An interesting article, but I am curious about the incident rates and comparison to non-Amish communities. Child abuse is surprisingly common in general and I don't see anything in the article that makes specific claims about its frequency compared to the population in general.
I see from their anecdotes that the culture seems like it tolerates it but there are lots of communities with power imbalances and social pressures that prevent perpetrator from being held accountable. Sometimes a perpetrator has the power or influence or reputation that will cause the community to not believe the victim or to prevent punishment. Is this more prevalent among Amish than among Catholics, or Mainstream Mormons, or Fundamentalist Baptists, or Atheists? The article doesn't even address that. It only makes a very generalized claim about 52 known cases across 2 decades, covering an unspecified population/region, and suggests that the real number must be much higher based on the anecdotes. If there was a link to any real study and I missed it, I apologize.
It is obvious that the Amish churches do not approve of child abuse, in doctrine or in practice. They differ in how they think it should be dealt with for sure, because they generally don't prefer outside courts for anything. Does this result in more abuse? Maybe, but I'd like to know the answer from a scientific analysis rather than an anecdotal one before I write off the Amish people in general.
Yeah, I noticed the lack of quantitative data as well. The biggest qualitative red flag for me in the whole article is sending victims back to live with the abuser very soon after the abuser has been found guilty and served a penalty. Reasonable people can argue about whether the penalty is reasonable, but it's hard to imagine reasonable people arguing that kids should go back to live with a previously abusive parent. And that decision is a straight-line consequence of the Amish belief system as I understand it.
But I can't even tell if that is the norm within Amish communities or if that is just something that some local church decided for one particular case. Another church may have chosen to isolate an abuser from the victim or other potential victims in various ways. A comprehensive study would probably document those things as well.
I see from their anecdotes that the culture seems like it tolerates it but there are lots of communities with power imbalances and social pressures that prevent perpetrator from being held accountable. Sometimes a perpetrator has the power or influence or reputation that will cause the community to not believe the victim or to prevent punishment. Is this more prevalent among Amish than among Catholics, or Mainstream Mormons, or Fundamentalist Baptists, or Atheists? The article doesn't even address that. It only makes a very generalized claim about 52 known cases across 2 decades, covering an unspecified population/region, and suggests that the real number must be much higher based on the anecdotes. If there was a link to any real study and I missed it, I apologize.
It is obvious that the Amish churches do not approve of child abuse, in doctrine or in practice. They differ in how they think it should be dealt with for sure, because they generally don't prefer outside courts for anything. Does this result in more abuse? Maybe, but I'd like to know the answer from a scientific analysis rather than an anecdotal one before I write off the Amish people in general.