Closed but Not Protected: Excess Deaths Among the Amish and Mennonites During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stein, Rachel E.; Corcoran, Katie E.; Colyer, Corey J.; Mackay, Annette M.; Guthrie, Sara K.

doi:10.1007/s10943-021-01307-5

Cited by 15 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…As Duran et al's (2020, p. 28) study pointed out, community members "get most information from each other rather than from an outside source." Such closure can create echo chambers of misinformation (Stein et al 2021). Thus, COVID-19 misinformation prevalent in their communities certainly shaped perceptions of the pandemic and the government's efforts to contain it in the U.S. (Ali et al 2020;Duran et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These newspapers also provide an outlet for Conservative Mennonite mission organizations to share updates on work with the larger Anabaptist community that provides financial, social, and spiritual support. The Budget, published weekly, is the most broadly distributed Amish and Mennonite correspondence newspaper with a circulation of around 18,500 (Stein et al 2021). Representatives from Amish and Mennonite communities-scribes-submit letters to the newspaper that provide community news, including health, weddings, funerals, births, and other events.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global Contexts: How Countries Shape the COVID-19 Experience of Amish and Mennonite Missionaries Abroad

et al. 2021

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Across the globe, governments restricted social life to slow the spread of COVID-19. Several conservative Protestant sects resisted these policies in the United States. We do not yet know if theology shaped the resistance or if it was more a product of a polarized national political context. We argue that the country context likely shapes how conservative Protestants’ moral worldview affects their perceptions of the pandemic and government restrictions. Countries implementing more regulations, those with limited access to healthcare, food, and other essential services, and those with past histories of epidemics may all shape residents’ perceptions. Drawing on the case of American Amish and Mennonite missionaries stationed abroad, we content-analyzed accounts of the pandemic from an international Amish and Mennonite correspondence newspaper. We found that the missionaries’ perceptions of the pandemic and governmental restrictions differ from those of their U.S. counterparts, which suggests that context likely shapes how religious moral worldviews express themselves concerning public health interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Contexts: How Countries Shape the COVID-19 Experience of Amish and Mennonite Missionaries Abroad

et al. 2021

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“…We collected data from The Budget, an international Amish/Mennonite correspondence newspaper that focuses on US communities and currently has a circulation of around 18,500 (Stein et al, 2021 ). The Budget is “an important institution, serving as the major means of communication among Amish settlements” (Hostetler, 1993 , p. 377).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the research on religion, behavior, and pandemic policy, focuses on US evangelical Protestants and Christian nationalists. Fewer studies examine how pandemic policies affect closed religious communities (CRCs) 1 —religious communities that limit interactions between members and non-members (Carmody et al, 2021 ; Stein et al, 2021 ; Weinberger-Litman et al, 2020 ; Zyskind et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rituals of Contagion in Closed Religious Communities: A Case Study of Amish and Mennonite Communities in the USA During the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2022

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At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, government and medical guidelines emphasized social distancing to limit exposure. These guidelines significantly impacted closed religious communities, particularly those opposed to modern technologies, such as Amish and Mennonite communities. How did these religious communities respond to COVID-19 policies in the USA? We draw data from Ohio and Pennsylvania scribe entries published in an Amish/Mennonite correspondence newspaper. While some of these communities altered church rituals to comply with government directives, others maintained communal worship without disruption. Mennonite communities were more likely to conform to guidelines.

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“…The Amish appear to be as insular and as disdainful of modern life outside their communities as the Ultra-Orthodox and meet in frequent close proximity for religious services and communal events. Early in the pandemic, some Amish districts predictably suffered clusters of infections and deaths (Huntsman 2021;Stein et al 2021). Some Amish believe that God's will determines disease outcomes, and in the past they avoided aggressive medical interventions for that reason (Kraybill, Johnson-Weiner, and Nolt 2013: 335;Seewer 2020).…”

Section: Amish (Us and Canada)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Responses to a Pandemic

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2022

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During historic plagues some religious advocates attributed a plague to the actions of a deity, and this claim has also been applied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most contemporary religious leaders and believers, however, accepted secular analysis of the pandemic, and complied, to varying degrees, with public health restrictions and remedies. But some religious leaders and groups defied these measures and had much higher rates of infections and deaths than the general population. Case studies of selected groups can expand our knowledge of these impacts and reactions. I focus especially on Amish and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, two insular religious subcultures which have disparaged the sciences and tried to maximize their autonomy and cultural separateness from the surrounding society. Both internal and contextual factors are important in understanding their reactions to the pandemic.

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Closed but Not Protected: Excess Deaths Among the Amish and Mennonites During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 15 publications

References 50 publications

Global Contexts: How Countries Shape the COVID-19 Experience of Amish and Mennonite Missionaries Abroad

Global Contexts: How Countries Shape the COVID-19 Experience of Amish and Mennonite Missionaries Abroad

Rituals of Contagion in Closed Religious Communities: A Case Study of Amish and Mennonite Communities in the USA During the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Religious Responses to a Pandemic

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