Comment by mdturnerphys
7 years ago
From my understanding they do not reject electricity because it's inherently sinful. Their rejection of it comes from desires to maintain a degree of separation from the rest of the world and to continue a tradition of hard work, which are biblically motivated.
I think any religious beliefs, from anywhere on the conservative to progressive spectrum, will have aspects that seem illogical to an outsider. On the scale of things, the reasoning for these restrictions doesn't seem too irrational.
IMO, it does seem unnecessarily inflammatory to refer to a pacifist group as extreme when that term is usually applied to groups engaged in terrorism, etc. I also find the label of cult too strong, unless you're using it in the formal sense. Look into the tradition of rumspringa [0]--unless you're being cynical it doesn't seem like a cultish practice.