I didn’t want to further derail the Memes thread, so made this spinoff to add to the discussion @endlessclimb started on repressive religions.
Now the poor, poor men are upset that the Taliban is laying some restrictions on them, and thinking that maybe they should have spoken up sooner when it was their daughters and wives being oppressed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/22/afghanistan-taliban-restrictions-men-beards/
It’s very sad how many religions support bigotry and misogyny to some degree.
I’m struggling to think of one that doesn’t. They’re all that way, to some degree. It certainly contributes to the society and culture we have today.
Sikhism in principle is quite egalitarian and peaceful.
In reality it’s less so. There’ve been several instances of militant Sikh terrorism, including an airplane bomb in the 1980s that killed several hundred people.
What continues to amaze me about the Amish and Mennonite culture is how the general public is just so SURE that everything they do is so pure and perfect. They whole Amish built and Amish baked and Amish raised cracks me up. Sure there are some things you can count on to be true but they are not all some perfect little group as you have shown by articles posted.
But from what I have witnessed they are not nearly as Patriarchal or misogynistic as they may appear.
While visiting family in the midwest, I stopped at an Amish auction where they were selling fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Buggies were tied up outside. It was fascinating.
More than once, I’ve seen Amish shoppers at warehouse grocers. Their carts were loaded with sugar, flour, hotdogs, and junk food. I know they bake a lot, so that explained some items. I was surprised at the food choices.
A Mennonite woman runs a bakery out of her home about an hour from my place. It is a sugar fest! We don’t get there often, but it is fun to visit. We have a large Mennonite population in the Willamette Valley. It’s not uncommon to see Mennonite women working at the huge outlet mall.
I think what “we” see when they’re out in public is best-behavior type stuff. What happens in the home, behind closed doors and in the power-riddled church is where their true colors show.
We all know they are not “nice” to their animals. I can’t even go to the Shipshewana auction anymore because my heart cannot take seeing the spent Belgian pairs and the fried DHH crosses. Some will say they are not that way, but if you’ve been to an amish community you can’t say you haven’t seen a questionably sound standardbred going down the road.
Our group seems to be pretty good horseman on the whole. Not that I haven’t seen some horses return from “training” that need retrained. Now dog breeding on the other hand…
I just don’t think that on the whole they are much different than a cross section of other Americans. Poor stockman, good stockman, ethical, non ethical. They have the gamut just like everyone else. And there seems to be as much if not more differences in their “beliefs” by congregation than other religious groups.
Again, just like English, some take good care of their transportation, some don’t.
My cars could do with more maintenance than the bare minimum I provide.
And while I agree about the puppy mills, they aren’t exclusively Amish.
I know this from personal experience.
Not every Belgian at Shipshe came from an Amish farm.
If you look outside of the Kill Pens there are drafts in decent shape.
At the latest Topeka auction the High Sale was a Percheron gelding: $165K.
Granted, this was for a Show hitch.
Many of the Show hitch teams are trained, cared for, boarded & driven by Amish for the owners or syndicate.
The young Mennonite whose photo I posted is working with his family to bring back the Hackney Horse.
A couple years ago they hosted an Open House & had customers from as far as Canada & CA coming to view their yearlings, purebred & crosses.
I dint know why you want to make excuses for them, but the Belgian pairs at shipse are easily 90% from the Amish in the area.
They aren’t this perfect bastion of people. They have some big issues. With my own eyes I saw lame road/buggy horses zooming around.
I just don’t like an entire group smeared by a portion.
Do you think Every.Single.Republican was in DC on January 6?
Ok, without proof, you can believe All Belgians in the Shipshe Killpen are from the Amish & All STB & DHHX driven by Amish are lame.
But I’ve been a guest at several different Amish & Mennonite barns & saw horses of both Draft & light breeds in good health.
Members of my 40yo Driving Club - including several competitive in rated CDE - use several Amish/Mennonite trainers both to train horses to drive & to buy from & have for years.
Shun the Amish if you want, but don’t lump them together based on things you’ve read or observed without getting involved personally.
I also am not going to lift them all up because they have pretty horses or a really nice show Perch.
What they do in their personal lives and the religion they participate in that actively subjugates women and hides sexual assault. Those, to me, are the hot button issues. The fact that you’ve apparently cleared the entire Indiana Amish population of that cultural wrong doing because someone sent a horse to them to train and you’ve never seen them do anything wrong is unbelievable to me.
She has never said that though.
And I am really unclear as to whether the religion actually subjugates women. I agree that it seems like they do but from my experiences I cannot make that assumption. When both women and men are together there is none of the deferring to the men that you see in say some other fundamental religions. The women speak freely to outsiders as much as the men.
@endlessclimb
“you’ve apparently cleared the entire Indiana Amish population of that cultural wrongdoing”
Pls show me where I did that.
@roseymare
“She has never said that though.”
Thanks for reading for comprehension 
Evangelicals are now positively salivating at the opportunity to get their mitts on the legislative process.
I’ve never been close to what I would describe as “militantly” atheist. That may change. Not in a violently militant way, but I might have to get past my anxiety at interacting with new people and get involved in some activism.
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