The Oct. 14 issue (“Digital technologies: threat to Amish life?”) is an example of why some of the Amish survivors I’ve met in my line of work have absolute red-hot rage at “mainstream” Mennonites. Because these survivors work for years to educate the world about the consequences of patriarchal authoritarianism on the vulnerable people in their communities, all while surviving unfathomable amounts of community-perpetrated trauma. Yet college-educated Mennonites are still speaking for them, over them and with great authority about the supposed gentleness of their oppressors. 

Your editorial asks, “Is there a lesson for us?” Yes, the lesson is that if you idealize a high-control sect of conservative and incestuous white Christians with violent disciplinary systems and promote them as moral exemplars with near-magical tools for self-governance in isolation from all the perceived ills of modernity, you can convince the Supreme Court, police departments, social workers and a sizable number of Americans that “freedom of religion” means denying children education and medical care and denying survivors of sexual and domestic violence access to life-saving services and safety nets. 

There are vague nods now and then in AW ’s coverage of the Amish and Plain people to the extreme abuse problems in these communities (“shadow side,” “foibles,” etc.). But it seems to me that those vague nods are mainly there to inoculate the Amish brand against its critics. There’s a fine, capitalist art to that inoculation, and sectarian Anabaptist leaders are good at getting mainstream Anabaptists to help them do it. I would love to see much more coverage centering the voices of Amish and Plain Mennonite survivors who have been shunned for reporting sexual violence and child abuse.

Stephanie Krehbiel, Lawrence, Kan.

Krehbiel is executive director and co-founder of Into Account, a nonprofit organization that advocates for survivors of abuse perpetrated in Christian settings.