rely on people might take a toll on their development outside the Amish religion. Even if they decide not to be part of the community, their basic faith is likely to stay with them.
In the Amish religion, the ultimate sanction for insubordination is shunning, referred to by the community as meidung. There are basic rules of the church, which must be kept no matter what. Some of these basic rules are for example that no member can marry outside of the church; they may not leave the church community and live elsewhere, and they may not buy cars ((Kephart, Zellner 26). If a member breaks a basic and important rule, it may be considered a severe enough incompliance with the rules to result in the total exclusion of that member from the Amish religion. Of course if there is sincere repentance in the heart of the guilty party, he or she may be forgiven.
THE AMISH IN
POP CULTURE
The Amish are regarded as a strange little group or community by society and people are often intrigued by their way of life and their seclusion. Interest in them grew even more when technology and machineries have become inseparable parts of society and the Amish seem to have remained unaffected by the major electronic shift. Because of their peculiarity, the Amish have been featured in many shows on American television, starting from cartoons like Johnny Bravo to reality shows on TLC like Breaking Amish, the title of which is also a reference to the hit show Breaking Bad. The depiction of the Amish is a stereotypical one, reflecting how society perceives them as a religious group. In an episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny goes to live with the Amish and experiences their way of life and is appalled by the only fun activity being that of churning butter. The cartoon line could follow with South Park, where Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny go on a field trip to a fake Amish village where the “Amish” try to remain in character, even when people ion black suits attack them. This satirizes their theatrical appearance and way of life, which is so alien to mainstream America that they perceive it as a reenactment, similar to the Colonial Williamsburg of today.