Religious Conservatives should learn from the Amish
The other day I listened to a segment on NPR about the Amish and their rite of passage called rumspringa where teenage Amish are not only allowed, but are actively encouraged to experience the wild side of life. It was apparently an update to a much earlier piece by Bob Edwards. What struck me most was the statistic that 85 to 90 percent of Amish teens end up returning to the exceptionally conservative religious lifestyle of their parents.
This issue of Amish teens and rumspringa has fascinated me for a while now. A couple years ago I was riveted by the UPN reality show Amish in the city, which was about a group of Amish teens from rural Pennsylvania and an equal group of city kids from southern California all stuck in a mansion in Beverly Hills together. In large part I think this fascinates me because of the way I was raised. While it wasn't anything as rural or as strict as the Amish, being raised Seventh Day Adventist is typically much more conservative and even remote from society compared to the large majority of Christian denominations in America. And while my parents weren't on the conservative fringe of Adventists, my Aunt and Uncle and their kids were. So I always think of my cousins when I read or hear or watch anything about rumspringa. I watched my cousins, particularly the only boy in the family, go absolutely wild once they got out from underneath their parents thumbs. Of course they didn't get out at as early an age as the Amish do. Rumspringa begins at age 16 while my cousins didn't get out from under until they were 18 to 20 and even then it most certainly was not condoned by their parents, unlike the tacit encouragement which Amish parents give.
Y'know... I've been hearing for years now how the religious conservatives bemoan the evil in our society and have watched them boycot things like this new >The DaVinci Code movie. I wonder if a large part of their fear that good Christians will "lose their way" isn't actually driven more by their Pharisaical attitudes then it is by whatever evils society holds? The grass always seems greener on the other side, as the old saying goes. The only way to dispell (or confirm) that particular notion is to go over to the other side and check out the grass for yourself. No?
It seems to me that the Amish are onto something with this whole rumspringa thing.
6 Comments:
The grass always seems greener on the other side, as the old saying goes. The only way to dispell (or confirm) that particular notion is to go over to the other side and check out the grass for yourself. No?
Absolutely. In fact, I'd go so far as to call the Amish attitude very LIBERAL. It's a sad fact of life in these United States that the Conservatives/Religious-Right have been able to define most -- if not all -- of the terms of political debate. And then the CONSERVATIVE mainstream media reiterates them over and over.
What's wrong with the term 'liberal'? It means open-minded; willing to check out the grass on the other side. No big deal; that's it.
In that sense, the Amish have it quite right [no pun intended ;-)]
LOL - the pun works, intended or not.
I don't know that I would call the Amish attitude "liberal" per se. I don't wanna get into a war of words but it seems to me that their attitude is more about pragmatism than anything. I would bet the farm that Amish parents have very strong views about what their kids do during rumspringa. So it's not so much a liberal live and let live attitude as it is, IMHO, a highly pragmatic understanding of the very nature of spirituality.
I was raised in a very progressive, by Adventist standards, family. But even so I found a bit later in life that I couldn't operate on my parent's spiritual belief system. It was their's and only had power for them. I had to look within and find my own belief system... find out what I believed. Once I did that I found to my surprise that it bore a passing resemblance to my parent's belief system. But more importantly, it had power for me. It was/is real to me and very much a part of my core.
I can only presume because I'm not an Amish. But, it seems to me that somewhere along the line some very wise Amish grasped the same spiritual truth that I had to learn the hard way and they invented rumspringa.
Having been raised in a strict Southern Baptist family, I can relate. Yep, I went wild as soon as I was off to college where there were no panty-sniffers or preachers threatening me with eternal damnation.
"Pragmatic" is the perfect description. Most teenagers will rebel in some way or another. If they are allowed some rebellion within reason, they will return to their senses (or their raisin' or both) eventually.
I agree it is primarily about pragmatism. Also, I don't know particularly much about the Amish (other than a few documentaries and seeing them come to the hospital I work at) but I don't believe that the situation is necessarily analogous to typical conservative denominations. When I read about the practice it seemed to have a large footing in reverse psychology. I mean, they completely shelter their kids for the first 16 years and then encourage them to go explore "the other side of the fence" by normally sending them to the largest cities with almost no grounding. This is hardly a fair fight. I think the large majority of people in general would come running back home when thrust into an alien situation with almost no knowledge of what's going on. This is why I agree it's not "liberal" because there doesn't seem to be much of an emphasis on understanding the two lifestyles and making a rational choice as much as shocking the children and creating a pledge of fealty that might not exist otherwise. This is exacerbated by the fact that they send them at 16, which is the most disruptive time when everyone thinks they are independent but they don't actually have the psychological tools to be it (and this is even for kids that are staying in their own culture).
If this is the case, rumspringa is genius in a way because you get 85% of the people back and committed, as oppossed to losing the 15% that would probably leave regardless and having a large portion that always wonders what it'd be like to join them.
I don't think it's just about control though. I'm sure it undoubtedly creates a deeper longing for understanding the essence of the Amish life and leads to a fuller embrace of it. After all, I think most parents feel that their belief system is the best one and those that let their children explore "know" that they will come back and have a similar belief system but recognize the power of it (which sounds like your personal experience).
The difference between that and conservative denominations is that they are fully involved in society. The transition to the "other side" is such a small step by comparison that I think it is more likely to happen. On the flip side, I've met very few conservative christians that have a full understanding of their faith. Fundamentalist christianity is very threatened by the idea that religion is a man made construct and derives most of its power by saying it is laid down by God Himself. I think this is because the emphasis is on how evil humanity naturally is. On the other hand, most people I've met that are secure in their spirituality tend to think that the beauty of religion is a sign of God because we've created it in spite of our flaws. Some just think that God has a personal hand in doing it and others disagree.
I have to make a quick point because our vocabulary is behind the times -- Fundamentalist does mean believing the Bible is inerrant and God lays down laws you must obey...and I've met a few people that are fundamentalist but are secure in it and understand the nature of it. Not many, but. I meant the "Bible-thumpers" that say "don't question God [me] or you'll go to hell" which I've found pervasive in the south.
andante - panty-sniffers? Is that a colloquialism?
I absolutely agree about teenage rebellion. It's gonna happen whether parents like it or not. Trying to guide the process rather than trying to stop it seems like the rational thing to do.
Y'know... it just occurred to me that the parable of the Prodigal Son in the New Testament kinda goes to that point. The father gave his wild-child son the means to essentially self-destruct in an orgy of hedonism... and then welcomed him back home with open arms after the son had expended gotten it out of his system and gained a new-found respect for his father's values.
Mikkal - I agree that reverse psychology likely plays a role. But I think it goes much deeper than just that. After all, the 85-90% who return to the Amish faith after rumspringa do so by willingly joining the very hyper-sheltered way of life that their parents had so recently released them from. While surely the entire community is well aware that 10-15% will never come back. And as well, every one of those parents have themselves experienced rumspringa in their own youth.
Personally, and I'm no more familiar with what it means to be Amish than you are, I think you hit on a fundamental truth of the whole rumspringa experience when you note, "I don't think it's just about control though. I'm sure it undoubtedly creates a deeper longing for understanding the essence of the Amish life and leads to a fuller embrace of it."
It seems to me that the Amish long ago decided that they didn't want rote obedience and adoption of their way of life without any comprehension of WHY they choose to live that way. Allowing and encouraging their children to go "prodigal" for a while serves to insure that those who return do so with a fundamental appreciation for what they are then turning their backs on - the modern hedonistic culture.
It's a brilliant approach really. Perhaps it's equal parts reverse psychology and spiritual bootcamp?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home