THE AMISH: WWJD?

Today at the office I was trying to explain to both my assistant and my secretary something about the Amish faith. I have always had a great respect for that community, and when the two women today expressed disbelief and even a slight scorn for how they have handled the horrible school shooting ("Can you believe that they wouldn't agree to being flown to their children's sides in the hospital, but had to be driven in vans?"), I felt impelled to explain the scriptural underpinnings of Amish beliefs. While I was at it, I got into the origins of our beloved Courtesy Officer's beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness (Ed won't participate in our United Way drive because he's against blood banks, a fact which S----y, my assistant who's in charge of the UW drive, couldn't comprehend).

Because I'm a well-known liberal (or progressive or whatever), it always seems to come as a surprise to my staff that I'm also deeply respectful of people of faith -- even though I'm also a person of faith myself. I don't know why that is, but I suspect that it's at least partially a result of long-term indoctrination by the popular media that people of faith are all Republicans (or conservatives, or whatever).

Anyway, S----y and S----y (wow, I never realized how both their names started with S and ended with Y) were shocked that the Amish have reportedly "forgiven" the killer of those precious little girls. Andrew Sullivan has a great post about it that pretty much reflects what I told my two friends and co-workers.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. How easy to say. How hard to practise. When people actually practise what Jesus preached, it still shocks, doesn't it? And Jesus' teaching is nothing if not shocking.