Fans of Amish Fiction discussion

I follow Amy Clipston on Twitter and she recently posted a link to an article by Shelley Shepard Gray about why she writes Amish romances. I thought I'd share it with you guys as I think this is the reason most of us enjoy reading about the Amish:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09...

On another note, does anyone else have Twitter? I mainly follow authors and let people know when I've written a new review on my book blog, but if anyone is interested I'm @the_authoress

Vannetta Chapman is the featured author in this blog today.

http://www.mysteriesandmargaritasblog...

Here's a new interview with Vanetta Chapman.
http://reflectionsinhindsight.wordpre...

I was doing some research online today and i came across a disturbing article. It was about abuse among the amish. Of course abuse happens everywhere within all cultures and religions and the amish are not immune to it. What i found really heart wrenching though was that the victims seem to be silenced. One example was given of a girl who had been abused sexually by her brother and had told her mom. She was accussed of not protesting strong enough or not praying hard enough. Even if the church leaders (bishop) gets involved if the perpetrator admits to his sin and will repent shunning is the only punishment. They don't get law enforcement involved. And once the punishment is lifted the crime is to never be mentioned again. Forgive and forget. How about the victim? Perpetrators get off easy, victims suffer for a lifetime... Also in this case the girl went to police and she was then excommunicated. talk about adding salt to the wounds. Im just wondering if any of you have any thoughts about this?
Respectfully, trishpeters

just found this...crazy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03...

Patricia, that is why my family left the Amish.

Rachel wrote: "just found this...crazy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03..."

Rachel: Not sure what I think about this. Does anyone else have an opinion? This was, after all, a hate crime and the perpetrators--mostly all members of the same family--certainly deserve to be punished. Perhaps some type of long-term community service would have been more appropriate. How about sending them to Oklahoma to help clean up and rebuild after the tornado on some kind of work-release program?

Carolyn wrote: "Rachel wrote: "just found this...crazy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03..."

Rachel: Not sure what I think about this. Does anyone else hav..."

I was more surprised that one group of Amish did it to another group at all. Not that all people aren't subject to temptation to commit sin and to commit crime but to shame others who believe similarly about the importance of long hair and beards that way is appalling. I think a short prison sentence is reasonable but perhaps as a work-release situation where you spend nights in prison and your days working at some type of community service?

Rachel: I think your idea is a good one--i.e., work-release during the day for some type of community service and spending the nights in prison.