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Amish Forgiveness Offers Lessons
The subdued reaction of the Amish to the killing of five girls at the one-room school in Bart Township, Pa., reflects their theology, culture and history, says Earl Zimmerman, a religion professor at EMU, who attended grades 1 through 8 in a one-room Amish school about 30 miles north of the site of the killings.
Earl Zimmerman
It is a philosophy and way of life that permeates what is known as the Anabaptist church family – about 1.3 million people worldwide, he added.
“The Amish, Mennonites and other Anabaptists all believe that the answer to violence is non-violence, the answer to hatred is love, and the answer to evil is to do good,” said Zimmerman.
Lion and the Lamb
In an Oct. 6 letter from a member of the Amish community to Pennsylvania newspapers, Benuel S. Riehl extended condolences and prayers to the families of the killer and added that “with God all things are possible and that in heaven the Lion and the Lamb shall lie down together.”
Ervin Stutzman
Ervin Stutzman, dean of EMU’s seminary, said that such compassion, forgiveness and acceptance of God’s will is typical of the Amish. Stutzman was raised Amish.
“Their reaction can be best understood as that of Joseph in the Old Testament when he was sold into slavery in Egypt. He accepted it as God’s will.
“Most of us in the modern world find this attitude very difficult to conceive of,” he said. Modern Anabaptists agree that non-violence is a rule, but they are also concerned with seeking justice, followed if possible by forgiveness and reconciliation, for wrongdoing.”
Tragic Events and Divine Providence
Donald B. Kraybill, a ’67 Bible and theology graduate of EMU and an expert on the Amish who teaches at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, writes that the religious faith of the Amish causes them to see “even tragic events under the canopy of divine providence—having a higher purpose or meaning that is hidden from human sight at first glance. (Read Kraybill's opinion piece on the tragedy.)
“The Amish don’t argue with God. They have an enormous capacity to absorb adversity—a willingness to yield to divine providence in the face of hostility. Such religious resolve enables them to move forward without the endless paralysis of analysis that asks why—letting the analysis rest in the hands of God.”
Howard Zehr
Howard Zehr, an expert on restorative justice at EMU, says that in his work with victim-offender conferencing, the victims of crimes who choose to forgive usually view forgiveness as “a journey rather than an event” and as "a part of their own healing.”
“It is the result of a conscious decision, a choice, more than an emotion,” Zehr says. “It is a decision to care or be constructive, rather than be vengeful and destructive.”
Important Lessons, Alternatives to Violence
Barry Hart
Barry Hart, conflict transformation professor at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, notes that the Amish reaction to this tragedy offers important lessons for the worldwide movement to seek alternatives to violence for both individual and large-scale social problems.
“The Amish have demonstrated that it is possible for an entire community not to allow anger to become rage, which results in responses that usually lead to violence.
“Their reaction stops the typical cycle of violence that is launched when people try to somehow balance the scales of real or perceived injustice.”
