“If you don’t comply,” Mary Byler reports, “at some point, it will be time to shun you.” It’s one of the ways Amish control and manipulate members who do not obey the rules.
As a victim of Amish mandated shunning herself, Mary knows what she is talking about. She tells her story in an interview on YouTube.
In one eye-opening article on her website, Mary identifies ten ways the Amish harass members who do not shun targeted victims. In so doing, she highlights the reason we apply the term “mandated” to shunning.
Many Amish communities will pressure family and close friends by intimidating them with loss of social status, marginalization, public humiliation, and sometimes even financial harm if they do not comply with the community’s expectation to shun an indicated victim. And, church leadership has the gall to package it as a way to show the victim how much they are loved!
Mary also informs us that anyone reporting an incident of child sexual abuse to the authorities may often become victims of mandated shunning themselves. It is a method of control that leads to more abuse of other children. However, the Amish are not the only group guilty of this. So are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists, Exclusive Brethren, Haredi Jews and Bahá’í Faith.
It’s just another profound example of why we must stop mandated shunning. When people get hurt, especially children, it is no longer a freedom of religion issue. It’s a human rights violation.
We give Mary Byler our deepest gratitude and unwavering support for helping educate the public about one of the most egregious forms of coercive control: mandated shunning, the Amish way.