Posts Tagged ‘Amish abuse’
Stepping off the Tightrope: A Journey of Faith, Struggle, and Redemption
Today I bring you Part 1 of a story: By Marilyn Coblentz I was born in the hollows of Virginia. My parents met at a children’s home on the other side of the mountain and when they got married and started raising their young family, they chose to stay with the church community there. In…
Read MoreWidespread Abuse and Massive Coverup in Amish Country
“The Amish are not exempt from an independent investigation, and yet as soon as the CCI gets involved, it is no longer an independent investigation.” ~ Fellow Pennsylvania Advocate Recently there was a report about an Amish mother reclaiming her children in the York Daily Record after the children had been separated from her for…
Read MoreA Soul-Nurturing Experience
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. ~ Maya Angelou This past weekend I attended a Safe Communities retreat in Ephrata, Pennsylvania at the beautiful Hurst Bed and Breakfast. The retreat was led by Linda Crockett, Lyn Barrett, and Mark Harris, and it was exactly what I needed at this…
Read MoreWhen Someone Leaves the Amish
The Roads Taken There are as many paths out of an Amish community as there are those who have left. The one most often taken is the one towards what many call “spiritual freedom.” In most Amish communities, it is not encouraged to study or interpret the Bible for oneself. There is more emphasis on…
Read MoreIntroduction: About Amish and Beyond
Prepare for the new; expect the new; embrace the new. Otherwise, you’ll just repeat what’s old. ~ Marianne Williamson Ever so long ago (in 2009), I started my first blog, About Amish. At that time, I felt like a lone voice trying to challenge widespread misconceptions about the Amish. Many of them came from the…
Read MoreHow Prevalent is Sexual Abuse Among the Amish?
The question in my title today has been asked of me ever since I published my first book, Why I Left the Amish. Because my story was one of the first to expose both sexual and physical abuse in an Amish community, the answer was elusive. I would answer this question by saying that because…
Read MoreBook Launch and First Blog Review of Liberating Lomie
In her third memoir, Liberating Lomie, Furlong revisits her childhood memories from the vantage of a mother-daughter relationship. And that bond, like Amish culture, is complicated. ~Sabrina R Völz, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany Today is launch day for Liberating Lomie: Memoir of an Amish Childhood. It has finally arrived! I picked up the books from…
Read MoreArticle About Amish Life in Argentinian Newspaper, La Nacion
Several weeks ago, just before I attended the Amish Conference in Elizabethtown, I was approached by a reporter named Domitila Dellacha who writes for an Argentinian newspaper, La Nacion. Ms. Dellacha was writing an article about Amish culture that was published today. Unfortunately for many people in the U.S., the article was published in Spanish. It…
Read MoreAmish Conference 2019: Health and Well-Being in Amish Society
It has been ever so long since I’ve written here, and ever so much has happened in the Amish world as well as my own. The two came together this past weekend when I attended the conference at Elizabethtown College called Health and Well-Being in Amish Society. You can see the full schedule of speakers…
Read More