and very modest.

Amira