- Question
- What do Christians believe?
- Position‹7 of 7
- Amish Christians
The Amish have firm beliefs. They are pacifists who reject all forms of violence. They also believe in set gender roles; men are the spiritual leaders at home and in the church, women are the caregivers. Abortion is prohibited under all circumstances and there are strict ideas on what constitutes sin, such as homosexuality.
The argument
The Amish want to live apart from the world and do not pass judgment on outsiders. They're patriarchal, ‘traditional’ values do not sit well alongside ideas of equality. They believe God established special roles for men and women. It is the man’s responsibility to be the spiritual leader in the home and the church. The man’s head should be uncovered in praying, while the woman’s head is to be veiled signifying her acceptance of Christ’s order. The Amish admire large families and tend not to use birth control other than to control the spacing of children. They believe sex outside of marriage, divorce, homosexuality, and public nakedness are sins forbidden by the Bible. Modesty and purity are vital virtues. Amish men outlive Amish women, in part because of the high birth rate (average of 7 live births/woman). Abortion is forbidden by religious doctrine, even when the pregnancy is life-threatening. The Amish are pacifists and conscientious objectors, basing this on Jesus' instruction that one should love one's enemy. They reject all forms of violence, including angry words or going to law.
Premises
Counter-arguments
A counter to this characterisation notes that 'the Amish' are not a single uniform community but many affiliations — Old Order, New Order, Beachy and others — that differ markedly in dress, technology and strictness, so one list of politics and attitudes flattens real internal variation. It also observes that framing the Amish division of roles as standing at odds with 'equality' imports an external standard the Amish themselves would reject, describing their arrangement as complementary and scripturally ordained rather than unequal. Several details, such as life-expectancy patterns and absolute prohibitions, vary by community and over time, so the entry reads better as a broad sketch than a definitive account of Amish belief.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] 'The Amish' comprise many distinct affiliations that differ in practice, so a single description of roles and values flattens significant internal variation. [Rejecting P2] Judging Amish gender roles against 'equality' applies an outside standard the community would contest, describing its arrangement as complementary rather than unequal.
Further reading
Adams, C.E. & Leverland, M. (1986) The effects of religious beliefs on the health care practices of the Amish. Nurse Practitioner, 11(3), 58-67