Severe Consequences
When most people hear Amish, they immediately think about how the Amish banish members. This is called ‘Meidung.’ As we emphasized, the Amish people take everything the Ordnung says very, very seriously! Thus, when a member of the community breaks a rule written in the Ordnung, there are repercussions the person must face. So, yes one of these consequences happens to be Meidung, which means that person will be shunned from the Amish community. They really mean business!
Severe Consequences
The Ultimate Punishment
Yes, being completely excommunicated from the community is something very common to the community. However, when one is excommunicated it places them in the Bann, thus, even their close friends and family will now look at them as an outsider. Of course, it depends on the ‘crime’ or offense, but one can be shunned for a period of days, weeks or months. This harsh punishment is meant to demonstrate how wrong the person’s act was and allow them to come to terms with that and apologize. Wow, that’s one way to get people to stay in line!
The Ultimate Punishment