Rumspringa

     At first glance, the Rumspringa seems to be an odd, even cruel, religious practice, especially when one realizes that it is practiced by the ultra-strict, ultra-conservative Plain People, the Amish.

     Since they have Anabaptist origins, the Amish utterly reject any idea of infant baptism or of the idea that being raised in an Amish family makes one Amish.  The strongly believe that to be Amish one must make a conscious decision to adopt the life.

     Not all Amish teens (at age 16) participate in the Rumspringa (the "running around") during which they leave the community to live among the "English" (the outside world) and have no rules whatsoever.  Sex, drugs, alcohol, wild parties, telephones, fashionable clothing, smoking, profanity: anything goes.

     The hope is that the teens will be shocked and disgusted by the depravity they see and will voluntarily return to be baptized and assume their rightful place in the community.  This seems quite harsh to outsiders but the Amish see it as respect for the free wills of their  children.  No one is forced to be Amish, the life must be chosen.

     The Plain People know that their life can be seen as hard but most of their adults don't think that it is.  They do know what they're missing.

     For further study on this subject:

1. Schactman, Tom, Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish (North Point Press, 2007)

2. Video: The Devil's Playground.