Members of the Amish community have been “shunned” by their church after the recent test of an emergency alert system outed them as having procured forbidden mobile phones.
The alarms – part of the nationwide emergency alert drill that the US government carried out on 4 October – drew the attention of community elders in Ohio.
Eli Yoder, a former member of the Amish community, took to TikTok to share the story, in which he explained how three of his friends had gotten into trouble after the devices were discovered.
“Hey guess what? I just got a couple of my Amish buddies shunned today by the Amish church. That’s right,” he said.
“Over the years there’s been quite a few Amish men that reached out and wanted phones so whenever they request to have a phone I’ll do everything I can to try to get them a phone. Not always can I do so, but in some circumstances, I have been able to get them a phone.
“Now, three of them replied back to me today and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have to lay low for a while, I just got shunned’ and I said, ‘how’s that happened?’ They said, ‘that emergency alert that went off? Yeah, we had our phones on vibrate, and it still went off’.”
In Amish culture, the practice of shunning involves a separation of a person from their community. A person is no longer allowed to eat or take rides with other community members, or engage with most community activities.
It occurs when members are found to have violated community rules, or strayed from tradition.
Mr Yoder said that one of his friends was in the middle of a visit with community elders to discuss a shunning for different reasons when the alert on his phone went off.
“The one guy said the elders were coming in his driveway, and they were there to speak with him about something that they heard about him that he might have to get shunned [for]. They were going to check up on him to see if it’s true,” he said.
“Right when that was going on the alert went off and it was in his pocket. Now he’s getting shunned for both. Whatever they were after to shun him [for] – and also the cell phone.”
In the comments section of his video Mr Yoder added: “From now on, I guess I have to remember to give all my Amish buddies a heads up if there is a planned emergency alert test.”
According to a post on Ohio’s Amish Country website, the Amish are “averse to any technology which they feel weakens the family structure”.
It states that such devices including television, automobiles, telephones or tractors are “considered to be a temptation that could cause vanity, create inequality, or lead the Amish away from their close-knit community.”
“It is common for Amish communities to allow the use of telephones, but they do not allow them in the home,” the website states.
