Close ties, religion will help heal Amish: expert

A close-knit community andstrong religious beliefs will help an Amish community in Pennsylvania cope with the emotional aftermath of a deadly school shooting this week, a college professor says.

In fact,the Amish "in many ways, are better prepared to cope with this kind of adversity perhaps than many other Americans, who live much more individualistic lives and who are not members of a warm, supportive community in the way that the Amish are," Donald B. Kraybill, a professor at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pa., told CBC News on Tuesday.

The shooting on Monday that left five girls dead is unprecedented,he said.

"I'm not aware of any other incidents of violence like this in any Amish schools in North America before. There are sometimes incidents of violence against Amish people in other settings, but I'm not aware of any other historical moments like this before."

Oblivious to media

Kraybill, an expert on Old Order Amish, said community members in Nickel Mines, Pa., are largely oblivious to the media spotlight that has descended on them because they do not watch television, listen to radio or connect to the internet. However, they do read daily newspapers.

"They are aware of the outside interest," Kraybill said, "but the grieving is going on quietly in the homes and when the community gathers."

He said the large number of vehicles clogging roads in the community are probably having a greater effect than the media coverage, because they use horses and wagons for work and travel.

Kraybill said the incident, in which a gunman cleared out boys from a one-room schoolhouse, barricaded doors, lined girls along a chalkboard and opened fire, may make the Amish more wary of strangers, but may not have a huge effect on how they run their schools. Amish schools are locally managed by parents who are trustees and make school policies.

"The Amish will see this, in may ways, as an aberration, an isolated incident," he said. "Certainly, teachers will be more cautious and careful about strangers coming into the building, but really it will be up to local trustees of each school to decide about any changes they might make."

Community valued over individual

He said the Amish will pull through this event because they value community over the individual and the community will give them support in such a tough time. As well, their faith and religious beliefswill give them perspective, he said.

"They generally see all of life under the providence of God, even acts of terror or evil. They see perhaps that God has a bigger purpose, a purpose here that they may not understand. Their faith is really very important in helping to sustain them."

There are about 1,500 Amish schools in North America, with more than 150 in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania alone.