Nonconformity to the world


Nonconformity to the world, also called separation from the world, is a Christian doctrine based on, and other verses of the New Testament that became important among different Protestant groups, especially among Anabaptists. The corresponding German word used by Anabaptists is Absonderung. Nonconformity is primarily expressed through the practices of plain dress and simple living.

Biblical basis

Even though not unique to Anabaptists or Mennonites, the concept of nonconformity has found an unusually intense and detailed application among these groups. Other groups that practice forms of separation from the world are the Exclusive Brethren and the Church of God.
Among traditional Anabaptist groups nonconformity is practiced in relation to dress, the use of technology like horse and buggy transportation instead of cars, the rejection of television and radio, the use of language, that is German dialects like Pennsylvania German, Plautdietsch and others instead of English or Spanish, nonresistance,,, and other questions.
Anabaptist groups that practice nonconformity to the world today, belong either to the Old Order Movement, the "Russian" Mennonites the Hutterites or the Bruderhof. These groups live either in Canada and the US or in Latin America.
20th century minister and religious radio broadcaster Carl McIntire stressed the doctrine of nonconformity to the world.

Literature