I think that the Amash practice of waiting 16 years before baptizing a person is a very honorable and respectable idea. I don’t want to tip my toe into the argumentative world of religious discussion, but I definitely think that waiting for someone to choose to join the Church and Amish practices cannot hurt, and I’d go as far to say that it is a more sensible, fair, and individual way of approaching the decision of belonging to a faith.
However, I do not think that rumspringa is necessarily a “good idea.” And I certainly wouldn’t call it “honorable.” I do think that, in idealistic principle, letting Amish teens rummage through the world in order to better understand their decision to shelter themselves from it benefits them in allowing them to make a more knowledgeable decision about baptism, as well as giving them valuable life experience. But the practice isn’t as sensible, controlled, or benevolent as one would hope.
Rumspringa falls short of being honorable when the temporary becomes permanent. If teens are hardly given advice and then are forced into situations where they have to choose between fighting the mob mentality of hundreds of other hormonal and frenzied teens, they will undoubtedly make some mistakes, and in theory, that is necessary. However, getting addicted to crystal meth isn’t something that “goes away” when rumspringa comes to an end. And the possible effects of a criminal record are no joke either.
Believe me, I’m not going to say that people can blame their decisions on outside influences while neglecting the fact that they had the power of choice the whole time. But I would not say that a force that can tarnish good souls and delineate future goals should be called entirely “good” or should be considered honorable. ‘It is what it is,’ out of tradition mixed with modernism, but perhaps the modern world has changed enough that, in some ways, rumspringa needs to be relooked.
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You raise some apt criticisms of the practice of rumspringa, Gabe. One way to consider making it a more fruitful experience -- let's say that we've been charged with offering recommendations to the Amish elders about modifying the practice -- would be to make some 'training' sessions beforehand mandatory, as well as serious discussions about what will happen. I have the sense, though, that -- as with many social practices --there is some fear bound up with it so that people (eg, parents) end up avoiding discussion of it (to varying degrees, I'm sure).
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the criticisms of Rumspringa but crystal meth use is a rare extreme, one extreme of which I feel that Devil's Playground misrepresented in terms of how often it occurs. Not that we were purposely misled but if 90% of the Amish return to the church, and most of the teens towards the end of the film did not, I feel that the audience is given a false sense of representation.
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