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An orthodox Anabaptist sect that separated from the Mennonites in the late 17th century and exists today primarily in Ohio and southeast Pennsylvania.
adj.Of or relating to this sect or its members.
[German amisch, after Jacob Amman, 17th-century Swiss Mennonite bishop.]
For more information on Amish, visit Britannica.com.
Known widely for their distinctive dress and principled rejection of modernity, the Amish provide unending fascination to outsiders. In 1900 social scientists confidently predicted the early demise of the Amish, then numbering about 5,000 members. Instead, a century later they were among the fastest-growing churches in North America, with more than 1,400 congregations in thirty-three states (and Ontario), with adult membership approaching 90,000 and a total population of nearly 200,000.
The Amish are a continuation of the Anabaptist ("rebaptizer") movement of the sixteenth century. Although basically Protestant in doctrine, Anabaptists rejected in principle the church-state linkage hallowed by Catholic tradition and accepted by Protestant reformers. Instead, Anabaptists contended for a "gathered church" of committed believers, who sealed their conviction by adult baptism.
Anabaptists were among the first to urge religious liberty, condemning the use of force in religious matters; exclusion from church fellowship was the severest penalty they exacted in their congregations, which they sought to maintain in purity and unity. They based their specific beliefs and practices on the early church and on the New Testament, which they studied assiduously. They were mission-minded, extending their gospel over much of Europe despite ferocious persecution. Except for marginal groups who were militant, Anabaptists forbade any use of violence, instead practicing nonresistance to oppression.
Much of early Anabaptist activity took place in the Swiss cantons; to escape repeated pogroms, many Anabaptists sought refuge in more tolerant areas along the Rhine River, in the German Palatinate and the Alsace. By 1600 most Anabaptists were called Mennonites, after the former Dutch priest Menno Simons (c. 1496–1561).
The Amish movement took its name from an Alsatian convert named Jakob Ammann (1656?–1730?). Concerned that Mennonites were becoming lax in church discipline, Ammann sought church renewal by tightening discipline. He banned miscreants not only from church ordinances but also from all social encounters. Several Swiss elders thought this too harsh and rejected Ammann's actions, upon which Ammann placed them in the ban. Those Rhenish Mennonites who followed Ammann's lead were henceforth called the Amish. This took place in 1693, marking the emergence of the Amish as a separate Anabaptist body.
Amish began to emigrate to North America in major ways after 1736, first settling in Berks and Lancaster counties, Pennsylvania. Another large wave of Amish emigration (about 3,000 persons) took place between 1817 and 1860, with primary settlement in the Midwest, leaving perhaps 2,000 members in Europe. Migration continued in the twentieth century until 1937, when the last European Amish joined with Mennonites.
In the freer confines of the United States, many Amish families converted to more liberal Mennonite groups. This trend continued until the mid-nineteenth century, when two factions developed among American Amish. The more conservative were known as the Old Order Amish, wishing to preserve the old ways. The more progressive were known as the Amish Mennonites and merged over time with Mennonite conferences.
Old Order Amish
In the popular mind the Amish seem to be a fossilized body, blindly perpetuating the mind-set and lifestyle of early ages. In fact, they practice a highly rational selectivity in accepting or rejecting modern developments, always to perpetuate their faith and further family welfare. Nevertheless, their avoidance of high-school education, telephones in homes, radios and television, electricity from power lines, self-propelled farm implements, and motor vehicles evidence willful rejection of modern ways. Their plain style of dressing, with chin beards, broad-fall trousers, "soup-bowl" hair cuts, and broad-brimmed hats for men and nonpatterned, form-concealing caped dresses (but using some bright colors) and bonnets for women, also set them apart. (Children among the Amish are dressed much like adults.) Their insistence on the use of Pennsylvania-German in their families and German in their church services and their reference to non-Amish as "English" underscore their difference from general society. It is paradoxically these differences that have made the Amish so fascinating to outsiders.
Beliefs. The distinctive Amish lifestyle is based on their belief system, which has altered little since their formative years. Its formal foundation is the Dordrecht Confession of 1632, agreed upon by Dutch Mennonites and later accepted by German Mennonites. It is congruent with traditional Protestant creeds, except for its understanding of the Lord's Supper as commemoration rather than as sacrament and its emphasis on adult baptism, nonresistance, nonconformity, and shunning in church discipline.
Church membership through baptism (ordinarily of young adults) follows a class of instruction based upon the Dordrecht Confession. Applicants, when called before the congregation, respond affirmatively to questions of faith, promise obedience to church order (men agree to serve as ministers if chosen), and receive baptism by the pouring of water upon their heads.
The controlling concept of Amish belief is the Ordnung. This is the traditional order, an unwritten code upon which all of Amish life and practice is based. It is the code of conduct that governs all Amish actions, transmitted by tradition rather than by explicit rules. The bishop of each district is responsible for interpreting and perpetuating the Ordnung.
Another basic concept is Gelassenheit. Difficult to translate concisely, it has the meaning of yielding, self-surrender, and acceptance. It mandates giving up self-will and pride; instead, the believer accepts authority, bows to the common good, and defers to the traditions of the church and the decisions of its leaders. The welfare of the many is prior to the benefit of the individual. Restrictions on clothing, jewelry, and photographs make sure that vanity will be suppressed. The ultimate expression of Gelassenheit is martyrdom, yielding up one's life for one's faith, a tragic reality for thousands of Anabaptists. The Mennonite book of martyrs, The Martyrs Mirror (originally published in 1660), is, next to the Bible, the book found most often in Amish homes.
Worship. Amish meet every other Sunday on a rotating schedule at members' homes, usually in the residence but also in workshops or barns. Benches are taken from home to home in a specially built wagon. Members sit separately according to age and gender. The three-hour services are interspersed with hymns taken from the Ausbund, a sixteenth-century text-only hymnal. The singing is in unison, very slow, and without accompaniment. The preacher adopts a chanting style of speaking, the sermon consisting largely of biblical stories and strung-together scriptures. Following the service, the host family provides food for those in attendance. Meeting in homes encourages warm fellowship and also ensures that member families follow the Ordnung in every respect.
Church government. Amish are organized into districts of twenty to forty families. When a district grows too large to meet in homes, a new district is organized by redrawing boundary lines. All Amish living within the limits of a district must attend its worship services.
Each district ordinarily has a bishop, two ministers, and a deacon, known as Diener (servants). When an official is needed, members are called together to nominate the new leader from their ranks. Those nominated then draw lots to determine the one chosen. It is understood that this procedure ensures divine guidance. Ministry is for life and without payment. Those chosen accept the lot with deep emotion and a profound sense of unworthiness.
Bishops meet periodically to discuss controversial issues, with the intent of preserving church unity. Nevertheless, many differences do emerge, especially in regard to the toleration of technology. There is no fixed organization above the districts, but an Amish National Steering Committee meets as needed to represent Amish concerns before government agencies.
Economics. Traditionally all Amish were farmers, and rural life is still the ideal. However, as the price of land burgeoned in areas of Amish concentration, it became difficult to provide new farms for the typically large families. Two major strategies emerged. The first is to seek affordable land elsewhere; this has led to new Amish colonies in the South, Midwest, and New York State. The second is to turn to nonfarm vocations. Many in Lancaster County have developed small businesses, such as cabinet and furniture making; other entrepreneurs cater to tourists, for example with bakeries or quilt making. In Elkhart County, Indiana, many Amish work in factories building recreational vehicles. In Holmes County, Ohio (the largest concentration of Amish anywhere), Amish have developed more than 700 microenterprises. Some Amish companies gross more than a million dollars per year.
Amish Bodies
In 2001 there were four distinct branches among the Amish: the Old Order Amish, the New Order Amish, the Beachy Amish, and the Amish Mennonites, in order of increasing liberalness. In addition, there are smaller groupings, in particular among the Old Order Amish, especially in Holmes County, Ohio (including the Swartzentruber, Troyer, and Andy Weaver subgroups), and in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (the Byler, Renno, and "Nebraska" subgroups).
The Old Order Amish are by far the largest Amish branch, making up nearly 90 percent of the total, having 1,237 of the 1,439 congregations in the United States. Like the Old Order Amish, the New Order Amish use horse-drawn transportation and meet for worship in homes, whereas the Beachy Amish and Amish Mennonites use motor vehicles and have meeting houses for worship.
Bibliography
Hostetler, John A. Amish Society. 4th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Kraybill, Donald B. The Riddle of Amish Culture. Rev. ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
Kraybill, Donald B., and Carl F. Bowman. On the Backroad to Heaven. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
Kraybill, Donald B., and C. Nelson Hostetter. Anabaptist World USA. Scottdale, Pa: Herald Press, 2001. Contains statistics.
Nolt, Steven M. A History of the Amish. Intercourse, Pa: Good Books, 1992.
What Does It Mean to Be Amish?
Some time ago a group of fifty-two people chartered a bus and came to Holmes County to see the Amish. They had arranged to have an Amishman meet them and answer some of their questions.
The first question was: "We all go to church," and they named some of these churches, "so we know about Jesus, but what does it mean to be Amish?"
The Amishman thought a bit and then he asked a question of his own. "How many of you have TV in your homes?" Fifty-two hands went up. "Now, how many of you feel that perhaps you would be better off without TV in your homes?" Again fifty-two hands went up. "All right. Now, how many of you are going to go home and get rid of your TV?" Not one hand went up!
Now that is what it means to be Amish. As a church, if we see or experience something that is not good for us spiritually, we will discipline ourselves to do without. The world in general does not know what it is to do without!
Monroe L. Beachy
SOURCE: John A. Hostetler, ed. Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, pp. 272–273.
—Donald F. Durnbaugh
| Amish |
|---|
 |
| Total population |
|
198,000 (2000 est. for U.S.) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States, Canada |
| Language(s) |
| Pennsylvania Dutch, Alemannic German, English |
| Religion(s) |
| Anabaptist |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Germans, Swiss German, Pennsylvania Dutch |
The Amish (Amisch or Amische) (IPA: [ˈɑːmɪʃ]) are an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada (Ontario and Manitoba) known for their plain dress and avoidance of modern conveniences such as cars and electricity. The Amish separate themselves from mainstream society for religious reasons: They do not join the military, apply for Social Security benefits, take out insurance or accept any form of financial assistance from the government.
Most speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvanie Deutsch) at home and in church services, and learn English in school. The Amish are divided into separate fellowships consisting of geographical districts or congregations. Each district is fully independent and has its own Ordnung, or set of unwritten rules.
The Old Order Amish are distinguished from the Beachy Amish and the New Order Amish by their strict adherence to the use of horses for farming and transportation, their traditional manner of dress, and their refusal to allow electricity or telephones in their homes. The Old Order Amish is the concept many outsiders have when they think of "Amish".
The geographic and social isolation of Amish communities makes it difficult to determine their total population. In 2000, there were 198,000 Old Order Amish in the United States, according to calculations based on the number of church districts and average district size in Raber's Almanac.[1] This number includes young people who have yet to be baptized, so the number of people who are actual baptized members would be significantly smaller. According to sociologist Julia Erickson, of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world. Old Order Amish groups include the Byler group, Nebraska Amish in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, the Reno group, and the Swartzendruber Amish in Holmes County, Ohio.
There are Old Order communities in 21 states; Ohio has the largest population (55,000), followed by Pennsylvania (39,000) and Indiana (37,000). The largest Amish settlements are in Holmes County, Ohio, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and LaGrange, Indiana. With an average of seven children per family, the Amish population is growing rapidly, and new settlements are constantly being formed to obtain sufficient farmland. Notable Amish communities are located in Kent County, Delaware and Montgomery County, New York. Some Beachy Amish have relocated to Central America, including a sizable community near San Ignacio, Belize.
Most Old Order and conservative Amish groups do not proselytize, and conversion to the Amish faith is rare but not unheard of. The Beachy Amish, on the other hand, do pursue missionary work.
The Amish are united by a common Swiss-German ancestry, language, and culture, and they marry within the Amish community. The Amish therefore meet the criteria of an ethnic group. However, the Amish themselves generally use the term only to refer to accepted members of their church community, and not as an ethnic designation. Those who do not choose to live an Amish lifestyle and join the church are no longer considered Amish, just as those who live the plain lifestyle but are not baptized into the Amish Church are not Amish. Certain Mennonite churches were formerly Amish congregations. In fact, although more Amish immigrated to America in the 19th century than during the 18th century, most Amish today descend primarily from 18th century immigrants, since the Amish immigrants of the 19th century were more liberal and most of their communities eventually lost their Amish identity.[2]
In some circumstances, Mennonites of Amish descent may still consider themselves Amish, especially in Canada. The former Western Ontario Mennonite Conference (WOMC) was made up almost entirely of former Amish who reunited with the Mennonite Church in Canada. The author Orland Gingerich, for instance, wrote a book entitled "The Amish of Canada" which devoted the vast majority of its pages, not to the Beachy or Old Order Amish (although it dealt with them too), but to congregations in the former WOMC.
Like some Mennonites, the Amish are descendants of Swiss Anabaptist groups formed in the early 16th century during the radical reformation. The Swiss Anabaptists or "Swiss Brethren" had their origins with Felix Manz (ca. 1498–1527) and Conrad Grebel (ca.1498-1526). The name "Mennonite" was applied later and came from Menno Simons (1496–1561). Simons was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest who converted to Anabaptism in 1536 and was baptized by Obbe Philips after renouncing his Catholic faith and office. He was a leader in the Lowland Anabaptist communities, but his influence reached Switzerland.
The Amish movement takes its name from that of Jacob Amman (c. 1656 – c. 1730), a Swiss-German Mennonite leader. Amman believed the Mennonites were drifting away from the teachings of Simons and the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith, particularly the practice of shunning excluded members (known as the ban or Meidung). However, the Swiss Mennonites (who, because of unwelcoming conditions in Switzerland, were by then scattered throughout Alsace and the Palatinate) never practiced strict shunning as the Lowland Anabaptists did. Amman insisted upon this practice, even to the point of expecting a spouse to refuse to sleep or eat with the banned member until he/she repented of his/her behavior. This strict literalism brought about a division in the Swiss Mennonite movement in 1693 and led to the establishment of the Amish. Because the Amish are the result of a division with the Mennonites, some consider the Amish a conservative Mennonite group.
The first Amish began migrating to the colony of Pennsylvania in the 18th century, and were part of a larger migration from the Palatinate and neighboring areas. They came, along with their non-Anabaptist neighbors, largely to avoid religious wars and poverty, but also to avoid religious persecution. The first immigrants went to Berks County, Pennsylvania, but later moved, motivated both by land issues and by security concerns tied to the French and Indian War. Many eventually settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Other groups later settled in or spread to Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Maine, and Canada. The Amish congregations left in Europe slowly merged with the Mennonites. The last Amish congregation to merge with the Mennonites was Ixheim Amish congregation which merged with the neighboring Mennonite Church in 1937. Some Mennonite congregations, including most in Alsace, are descended directly from former Amish congregations.[3] No Old Order movement ever developed in Europe and all Old Order communities are in the Americas.
Most Amish communities that were established in North America did not ultimately retain their Amish identity. The original major split that resulted in the loss of identity occurred in the 1860s. During that decade Dienerversammlungen (ministerial conferences) were held in Wayne County, Ohio, concerning how the Amish should deal with the pressures of modern society. The meetings themselves were a progressive idea; that bishops should get together to discuss uniformity was an unprecedented notion in the Amish church. By the first several meetings, the conservative bishops agreed to boycott the Dienerversammlungen. Thus, the more progressive Amish within several decades became Amish Mennonite, and were then later absorbed into the Old Mennonites (not to be confused with Old Order Mennonites). The much smaller faction became the Amish of today. As the non-Amish world's usage of electricity and automobiles increased, a tourist industry sprang up around the Amish in places such as the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Wayne County, Ohio.
The Old Order Amish do not have churches, but hold their prayer services in private homes. Thus they are sometimes called "House Amish." This practice is based on a verse from the New Testament: "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands..." (Acts 17:24). In addition, the early Anabaptists from whom the Amish are descended were religiously persecuted, and it was safer to pray in the privacy of a home.
Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of Hochmut (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and the high value they place on Demut or "humility" and Gelassenheit (German, meaning: calmness, composure, placidity) — often translated as "submission" or "letting-be," but perhaps better understood as a reluctance to be forward, self-promoting, or to assert oneself in any way. The willingness to submit to the Will of God, as expressed through group norms, is at odds with the individualism so central to the wider American culture. The Amish anti-individualist orientation is the motive for rejecting labor-saving technologies that might make one less dependent on community; or which, like electricity, might start a competition for status-goods; or which, like photographs, might cultivate individual or family vanity. It is also the proximate cause for rejecting education beyond the eighth grade, especially speculative study that has little practical use for farm life but may awaken personal and materialistic ambitions. The emphasis on competition and the uncritical assumption that self-reliance is a good thing — both cultivated in American high schools and exalted as an American ideal — are in direct opposition to core Amish values.
The Amish often cite three Bible verses that encapsulate their cultural attitudes:
Both out of concern for the effect of a parent's absence on family life, and in order to minimize contact with "English" (the Amish term for "non-Amish," without reference to actual English ancestry or language), the Amish prefer to work at home. However, increased prices for farmland and decreasing revenues for low-tech farming have forced many Amish to work away from the farm, particularly in construction and factory-labor, and, in those areas where there is a significant tourist trade, to engage in shopwork and crafts for profit. The Amish are ambivalent about both the consequences of this contact and the commoditization of their culture. The decorative arts play little role in authentic Amish life (though the prized Amish quilts are a genuine cultural inheritance, unlike hex signs), and are in fact regarded with suspicion, as a field where egotism and a display of vanity can easily develop.
Amish lifestyles vary between (and sometimes within) communities. These differences range from profound to minuscule. Beachy Amish drive black automobiles, while in some communities various groups differ over the number of suspenders males should wear, if any, or how many pleats there should be in a bonnet, or if one should wear a bonnet at all. Groups with similar policies are held to be "in fellowship" and consider each other members of the same Christian church. Groups in fellowship can intermarry and have communion with one another, an important consideration for avoiding problems that may result from genetically closed populations. Thus minor disagreements within communities, or within districts, over dairy equipment or telephones in workshops can create splinter churches and divide multiple communities.
Some of the strictest Old Order Amish groups are the Nebraska Amish (White-top Amish), Troyer Amish, the Swartzendruber Amish. Nearly all Old Order groups, besides the "Swiss Amish", speak Deitsch in the home, while more progressive Beachy Amish groups often use English in the home. Amish who leave the old ways often remain near their communities, and in general, there are levels of progression from strict Amish to more liberal groups (usually Mennonite).
The Amish and other Anabaptists do not believe that a child can be meaningfully baptized; this is, in fact, reflected in the name Anabaptist (which means "rebaptizer", as the Anabaptists would baptize adults who had already been baptized as children). Amish children are expected to follow the will of their parents in all issues, but when they come of age, they are expected to make an adult, permanent commitment to the church.
Rumspringa (German/Deitsch, "running or jumping around") is the general term for adolescence and the period leading up to serious courtship during which rules may be relaxed a little. As in non-Amish families, it is understood as a practical matter that there will likely be a certain amount of misbehavior during this period, but it is neither encouraged nor overlooked. At the end of this period, Amish young adults are expected to find a spouse and be baptized. A small number choose not to join the church, but to live the rest of their lives in wider society. Some Amish communities will actively shun those who decide to leave the church after having been baptized, even those going to a different Amish congregation with different doctrines. However, those young people who choose to leave the church prior to being baptized are often not shunned, and may maintain close contact with their families. Still other communities practice hardly any shunning, keeping close family and social contact with those who leave the church, even after baptism. Some communities have split in the last century over how they apply the practice of shunning, as in the case of Swartzendruber Amish who split from the wider Amish community over the strict-shunning issue. Shunning is also sometimes imposed by bishops on church members guilty of offenses such as using forbidden technology. Church members may also be called to confess before the congregation.
The Old Order Amish have worship services every other Sunday at private homes. Since the average district has 169 members, they are often seated in several different rooms,[1] men separate from women. Worship begins with a short sermon by one of several preachers or the bishop of the church district, followed by scripture reading and silent prayer, and another, longer sermon. The service is interspersed with hymns, sung without instrumental accompaniment or harmony. Singing is usually very slow, and a single hymn may take 15 minutes to finish. Worship is followed by lunch and socializing. The service and all hymns are in Deitsch. Amish preachers and deacons are selected by lot (based on Acts 1:23–26) out of a group of men nominated by the congregation. They serve for life and have no formal training. Amish bishops are similarly chosen by lot from those selected as preachers.
Generally, the Amish hold communion in the spring and the autumn, and not necessarily during regular church services. As with regular services, the men and women sit in separate rooms. The ritual ends with members washing and drying each other's feet.[4]
The Amish practice of adult baptism is part of the admission into the church. Admission is taken seriously; those who choose not to join the Church can still visit their friends and family, but those who leave the church after joining are shunned by the entire Amish community. Those who come to be baptized sit with one hand over their face, to represent their submission and humility to the church. Typically, a Deacon will ladle water from a bucket into the Bishop's hand, and the Bishop will sprinkle the head three times, in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, after which he blesses each new male member of the church and greets each into the fellowship of the church with a holy kiss. His wife similarly blesses and greets each new female church member.
Weddings are typically held on Tuesday and Thursdays in November to early December, after the harvest is in. The bride wears a new blue linen dress that will be worn again on other formal occasions. She wears no makeup, and will not receive an engagement or wedding ring because the Ordnung prohibits personal jewelry. The marriage ceremony itself may take several hours, followed by a community reception that includes a banquet, singing and storytelling. Newlyweds spend the wedding night at the home of the bride's parents. Celery is one of the symbolic foods served at Amish weddings. Celery is also placed in vases and used to decorate the house instead of flowers. [5]http://www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml
Funeral customs appear to vary more from community to community than other religious services. In Allen County, Indiana, for example, the Amish engage Hockemeyer Funeral Home, the only local funeral director who offers a horse-drawn hearse and embalms the body. The Amish hold funeral services in the home, however, rather than using the funeral parlor. Instead of referring to the deceased with stories of his life, eulogizing him, services tend to focus on the creation story and biblical accounts of resurrection. After the funeral, the hearse carries the casket to the cemetery for a reading from the Bible; perhaps a hymn is read (rather than sung) and the Lord's Prayer is recited. The Amish usually, but not always, choose Amish cemeteries, and purchase gravestones which are uniform, modest, and plain; in recent years, they have been inscribed in English. After a funeral, the community gathers together to share a meal.
Amish lifestyle is dictated by the Ordnung (German, meaning: order), which differs slightly from community to community, and, within a community, from district to district. What is acceptable in one community may not be acceptable in another. No summary of Amish lifestyle and culture can be totally adequate because there are few generalities that are true for all Amish. Groups may separate over matters such as the width of a hat-brim, the color of buggies, or various other issues. The use of tobacco (excluding cigarettes, which are "worldly")[6] and moderate use of alcohol[7] are generally permitted, particularly among older and more conservative groups.
The Amish, especially those of the Old Order, are probably most known for their avoidance of certain modern technologies. The avoidance of items such as automobiles and electricity is largely misunderstood. The Amish do not view technology as evil. Individuals may petition for acceptance of a particular technology in the local community. In some communities, the church leaders meet annually to review such proposals. In others, it is done whenever necessary. Because the Amish, like some Mennonite groups, and unlike the Catholic or Anglican Churches, do not have a hierarchical governing structure, differing communities often have different ideas as to which technological items are acceptable.
Electricity, for instance, is viewed as a connection to, and reliance on, "the World", the "English", or "Yankees" (the outside world), which is against their doctrine of separation. The use of electricity also could lead to the use of worldly household appliances such as televisions, which would complicate the Amish tradition of a simple life, and introduce individualist competition for worldly goods that would be destructive of community. In certain Amish groups, however, electricity can be used in very specific situations: for example, if electricity can be produced without access to outside power lines. Twelve-volt batteries, with their limited applications, are acceptable to these groups. Electric generators can be used for welding, recharging batteries, and powering milk stirrers. In certain situations, outdoor electrical appliances may be used: lawn mowers (riding and hand-pushed) and string trimmers, for example. Some Amish families have non-electric versions of vital appliances, such as kerosene-powered refrigerators.
Amish communities often adopt compromise solutions involving technology which may seem strange to outsiders. For example, many communities will allow gas-powered farm equipment such as tillers or mowers, but only if they are pushed by a human or pulled by a horse. The reasoning is that Amish farmers will not be tempted to purchase more land in order to outcompete other farmers in their community if they still have to move the equipment manually. Many Amish communities also accept the use of chemical pesticides and GM crops, forgoing more common Amish organic farming techniques.
The Ordnung is the guide to community standards, rather than doctrine that defines sin. For example, the four Old Order Amish communities of Allen County, Indiana, are more conservative than most; they use open buggies, even during the winter, and they wear black leather shoes even in the hot summer. The restrictions are not meant to impose suffering. In the 1970s, for example, a farmer near Milan Center, Indiana, was ordered by his bishop to buy a conventional tractor. He had severe progressive arthritis and, with no sons to harness the horses for him, the tractor was seen as a need, rather than a vanity. The rest of the community continued farming with horses.
The Amish will hire drivers and vans, for example, for visiting family, monthly grocery shopping, or commuting to the workplace off the farm — though this too is subject to local regulation and variation. The practice increases the geographic reach of the Amish, and decreases isolation: a horse can travel only about 25 miles and then must rest for a considerable period, restricting the Amish to a radius of 12.5 miles from home. Moreover, a horse and buggy can only sustain 10 MPH over an extended distance and so is impractical for emergencies.[8] Regular bus service between Amish communities has been established in some areas. Hiring a taxi is forbidden on Sundays (as is any transfer of money).
The telephone is another technology whose avoidance is often misunderstood. The Amish dislike the telephone because it interferes with their separation from the world; it brings the outside world into the home; it is an intrusion into the privacy and sanctity of the family and interferes with social community by eliminating face-to-face communication. However, some Amish, such as many of those in Lancaster County, use the telephone primarily for out-going calls, but with the added restriction that the telephone not be inside the home, but rather in a phone "booth" or shanty (actually just a small out-building) placed far enough from the house as to make its use inconvenient. Commonly these private phone shanties are shared by more than one family, fostering a sense of community. This allows the Amish to control their communication and not have telephone calls invade their homes, but also conduct business as needed. In the past, the use of public pay phones in town for such calls was more common; today with dwindling availability of pay phones because of increased cellphone use by the non-Amish population, Amish communities are seeing an increase in the private phone shanties.[9] Many Amish, particularly those who run businesses, use voice mail service.[10] The Amish will also use trusted "English" neighbors as contact points for passing on family emergency messages. Some New Order Amish will use cellphones and pagers, but most Old Order Amish will not.[11]
In addition to English, most Amish speak a distinctive High German dialect called Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch, which the Amish themselves call Deitsch ("German"). It is called Pennsylvania Dutch because in the German language, Deutsch is the word for German, leading to confusion with the etymologically related but distinct term Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch is not at all related to the Dutch language, but is closest to the German dialect Schwowisch,[citation needed] the dialect of German spoken by the Donauschwaben (Danube Swabians).
Although now limited primarily to the Amish, and to the Old Order Mennonites, Pennsylvania German was originally spoken by many German-American immigrants in Pennsylvania, especially by those who came prior to 1800. The so-called Swiss Amish speak an Alemannic German dialect that they call "Swiss". Beachy Amish, especially those who were born roughly after 1960, tend to speak predominantly in English at home. All other Amish groups use either Pennsylvania German or "Swiss" German as their ingroup language of discourse. There are small dialectal variations between communities, such as Lancaster County and Indiana speech varieties. The Amish themselves are aware of regional variation, and occasionally experience difficulty in understanding speakers from outside their own area.
Deitsch is distinct from Plautdietsch and Hutterite German dialects spoken by other Anabaptist groups.
Dress code for some groups includes prohibitions against buttons, allowing only hooks and eyes to keep clothing closed; others may allow small undecorated buttons in a dark color. In some groups, certain articles can have buttons and others cannot. The restriction on buttons is attributed in part to their association with military uniforms, and also to their potential for serving as opportunities for vain display. Straight-pins are often used to hold articles of clothing together. In all things, the aesthetic value is "plainness": clothing should not call attention to the wearer by cut, color or any other feature. Prints such as florals, stripes, polka-dots, etc. are not allowed in Amish dress, although these styles have been adopted by fellow Mennonites.
Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color such as blue. Aprons are often worn, usually in white or black, at home and always worn when attending church. A cape which consists of a triangular shape of cloth is usually worn beginning around the teenage years and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woollen cloak is sported. Heavy bonnets are worn over the prayer coverings when Amish women are out and about in cold weather, with the exception of the Nebraska Amish who do not wear bonnets.
Men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, suspenders (Brit. braces), broad-rimmed straw hats in the warmer months and black felt hats in the colder months. Single Amish men are clean-shaven and married men grow a beard. In some more traditional communities a man will grow a beard after he is baptized. Moustaches are not allowed, because they are associated with the military and because they give opportunity for vanity. The avoidance of military styles has origins in the religious and political persecution in 16th and 17th century Europe. Men of the nobility and upper classes, who often served as military officers, wore moustaches but not beards, and the pacifist Amish avoid moustaches because of this association. The wearing of beards, however, is largely based on the same beliefs against shaving that lead Hasidic Jews and conservative Muslims not to shave their beards. (Amish men who wear beards do not abhor shaving: some men grow a fringe of beard around the edge of the face while shaving the hair off the front of the face, including the moustache. These men refrain from shaving the throat.)
During the summer months, the majority of Amish children go barefoot, including to school. The prevalence of the practice is attested in the Pennsylvania Deitsch saying, "Deel Leit laafe baarfiessich rum un die annre hen ken Schuh." (Some people walk around barefooted, and the rest have no shoes.) The amount of time spent barefoot varies, but most children and adults go barefoot whenever possible.
Some Amish are afflicted by heritable genetic disorders, including dwarfism (Ellis-van Creveld syndrome), and are also distinguished by the highest incidence of twinning in a known human population, various metabolic disorders and unusual distribution of blood-types. Since almost all of the current Amish descend primarily from about 200 founders in the 18th century, some genetic disorders from a degree of in-breeding exist in more isolated districts. However, Amish do not represent a single closed community, but rather a collection of different demes or genetically closed communities.[12] Some of these disorders are quite rare, or even unique, and serious enough that they increase the mortality rate among Amish children. The majority of the Amish accept these as "Gottes Wille" (God's will) and reject any use of genetic tests prior to marriage to prevent the appearance of these disorders and also refuse genetic tests to the fetus to discover if it has any genetic disorder.
There is an increasing consciousness among the Amish of the advantages of
Amish do not carry private commercial health insurance. The Amish of Lancaster County, however, do have their own informal self-insured health plan, called Church Aid, which helps members with catastrophic medical expense. About two-thirds of the Amish there enroll.[13] A handful of American hospitals, starting in the mid 1990s, created special outreach programs to assist the Amish. The first of such programs was instituted at the Susquehanna Health System in central Pennsylvania by James Huebert. The program has earned national media attention in the United States and has spread to several surrounding hospitals.[14] Treating genetic problems is the mission of Dr. Holmes Morton's Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, which has developed effective treatment for such problems as maple syrup urine disease, which previously was fatal. The clinic has been enthusiastically embraced by most Amish and has largely ended a situation in which some parents felt it necessary to leave the community to care properly for their children, which normally might result in being shunned.
A second research and primary care clinic, patterned after Dr. Holmes Morton’s clinic, DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children, is located in Middlefield, Ohio. The DDC Clinic has been treating special needs children with inherited or metabolic disorders since May 2002. The DDC Clinic provides treatment, research and educational services to Amish and non-Amish children and their families. The DDC Clinic is open to all children.
Most Amish do not practice any form of birth control. Suicide rates for the Amish of Lancaster County were 5.5 per 100,000 in 1980. The rate overall in 1980 in the U.S.A. was 12.5 per 100,000.[15]
The Amish do not educate their children past the eighth grade, believing that the basic knowledge offered to that point is sufficient to prepare one for the Amish lifestyle.[16][17] Almost no Amish go to high school, much less to college. In many communities, the Amish operate their own schools, typically one-room schoolhouses with teachers from the Amish community. These schools provide education in many crafts, and therefore are eligible as vocational education and fulfill the nationwide requirement of education through 10th grade or the equivalent. There are Amish children that go to non-Amish public schools, even ones that are far away and include a very small Amish population. For instance, there have been some Amish children who have attended Leesburg Elementary School in Leesburg, Indiana (about 12 miles from Nappanee, Indiana) because their families lived on the edge of the school district. In the past, there have been major conflicts between the Amish and outsiders over these matters of local schooling. But for the most part they have been resolved and the educational authorities allow the Amish to educate their children in their own ways. Sometimes there are conflicts between the state-mandated minimum age for discontinuing schooling and the younger age of children who have completed eighth grade. This is often handled by having the children repeat eighth grade until they are old enough to leave school. However, in the past, when comparing standardized test scores of Amish students, the Amish have performed above the national average for rural public school pupils in spelling, usage of words and in arithmetic. They performed below the national average, however, in vocabulary.[18]
On May 19, 1972, Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller of the Old Order Amish and Adin Yutzy of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church were each fined $5 for refusing to send their children, aged 14 and 15, to high school. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, finding that the benefits of universal education do not justify violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court quoted sociology professor John A. Hostetler (1918–2001), who was born into an Amish family, wrote several books about the Amish, Hutterites, and Old Order Mennonites, and was then considered the foremost academic authority on the Amish. Donald Kraybill, Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, is likely the most important scholar studying the Amish today. [citation needed]
The Amish as a whole feel the pressures of the modern world.
Contrary to popular belief, some of the Amish vote, and they have been courted by national parties as potentially crucial swing-constituencies: their pacifism and social conscience cause some of them to be drawn to left-of-center politics, while their generally conservative outlook causes others to favor the right wing. They are nonresistant and rarely defend themselves physically or even in court; in wartime, they take conscientious objector status; their own folk-history contains tales of heroic nonresistance, such as the insistence of Jacob Hochstetler (1704-75) that his sons stop shooting at hostile Indians (who proceeded to kill some of the family and take others captive: Nolt, 66-67).
Like many Mennonites, Amish rely on their church and community for support, and thus reject the concept of insurance. An example of such support is barn raising, in which the entire community gathers together to build a barn in a single day. It means coming together to celebrate with family and friends.
In 1961, the United States Internal Revenue Service announced that since the Amish refuse United States Social Security benefits and have a religious objection to insurance, they need not pay these taxes. In 1965, this policy was codified into law.[19] Self-employed individuals in certain sects do not pay into, nor receive benefits from, United States Social Security, nor do their similarly-exempt employees. Amish employees of non-exempt employers are taxed, but they do not apply for benefits. A provision of this law mandates that the sect provide for their elderly and disabled; one visible sign of the care Amish provide for the elderly are the smaller Grossdaadi Heiser or Daadiheiser ("grandfather house") often built near the main dwelling. The Amish are not the only ones exempt from Social Security in the United States. Ministers, certain church employees and Christian Science practitioners may qualify for exemption under a similar clause. Otherwise, the Amish pay the same taxes as other American citizens.
The Amish have, on occasion, encountered discrimination and hostility from their neighbors. During the World Wars, Amish nonresistance sparked many incidents of harassment, and young Amish men forcibly inducted into the services were subjected to various forms of ill-treatment. In the present day, anti-Amish sentiment has taken the form of pelting the horse-drawn carriages used by the Amish with stones or similar objects as the carriages pass along a road, most commonly at night. A 1988, made-for-TV film, A Stoning In Fulham County, is based on a true story involving one such incident, in which a six-month-old Amish infant girl was struck in the head by a rock and died from her injuries. In 1997, Mary Kuepfer, a young Amish woman in Milverton, Ontario, Canada, was struck in the face by a beer bottle believed to have been thrown from a passing car;[20] she required thousands of dollars' worth of surgery to her face (which was paid for by an outpouring of donations from the public).
As Anabaptist religious groups that avoid automobiles and live apart from the outside world, Old Order Mennonites, Hutterites, and Old German Baptist Brethren are sometimes considered the same as the Old Order Amish by outsiders. However, all were distinct groups before emigrating from Europe, with different dialects and separate cultural and religious traditions. The Hutterites, who live communally, come from the same broad Anabaptist background but were never Mennonites. They use the most modern farming methods on their colonies' farms, including extended- and crew-cab pickup trucks for personal transportation.
Quakers are unrelated to the Amish, although the early Quakers were influenced to some degree by the Anabaptists and were also "plain people" in manner and lifestyle. Modern Quakers have since abandoned their traditional dress.
Despite the vast differences between them, the French version of the film Witness mistranslated "Amish" as "Mormon".
Several recent high-profile cases have brought attention to sexual abuse of children among the Amish in some of the smaller more isolated communities, which has been called, perhaps erroneously, "almost a plague in some communities."[22] Bishops and preachers of Old Order groups settle conflicts and mete out punishment for sins (generally in the form of shunning), and sexual abuse may therefore be less often reported to law enforcement. Those who are mistreated have little recourse and may be shunned for seeking outside help. Mary Byler was raped over a hundred times between the ages of 8 and 14 by her brothers; she was excommunicated and shunned for reporting her abusers.[23] David Yoder, who grew up in a conservative Swartzentruber Amish family, recalls one man who committed incest with his daughter and was punished with 90 days of shunning.[24] Another young woman was repeatedly raped by her brother-in-law, who was eventually punished by being shunned for two and a half months.[25] Some groups have also been accused of tolerating severe physical abuse of children.[26] Although the rate of physical or sexual abuse does not appear to be higher in the Amish community than in the general public, their physical and social isolation from the outside world makes it difficult for victims to seek help.
The Lancaster Pennsylvania based Lancaster Intelligencer Journal published a four-part series on domestic abuse, child abuse and child sexual abuse inside Amish (and Mennonite) families from the heart of PA Dutch country. These articles suggested that abuse may be systematically silenced inside Amish (and Mennonite) churches because of the emphasis on Gelassenheit and male authority in the church. The series published on August 4, 2004, won a state-wide award for Best Public Service reporting in Pennsylvania. It began with an article entitled "Silenced by Shame: Hidden in Plain Sight" and ended with an article entitled "The Ties That Bind Can Form the Noose". As the article "Beliefs, Culture Can Perpetuate Abuse in Families, Churches" makes clear, child and spousal abuse is often concealed and denied in the service of other church ends. One reaction from an Old Order woman was the following, "They made Plain women look too stupid and ignorant to know how to get help."[27]
The Amish community recently has started to address the issue of awareness. The Amish publisher Pathway Publishers, for example, has run several series in their magazine Family Life that touch on the subjects of sexual and physical abuse. Pathway Publishers has also distributed free of charge resources for the abused and for families. Some Amish communities have objected to the articles, preferring that the subject not be raised, and believing that these problems exist only among the "English".[28]
