Breaking Amish premiered on TLC on Sept. 9. It follows four Amish and one Mennonite as they venture out into the world of the English (non-Amish). In Amish culture, teenagers are allowed to participate in a rumspringa, a period of time before their baptism as a full member of the Amish in which they explore the outside world. However, in TLC’s show, these are older Amish and Mennonites. So while during the rumspringa, adolescent Amish are given some grace when they do things not allowed by the Amish rules, these young people take the risk of being shunned, meaning they will not be able to participate in community life (including family and friends) ever again. It is a type of psychological exile. For some, this deterrent alone will keep them from ever leaving. But for these five, they each have reasons for taking this great risk. Two of the five are adopted; three have been married before.
What stands out most for me is the way in which each of them talk about the Amish/Mennonite way of life: a strict system of (they feel) oppressive rules. The rules, one person claims, are to prevent the Amish from being sullied by the outside world. In some ways, though, the rules do not seem to make a difference in these young people’s lives, other than noting the activities that are frowned upon by their communities.
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle claims one can do virtuous things while not actually becoming a virtuous person. If one’s thoughts are motivations are not also virtuous, one cannot be a virtuous person. N.T. Wright, in “After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters”, agrees. Being Amish may indeed shield a person from some of the ills of the world, but it does not necessarily follow that these communities foster people who love their neighbors better. If following the rules is the only thing that’s important, whatever the rules are supposed to teach about relating to others will be lost. Of course, this concept may be applied to any religious group that fosters a rule-based system. Instead, both Aristotle and Wright argue that one must want to do the virtuous thing rather than merely feel an obligation or a coercion to do the virtuous thing.
This is not to say that some Amish and Mennonite people are not virtuous in character and action. In fact, we see evidence in the events that transpired in 2006. A shooter entered an Amish school and killed or injured ten young Amish girls. The parents of the Amish girls immediately went to visit the shooter’s home and extended love and forgiveness to the shooter’s parents. This type of love and forgiveness seems to be something the community cultivated every day, and in many ways, so it became the automatic response. Both Aristotle and N.T. Wright would agree: this is the picture of virtue lived, internally and externally. It may be what the people in Breaking Amish have somehow missed.
