Dirty Secrets: The Dark Side of the "Plain People" (with ex-Mennonite Jasper Hoffman)

TheThinkingAtheist

The Thinking Atheist

Science, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amish and Mennonite communites often shield abuse and abusers from the public and the law. We speak to ex-Mennonite Jasper Hoffman and explore the dark underbelly of this culture of "plain people."

Jasper Hoffman's podcast

The Jasper Hoffman interview video

The Type Investigations article

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, here we got. Stand by. Three, two, one.
0:04.6	The thinking atheist, it's not a person. It's a symbol. An idea.
0:10.6	The population of atheists in this country is going through the room.
0:14.0	Rejecting faith. Pursuing knowledge. Challenging the sacred.
0:18.6	If I tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth,
0:21.6	not because I put my hand on a book and made a wish.
0:25.6	And working together for a more rational world.
0:28.6	Take the risk of thinking for yourself.
0:30.6	Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.
0:34.6	Assume nothing.
0:36.6	Question everything. Assume nothing. Question everything.
0:39.4	And start thinking.
0:42.2	This is the Thinking Atheist podcast, hosted by Seth Andrews.
1:00.3	Jasper Hoffman is a former Mennonites.
1:03.5	And I'm going to get into what the Mennonites are in just a few minutes.
1:06.2	But Jasper is fascinating.
1:10.4	She started her life out in a non-religious family,
1:13.7	before that family connected with one of the most conservative, aka Puritan cultures in the country. And today, Jasper works to expose an abuse culture
1:24.3	within the Mininites and the Amish communities. Now, I had the chance to meet Jasper.
1:30.3	When I was down at the Florida Freethought Conference in Orlando, we sat down for a conversation.
1:37.3	And I took the video of that conversation and published a kind of video essay. I put all of her answers into a more polished piece. But this is the
1:47.2	audio of my questions and her answers in regard to those who are commonly referred to as a
	...

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