Comparing Amish Living and Resisting Consumerism, Papers of Anthropology of religion

Download Comparing Amish Living and Resisting Consumerism and more Papers Anthropology of religion in PDF only on Docsity! Dale Slotman ANT 315 Comparative Religions Reaction Paper In the section of reading assigned for this week, Hostetler calls the Amish the “only true masters of technology” (Hostetler 383). He also discusses the recent surge of people who would like to join the Amish because they have become disenchanted with the world. These reminded of a conversation I had with a friend of mine on Monday. The friend is currently attending seminary. We were discussing what we had done over Spring Break. She did not have one because the seminary runs on a different schedule than Grand Valley. Her major accomplishment had been writing an ethics paper about consumerism. “In writing this paper, I found that consumerism and Christianity do not and cannot mix,” she said. “So how do Christians avoid becoming consumeristic?” I asked her. “Well, for the most part, they don’t,” she replied. She went on to explain that most Christians attempt to rationalize their consumerism. For example, when she was asking people if they felt that most Christians are consumeristic, a friend of hers from seminary told her that he had just purchased a new car. He had been given the choice between a flashy, fast, red car and a boring fuel- efficient gray car. He had picked the red car, not because he drives fast, but because he felt that it would give him something that the gray car could not. This is the crux of the issue. Our society teaches us that our definition comes from what we possess and what we produce. As Christians, we do not believe this to be true, but it is impossible to avoid the effect this has on the way we live. The Amish do not believe this, either, and they do a better job of avoiding it. They do not believe that bigger and newer are always better. “So what can we do to avoid becoming consumeristic?” I asked her. “I’m just glad I didn’t have to write my paper on that,” she said, “because I have no idea.” Another friend of mine recently attended a seminar on living simply. She said that the women who gave the seminar had a lot of helpful suggestions for how to reduce the hold that the world has on us. For example, whenever you buy a new shirt, give on of your old shirts away. Also, before all major purchases, evaluate your reasons for buying the item. Is it really necessary for your life? Is there a simpler option that will fulfill your needs just as much?