The MennoPORNite Syndrome – Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of the book:

The Failure of the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment

Why Christian Conservatism Isn’t the Answer and What to Do

The Mennopornite Syndrome is a term that I coined to describe the phenomenon that occurs when conservative religious groups add modesty and dress regulations, whether written or verbal, to the commands that God has given us in the New Testament. Instead of producing morally pure, holy, Godly men and women, these modesty and dress regulations backfire resulting in these groups having high rates of addiction to pornography and high rates of child sexual abuse. There are many other consequences of these conservative manmade dress regulations that result in very undesirable consequences in the lives of people. These consequences and results follow a pattern as well and are part of the Mennopornite Syndrome.

Are you looking for something more than just the same old concepts, interpretations, explanations, and perspectives you have heard regurgitated over and over again? This website will give you some new insights and things to think about. You may not agree with everything you read, but Biblical Research Reports will stimulate your thinking. Our goal is to help you to formulate in your own mind what is Jesus’ truth as you look at the research we share on the various subjects facing the Church.

The Mennopornite Syndrome is a phenomenon and a pattern that occurs in other conservative Christian groups as well, in addition to Amish and conservative Mennonite groups. We will be looking at some of these groups later on.

A MennoPORNite viewing device – a smart phone which can contribute to addiction to pornography. Pornography is available any time they want it at their finger tips. Photo courtesy of adamar at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Huge Failure of the Modesty Doctrine – High Rates of Addiction to Pornography

One of the pillars of the conservative Dress Experiment is its Modesty Doctrine. A high level of importance is given to modesty by Christian conservatives. A heavy responsibility is placed on the girls and women to dress in such a way that boys and men are not tempted to look at them in a lustful way or cause them to “stumble”. Being even slightly “immodest” as defined by preachers and others in the church as very big “no-no”. But conservative modest dress does not prevent the addiction to pornography of both men and women.

In 2015 a survey of conservative Mennonite young men and women revealed that 74% of the guys had habitually viewed pornography and 23% of the young women had habitually viewed pornography! The survey had a large enough sample size to give us a fairly accurate window into the pornography usage of conservative Mennonite young people. Of those who took the survey, 56% of both the guys and the young women were members of a Biblical Mennonite Alliance (BMA) church. The goal of the Biblical Mennonite Alliance when it was established in 1999 was to be the most Biblical Mennonite conference. This survey reveals the utter failure of their goal to be the most spiritual and Godly Mennonite conference.

One of the fruits of a church or religious group is their young people. The young people are the product of the generation in charge of a church and show the results of the group’s theology and practices. Jesus warned us: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-16) For BMA and other conservative Mennonite groups, their high rate of pornography addiction and sexual abuse reveals that their modesty doctrine does not work and is a false teaching.

BMA is the conservative Mennonite group that our family was a part of before God told us to leave because the cost to our family would be greater than what we were willing to pay. Little did we know, when we left, what all the consequences of staying in BMA and the Mennonite church might be.

Habitual pornography use by conservative Mennonite young men. The results of a survey of conservative Mennonite guys. Image courtesy of https://radi-call.com/media-survey-results-2/

Habitual pornography use by conservative Mennonite young women. The results of a survey of conservative Mennonite young women. Image courtesy of https://radi-call.com/media-survey-results-2/

The actual usage of porn by conservative Mennonite guys is probably much higher than 74 for these reasons:

1. The focus of the survey question was not about whether they had ever looked at pornography, but rather the habitual viewing of pornography.
2. The responses or lack thereof to the follow up survey question. The 26% of guys that said that they did not struggle with habitual pornography usage were asked –“What helped prevent you from falling into pornography?” Of the 32 guys, 13 did not respond, one dodged the question, and only 9 of the 32 addressed anything spiritual as their reason for staying out of porn.
3. The content of the website tends to attract those who are more spiritually minded and may not be a true cross section of conservative Mennonite young people.
4. It was a voluntary survey rather than a random phone survey. There were probably some young men that got to this question and did not finish the survey because they did not want to answer this question.

The actual usage of porn by conservative Mennonite young women is also probably much higher than 23% for the same reasons as listed above for the men. Of the 97 women that said that they did not struggle with habitual porn usage, 39 did not respond to the question – “What helped prevent you from falling into pornography?”.

This statistic that 23% of conservative Mennonite young women have had a problem with HABITUAL pornography usage shatters the perception by many conservatives that women are not tempted by porn and that it is only a male problem. It also shatters the belief of many conservatives that the women in the family can be used to police and hold accountable the internet usage of the guys in the home because the women are not tempted by pornography. Men, when you think it through, it makes sense that women are also tempted by pornography. The sexual act involves two people – a male and a female. Women have a sexual drive also. For that reason there is also a temptation for women to look at pornography and lust.

I had long suspected that there was hidden sin in the conservative Mennonite church, but I never dreamed that the level addiction to pornography was this high. I have noticed when we would visited a Mennonite church there was a spiritual deadness in the congregations. The singing did not seem to come from the heart. Sunday school classes focused on the milk of the Word. Often when I talked with Mennonites and I shared a spiritual insight that the Lord had showed me, there was a lack of interest and understanding.

This survey reveals the hypocrisy of the Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment. The outside of the conservative Mennonite person looks sexually pure, religious, holy, Godly, and blameless, but inside of about three fourths of the guys and a quarter of the young women there has been the hidden sin of HABITUAL pornography usage.

The modesty doctrine of the Dress Experiment has not produced the type of young men and women that God desires. “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world…” (Titus 2:11-12)

What is the point of requiring conservative women to dress ultra-modestly to keep from defrauding men, if most of the Mennonite men are secretly addicted to pornography and committing mental adultery? It is a farce for preachers to teach that conservative women need to be ultra-careful not to defraud their men. That is not where the true problem lies. The conservative woman’s dress is not what is causing the guys to sin. A tank top and shorts is modest apparel compared to the porn that these conservative guys are secretly looking at. Men harping on the women to dress more ultra-modestly is a likely indicator that those men are not having victory over pornography or are involved in sexual abuse and are looking for someone to blame just like Adam did with Eve.

For those of you who are conservative young ladies you need to be very careful regarding who you marry. You may have kept yourself pure for your wedding day and dressed modestly so as not to defraud the guys, but many of the conservative guys have not kept themselves pure for their wedding day. Their addiction to pornography is adultery and is unfaithfulness to their future spouse, and will affect their marriage. If they have not kept themselves pure before marriage, what is the likelihood that they will keep themselves pure after they are married? If anything, their porn usage is likely to increase rather than stop. If a man has not recognized the seriousness of his sin and fully repented, and if the Holy Spirit has not made him into a new person, and given him the power to be victorious, he will likely fall back into sin. Pornography is a strong addiction.

The Great Amish and Conservative Mennonite Dress Experiment has failed BIG TIME. It has not kept the conservative men from lusting after other women and has been a contributing factor in them lusting after women and young girls. The conservative men are involved in lust more than what most of us ever imagined possible. Most conservative women not the ones responsible for the moral failures of these men of sexual abuse and pornography. Do not let anyone try to saddle you with false guilt. It is not your fault.

A little logical reasoning would conclude that the conservative modesty doctrine would not work to keep men from lust, sexual abuse, viewing pornography or the addiction to pornography. As long as the men in the church are allowed to have ANY contact with the rest of society and to see girls, women, and/or pictures of girls and women from the rest of society, requiring girls and women in the conservative church to dress modestly will not prevent the men from lusting after other girls and women in the rest of society. And we know that seclusion from society to prevent lust does not work either as is evidenced with the high rate of sexual abuse of children within conservative groups and the horrific gang rapes in the secluded Bolivian Mennonite colony. 

A woman jogging past an Amish buggy in Holmes County Ohio. Modest dress regulations for women in the church are a farce, and will not keep men in the church from lust, as long as the men are allowed to have ANY contact with the rest of society. Instead, ugly, plain, ultra-modest dress regulations cause dress like this lady’s clothing to be a shock to the conservative male’s system and draws his eyes to her. Total seclusion will not work either. “Immodest” dress is not the root of the problem. The woman jogger’s clothing is modest dress compared to the skimpy clothing and nudity that three fourths of the conservative Mennonite young men are looking at in their pornography.

One of the big problems with conservatism’s modesty doctrine is that it puts the blame on the Christian women for defrauding men. Subconsciously, it gives the impression that men can’t help themselves to keep from looking and lusting and that the women are responsible to keep the men from looking and lusting.

Accountability also does not work.

Subconsciously, accountability gives the impression that someone else is responsible to help keep a man from looking at pornography rather than the Holy Spirit and His power giving victory. If a man is addicted to pornography on the sly, what will keep him from lying about it? In the survey, a significant number of the young men said that they had a regular accountability partner(s). In spite of those accountability partners, many still habitually viewed pornography. Many of these young men also have the accountability time before taking communion where they have to tell the preachers that they are right with the Lord before they are given communion. These “counsel meetings”/accountability times before communion are a farce as is evidenced by all the hidden sin of pornography, sexual abuse, and other sins that are going on in these conservative churches.

In fact there is a certain amount of danger that results from these pre-communion accountability times. It gives the impression that the preachers have thoroughly checked everyone out and that everyone is a true believer and is trustworthy. It can then lead people in the church to think that all the church members are safe for the children in the church to be around, and not suspect that there are sexual predators in their midst.

“BEWARE lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men (Conservativism), after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him (Christ), which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2:8-10)

The Error of the Modesty Doctrine

The conservative modesty doctrine has made things to be wrong that God never said was sin. It has implied that some things are the same as pornography that are not pornography. This is the same mistake that Eve did. God told Adam and Eve that they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that if they ate it, they would die. Eve added to what God said and stated if they touched it they would die.

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:1-6)

Amish and Mennonites have done a similar thing to what Eve did. They have made seeing certain parts of a woman to be practically the same thing as lusting after a woman. Jesus said “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) Jesus said that it was the lusting after a woman that was adultery. Conservatives have made the seeing or looking at certain parts or shape of a woman to be wrong even if the man is not lusting after the woman. The modesty doctrine did not stop there. It has also gone a step further and made the women responsible to prevent the men from seeing anything that their church has determined is “immodest”. The Dress Experiment has defined the following parts of a Mennonite woman to be wrong for men to see, even though God never said it was wrong for a man to see them:

• The shape of a woman’s bosom – the requirement of a cape dress or double layer on top.
• A woman’s elbow – the requirement of long or ¾ length sleeves
• A woman’s shoulder – woman are not permitted to wear sleeveless dresses
• A woman’s knees – the woman’s dress must cover the knee
• The part of a woman’s leg above the knee – no shorts or short skirts
• A woman’s ankles or the calf of her leg – requiring black stockings, or heavy long socks, and/or long skirts/dresses.

Adding to God’s commands does not prevent sin from occurring. It does not prevent the viewing or addiction to pornography. Instead adding to God’s Word increases the chance that people will go all the way and commit the sin that God said not to do. The modesty doctrine has increased the number of square inches of bare skin on a girl or woman’s body that is “immodest” for the conservative male. It also significantly increases, for the conservative male, the styles and fits of clothing that are “immodest”.

As a result, the conservative modesty doctrine significantly increases the temptation for the conservative male to lust after a woman because the modesty doctrine has greatly increased the number of girls and women who are now in the category of being “immodestly dressed.” The conservative male is used to seeing the conservative, old fashioned, “modest”, bland, less attractive dress and hairstyles at home and in his church community. It makes what their church classifies as “immodest dress” more of a shock to his system and increases the temptation to look. The results are the opposite of what the modesty doctrine is trying to accomplish. The conservative modesty doctrine has backfired.

Is conservative modest dress more Godly? NO!

A Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Mennonite farm roadside stand sign requiring customers to dress according to a modesty dress code or stay in their car! While most conservative Mennonites would not post a sign like this, I have seen other signs at businesses stating “Please dress modestly”.

 Instead of producing morally pure, holy, Godly men and women, these modesty and dress regulations backfire resulting in these groups having high rates of addiction to pornography and high rates of child sexual abuse.

Next Chapter 6 – The Seriousness of Pornography and Sexual Abuse