Amish: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships}} |
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{{Citations missing|date=September 2008}} |
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{{about|a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships}} |
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{{otheruses1|Old Order Amish, but also refers to other Amish sects}} |
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{{distinguish|Amis people}} |
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{{Infobox Religious group| |
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{{pp-pc}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}<!-- primarily U.S. article--> |
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{{Infobox Religious group |
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| group = Amish |
| group = Amish |
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| image = |
| image = Lancaster County Amish 03.jpg |
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| caption = An Amish family riding in a traditional [[Amish buggy]] in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]] |
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| poptime = 227,000<ref name="Scolford">{{cite web|title=Amish population nearly doubles in 16 years|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080820/ap_on_re_us/thriving_amish|author=Mark Scolford|date=2008-08-20|accessdate=2008-08-21|publisher=Yahoo! News}}</ref> |
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| poptime = {{increase}} 383,565<br />(2023, Old Order Amish)<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023">{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/population-2023/ |title=Amish Population Profile, 2023 |date=September 2, 2023 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=September 2, 2023 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}</ref> |
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| popplace = [[United States]] (notably [[Ohio]], [[Pennsylvania]] and [[Indiana]])<br/> |
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| popplace = [[United States]] (large populations in [[Indiana]], [[Ohio]], [[Pennsylvania]]; notable populations in [[Kentucky]], [[Missouri]], [[Michigan]], [[New York (state)|New York]], and [[Wisconsin]]; small populations in various other states)<br />[[Canada]] (mainly in [[Ontario]]) |
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[[Canada]] (notably [[Ontario]]) |
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| founder = [[Jakob Ammann]] |
| founder = [[Jakob Ammann]] |
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| rels = [[Anabaptist]] |
| rels = [[Anabaptist]] |
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| scrips = [[The Bible]] |
| scrips = [[The Bible]] |
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| langs = [[ |
| langs = [[English language|English]]<br />[[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]]<br />[[Swiss Amish|Swiss German]] |
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}} |
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The '''Amish''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑː|m|ᵻ|ʃ}}; {{lang-pdc|Amisch}}; {{lang-de|link=no|Amische}}), formally the '''Old Order Amish''', are a group of traditionalist [[Anabaptism|Anabaptist]] [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Christian denomination|church fellowships]] with [[Swiss people|Swiss]] and [[Alsace|Alsatian]] origins.<ref name="HarryHerr2018">{{cite book |last1=Harry |first1=Karen |last2=Herr |first2=Sarah A. |title=Life beyond the Boundaries: Constructing Identity in Edge Regions of the North American Southwest |date=2 April 2018 |publisher=University Press of Colorado |isbn=978-1-60732-696-0 |language=English |quote=The Amish were one of many Anabaptist groups that grew from the Radical Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe (Hostetler 1993).}}</ref> As they maintain [[Nonconformity to the world#Anabaptism|a degree of separation]] from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an [[ethnoreligious group]], combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Cory |last2=Kenda |first2=Loren |date=22 December 2015 |title=What Kinds of Places Attract and Sustain Amish Populations? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ruso.12083 |journal=Rural Sociology |language=en |volume=80 |issue=4 |pages=483–511 |doi=10.1111/ruso.12083 |issn=0036-0112}}</ref> The Amish are closely related to [[Old Order Mennonite]]s and [[Conservative Mennonites]]—denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Anabaptists |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/religion/anabaptists/ |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College |access-date=11 May 2022 |quote=The Amish are one of many Anabaptist groups that trace their roots to the Anabaptist movement in sixteenth-century Europe at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Other groups include Mennonites, Hutterites, the Brethren in Christ, and Brethren groups that began in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708.}}</ref> The Amish are known for [[simple living]], [[plain dress]], [[Christian pacifism#Anabaptist churches|Christian pacifism]], and slowness to adopt many [[convenience]]s of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and ''[[Ordnung#Gelassenheit|Gelassenheit]]'' (submission to God's will). |
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The '''Amish''' ({{pronEng|ˈɑːmɪʃ}}) are members of an [[Anabaptist]] Christian denomination, best known for [[simple living]], [[plain dress]] and resisting modern conveniences. The roots of the Amish began in Switzerland among [[Swiss Brethren]] in 1693 under the leadership of [[Jakob Ammann]]. Then, in the early 18th century they began immigrating to Pennsylvania because of intense persecution. Today, they continue to speak the [[Pennsylvania German]] or [[Alemannic German]] of their former homeland. Over the years, there have been several divisions among the Amish. The Old Order Amish are those that have been the most successful at resisting change and in retaining their traditional way of life. As of 2000, over 165,000 Old Order Amish live in Canada and the United States. A new study in 2008 suggests their numbers have increased to 227,000.<ref name="Scolford" /> No Amish remain in Europe. |
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The Amish church began with a [[schism]] in [[Switzerland]] within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Mennonite Anabaptists in 1693 led by [[Jakob Ammann]].{{Sfn | Kraybill | 2001 | pp = 7–8}} Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.{{Sfn | Kraybill | 2001 | p = 8}} In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and [[Amish Mennonite]]s; the latter do not abstain from using motor cars, whereas the Old Order Amish retained much of their traditional culture. When people refer to the Amish today, they normally refer to the Old Order Amish, though there are other [[subgroups of Amish]].<ref name="Misiroglu2015">{{cite book |last1=Misiroglu |first1=Gina |title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History |date=26 March 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47728-0 |language=en |quote=There are various sects of Amish. Old Order Amish maintain the practices best known in mainstream society. These practices include rigorous restrictions on the use of modern conveniences such as electricity automobiles, and telephones. Other groups, such as the Beachy Amish and New Order Amish, use electricity and automobiles, among other modern conveniences, but they still consider themselves Amish.}}</ref> The Amish fall into three main subgroups—the Old Order Amish, the [[New Order Amish]], and the [[Beachy Amish]]—all of whom wear [[plain dress]] and live their life according to the Bible as codified in their church's ''[[Ordnung]]''.<ref name="MeyersNolt2005">{{cite book |last1=Meyers |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Nolt |first2=Steven M. |title=An Amish Patchwork: Indiana's Old Orders in the Modern World |date=2005 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-34538-7 |page=22 |language=en |quote=Groups that today identify themselves as Amish include not only the Old Orders but also the so-called New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish ... The ''New Order Amish'' share much with their Old Order Amish religious kin, including horse-and-buggy culture and identifiably traditional dress patterns, but the New Orders employ a more explicit language of personal salvation and are also somewhat less wary of technology—for example, permitting telephones in homes. The ''Beachy Amish'' ... are plain in their appearance but clearly less traditional than Old Orders in lifestyle. Beachy Amish members drive cars, use English in worship, and place emphasis on evangelism and missions.}}</ref><ref name="Johnson-Weiner2017">{{cite book |last1=Johnson-Weiner |first1=Karen M. |title=New York Amish: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State |date=2 May 2017 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-0813-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Kraybill2003">{{cite book |last1=Kraybill |first1=Donald B. |title=The Riddle of Amish Culture |date=1 May 2003 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-7631-8 |language=en |quote=...the Old Order Amish, New Order Amish, and Beachy Amish represent three different affiliations.}}</ref> The Old Order Amish and New Order Amish conduct their worship in German, speak [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], and use [[Buggy (carriage)#Amish_buggy|buggies]] for transportation, in contrast to the Beachy Amish who use modern technology (inclusive of motor cars) and conduct worship in the local language of the area in which they reside.<ref name="Johnson-Weiner2017"/> Both the New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish emphasize the [[Born again#Anabaptism|New Birth]], [[evangelism|evangelize]] to seek converts, and have [[Sunday School]]s.<ref name="Gerlach2013">{{cite book |last1=Gerlach |first1=Horst |title=My Kingdom Is Not of This World: 300 Years of the Amish, 1683-1983 |date=1 June 2013 |publisher=Masthof Press & Bookstore |isbn=978-1-60126-387-2 |page=376 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="MeyersNolt2005"/> |
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Amish church membership begins with [[Believer's baptism|baptism]], usually between the ages of 18 and 21. It is a requirement for marriage, and once a person has 'joined church', they must marry within the faith. Church districts average between 20 to 40 families, and worship services are held every other Sunday in a member's home. The district is led by a bishop and several ministers and deacons. |
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In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Most Old Order Amish, New Order Amish and the [[Old Beachy Amish]] speak [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania Dutch]], but Indiana's [[Swiss Amish]] also speak [[Alemannic German|Alemannic dialects]].<ref name="gameo">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B4762.html |title=Berne, Indiana, Old Order Amish Settlement |last1=Zook |first1=Noah |first2=Samuel L |last2=Yoder |year=1998 |publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |access-date=April 3, 2009 |archive-date=May 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513150521/http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B4762.html |url-status=live }}</ref> {{as of|2023}}, over 377,000 Old Order Amish lived in the United States, and about 6,000 lived in Canada: a population that is rapidly growing.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, (2013) ''The Amish''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 157–158.</ref> Amish church groups seek to maintain a degree of separation from the non-Amish world. Non-Amish people are generally referred to as "English" by the Amish, and outside influences are often described as "worldly". |
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The rules of the church — the ''[[Ordnung]]'' — must be observed by every member. These rules cover most aspects of day-to-day living, such as no power-line electricity, limiting the use of telephones, prohibition of ownership and operation of an automobile, and specifying the style of dress. Amish do not buy insurance nor accept government assistance, such as [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]. As Anabaptists, Amish practice [[nonresistance]] and will not perform any type of military service. Members who do not conform to these expectations and who cannot be convinced to [[repentance|repent]], are excommunicated. In addition to excommunication, members may be [[Shunning|shunned]] — a practice that limits social contacts in order to shame the wayward member into returning to the church. Teenagers who are not baptized are not bound by the rules. They go through a period of ''[[rumspringa]]'', or running around, often with a certain amount of misbehavior that would otherwise not be tolerated. |
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Amish church membership begins with adult [[Believer's baptism|baptism]], usually between the ages of 16 and 23. Church districts have between 20 and 40 families, and Old Order Amish and New Order Amish [[Church service|worship services]] are held every other [[Lord's Day|Sunday]] in a member's home or barn, while the Beachy Amish worship every Sunday in churches.<ref name="Kroeker2024">{{cite web |last1=Kroeker |first1=Marvin E. |title=Amish |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=AM016 |website=Oklahoma Historical Society |publisher=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |access-date=25 April 2024 |language=en-us |quote=The Clarita and Chouteau Amish are identified by the typical Old Order markers of buggies, beards, and bonnets. They speak Pennsylvania German, are schooled through the eighth grade, wear plain attire, worship in homes, and do not use electricity. ... By comparison, the Beachy Amish are less conservative than the Old Order. They install electricity, drive cars, own computers and cell phones, use church buildings, allow secondary schooling, and have less stringent dress codes. They engage in evangelistic outreach. More than any other European ethnic group in Oklahoma, the Amish have retained a distinct cultural identity by consciously drawing symbolic boundaries between themselves and the society around them.}}</ref> The rules of the church, the ''[[Ordnung]]'', which differs to some extent between different districts, are reviewed twice a year by all members of the church. The ''Ordnung'' must be observed by every member and covers many aspects of Old Order Amish day-to-day living, including prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity, telephones, and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing. Generally, a heavy emphasis is placed on church and family relationships. The Old Order Amish typically operate their own [[one-room school]]s and discontinue formal education after grade eight (age 13 – 14). Most Amish do not buy commercial insurance or participate in [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]. As [[Anabaptist#Today|present-day Anabaptists]], Amish church members practice [[nonresistance]] and will not perform any type of military service.<ref name="Long"/> |
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The Amish seek to limit contact with the outside world; instead, they emphasize church and family relationships. They typically operate their own [[one-room school]]s, and stop their education at grade eight. They value a rural life, where a large family provides an abundance of manual labor. Because of intermarriage among this relatively small population, higher incidences of certain inheritable diseases occur. Their traditional way of living also makes them an object of tourism, and this has caused many clashes with the modern world. |
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==History== |
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==Population and distribution== |
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===Beginnings of Anabaptist Christianity=== |
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[[File:Amish cover.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Cover of "Little Known Facts About The Amish and the Mennonites. A Study of the Social Customs and Habits of Pennsylvania's 'Plain People'. By Ammon Monroe Aurand, Jr. Aurand Press. 1938. |Cover of ''The Amish and the Mennonites'', 1938]] |
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[[File:amish cemetery.gif|thumb|alt=Cemetery filled many small plain headstones with simple inscriptions and two large bare trees. |An old Amish cemetery in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]], 1941]] |
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{{main|Anabaptism}} |
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The geographic and social isolation of Amish communities make it difficult to determine the total Amish population. Rough estimates by various studies have estimated their numbers at 123,000 in 1992, 166,000 in 2000, and 227,000 in 2008, for a growth rate of nearly 4% per year. In 2000, approximately 165,620 Old Order Amish resided in the United States, of which 73,609 were church members.<ref name='kraybill-2000'>{{cite book|author=Kraybill, Donald B.|authorlink=Donald Kraybill|title=Anabaptist World USA|publisher=Herald Press|year=2000|isbn=0836191633}}</ref> The Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of 6.8 children per family.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Julia A. Ericksen |coauthors=Eugene P. Ericksen, John A. Hostetler, Gertrude E. Huntington |title=Fertility Patterns and Trends among the Old Order Amish |journal= Population |
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Studies |issue=33 |date=July 1979 |issn=00324728 |oclc=39648293 |pages=255–76}}</ref> Old Order Amish groups include the Byler group, [[Nebraska Amish]] in [[Mifflin County, Pennsylvania]], the [[Reno County, Kansas| Reno]] group, and the [[Swartzentruber Amish]] in [[Holmes County, Ohio]]. |
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The [[Anabaptist]] movement, from which the Amish later emerged, started in circles around [[Huldrych Zwingli]] (1484–1531) who led the early [[Reformation in Switzerland]]. In [[Zürich]] on January 21, 1525, [[Conrad Grebel]] and [[George Blaurock]] practiced [[believer's baptism]] to each other and then to others.<ref>Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn, Michael A. G. Haykin. ''The Baptist Story'', Nashville, 2015, p. 12.</ref> This Swiss movement, part of the [[Radical Reformation]], later became known as [[Swiss Brethren]].<ref>C. Arnold Snyder. ''Anabaptist History and Theology: An Introduction''. Kitchener, Ontario, 1995, p. 62.</ref> |
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There are Old Order communities in 21 states; [[Pennsylvania]] has the largest population (44,000), followed by [[Ohio]] (43,000) and [[Indiana]] (33,000).<ref name='kraybill-2000'/> The largest Amish settlements are in [[Holmes County, Ohio]], [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]], and [[LaGrange, Indiana]]. Due to rapid population growth within Amish communities, new settlements are constantly being formed to obtain sufficient farmland. Notable Amish communities are located in [[Kent County, Delaware]] and [[Montgomery County, New York]]. A sizable Old Order community has been increasing in number in [[St. Lawrence County]] and [[Franklin County, New York|Franklin County]], New York.{{Fact|date=September 2008}} |
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=== Emergence of the Amish === |
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==Ethnicity== |
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The term Amish was first used as a {{lang|pdc|Schandename}} (a term of disgrace) in 1710 by opponents of [[Jakob Amman]], an Anabaptist leader. The first informal division between Swiss Brethren was recorded in the 17th century between {{lang|pdc|Oberländer}}s ([[Bernese Highlands|those living in the hills]]) and {{lang|pdc|Emmentalers}} (those living in the [[Emmental]]). The {{lang|pdc|Oberländer}}s were a more [[Christian extremism|extreme]] congregation; their zeal pushed them into more remote areas.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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[[Image:Amish Buggie sign.jpg|thumb|Signs erected in areas with large Amish populations alerting motorists to the Amish buggies.]] |
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The Amish are united by a common [[Swiss (people)|Swiss]]-[[Ethnic German|German]] ancestry, language, and culture, and for them to remain Amish, they must marry within their church. They meet the criteria of an [[ethnic group]]. However, they themselves generally use the term only for accepted members of their faith, and not for an ethnic designation. Those who choose to live the [[Plain people|plain lifestyle]] and 'join church' are considered Amish. Certain [[Mennonite]] churches have a high number of people who were formerly from Amish congregations. Although more Amish immigrated to America in the 19th century than during the 18th century, most of today's Amish descend from 18th century immigrants, because the others were more liberal and were assimilated into the general society, thus losing their Amish identity.<ref>Nolt, S. M. ''A History of the Amish'', Intercourse:Good Books, 1992, p. 104</ref> |
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Swiss Anabaptism developed, from this point, in two parallel streams, most clearly marked by disagreement over the preferred treatment of "fallen" believers. The Emmentalers (sometimes referred to as Reistians, after bishop [[Hans Reist]], a leader among the Emmentalers) argued that fallen believers should only be withheld from [[Holy Communion|communion]], and not regular meals. The Amish argued that those who had been banned should be avoided even in common meals. The Reistian side eventually formed the basis of the [[Swiss Mennonite Conference]]. Because of this common heritage, Amish and conservative Mennonites from southern Germany and Switzerland retain many similarities. Those who leave the Amish fold tend to join various congregations of [[Conservative Mennonites]].{{Sfn | Smith | Krahn | 1981 | pp = 212–214}}{{Sfn | Kraybill| 2000| pp = 63–64}} |
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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.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/W4781ME.html|author=Gingerich, Orland|title=Western Ontario Mennonite Conference|publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online|year=1990|accessdate=2008-07-05}}</ref> Orland Gingerich's book, ''The Amish of Canada'', devotes the vast majority of its pages not to the [[Beachy Amish|Beachy]] or Old Order Amish, but to congregations in the former WOMC. |
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=== Migration to North America === |
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==History== |
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Amish began migrating to Pennsylvania, then-regarded favorably due to the lack of [[religious persecution]] and attractive land offers, in the early 18th century as part of a larger migration from the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] and neighboring areas. Between 1717 and 1750, approximately 500 Amish migrated to North America, mainly to the region that became [[Berks County, Pennsylvania]], but later moved, motivated by land issues and by security concerns tied to the [[French and Indian War]]. Many eventually settled in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster County]]. A second wave of around 1,500 arrived around the mid-19th century and settled mostly in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and southern Ontario. Most of these late immigrants eventually did not join the Old Order Amish but more liberal groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crowley |first1=William K. |title=Old Order Amish Settlement: Diffusion and Growth |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |year=1978 |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=250–251 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1978.tb01194.x |jstor=2562217 |issn=0004-5608}}</ref> |
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The Amish descend from the Swiss Anabaptists<ref>''Anabaptist'' means "baptised twice"; once as a young child, and again as an adult.</ref> of the early 16th century [[Radical Reformation]]. These [[Swiss Brethren]] trace their origination to [[Felix Manz]] (ca. 1498–1527) and [[Conrad Grebel]] (ca.1498-1526) who broke from reformer [[Huldrych Zwingli]]. |
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===1850–1878 Division into Old Orders and Amish Mennonites=== |
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The Amish movement takes its name from [[Jakob Ammann]] (c. 1656 – c. 1730), a Swiss Brethren leader. Ammann believed Mennonites — peaceful Anabaptists of the [[Low Countries]] and Germany — were drifting away from the teachings of [[Menno Simons]] and the 1632 Mennonite [[Dordrecht Confession of Faith]]. Ammann favored stronger church discipline, including a rigid application of [[shunning]], the social exclusion of excommunicated members. Swiss Anabaptists, who were scattered by persecution throughout [[Alsace]] and the [[Electoral Palatinate|Palatinate]], never practiced strict shunning as had the lowland Anabaptists. Ammann insisted upon this practice, even to the point of expecting spouses to refuse to eat with each other until the banned spouse repented.<ref>Smith, pp. 68-69, 84-85.</ref> This strict literalism brought about a division in the Swiss Brethren in 1693 and led to the establishment of the Amish. |
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{{Main|Old Order Movement}} |
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Most Amish communities that were established in North America did not ultimately retain their Amish identity. The major division that resulted in the loss of identity of many Amish congregations occurred in the third quarter of the 19th century. The forming of factions worked its way out at different times at different places. The process was rather a "sorting out" than a split. Amish people are free to join another Amish congregation at another place that fits them best.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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In the years after 1850, tensions rose within individual Amish congregations and between different Amish congregations. Between 1862 and 1878, yearly {{lang|pdc|Dienerversammlungen}} (ministerial conferences) were held at different places, concerning how the Amish should deal with the tensions caused by the pressures of modern society.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | p = 159}} The meetings themselves were a progressive idea; for bishops to assemble to discuss uniformity was an unprecedented notion in the Amish church.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} By the first several meetings, the more traditionally minded bishops agreed to [[boycott]] the conferences.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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Swiss Anabaptism developed, from this point, in two parallel streams. Those following Ammann became known as ''Amish''. The others eventually adopted the Mennonite name and were the basis of the [[Swiss Mennonite Conference]]. Because of this common heritage, Amish and Mennonites retain many similarities. Those who leave the Amish fold tend to join conservative Mennonite congregations.<ref>Smith, pp. 212-214</ref><ref>Kraybill (2000), ''The Anabaptist Escalator'', pp. 63-64.</ref> |
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[[Image:amish cemetery.gif|thumb|240px|An old Amish cemetery in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]], 1941. The stones are plain; the inscriptions are simple.]] |
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The Amish began migrating to [[Pennsylvania]] in the 18th century as part of a larger migration from the [[Palatinate]] and neighboring areas. This migration was a reaction to religious wars, poverty, and [[religious persecution]] on the Continent. The first Amish immigrants went to [[Berks County, Pennsylvania]], but later moved, motivated 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]]. |
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The more progressive members, comprising roughly two-thirds of the group, became known by the name Amish Mennonite, and eventually united with the [[Mennonite Church (1683–2002)|Mennonite Church]], and other Mennonite denominations, mostly in the early 20th century. The more traditionally minded groups became known as the Old Order Amish.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | pp = 157–178}} The [[Fellowship of Evangelical Churches|Egli Amish]] had already started to withdraw from the Amish church in 1858. They soon drifted away from the old ways and changed their name to "Defenseless Mennonite" in 1908.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://fecministries.org/our-beliefs/history/ |title=Our History |website=Fecministries.org |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123824/https://fecministries.org/about/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Congregations who took no side in the division after 1862 formed the [[Rosedale Network of Churches|Conservative Amish Mennonite Conference]] in 1910, but dropped the word "Amish" from their name in 1957; in the year 2000 many congregations left to organize the [[Biblical Mennonite Alliance]] in order to continue the practice of traditional Anabaptist ordinances, such as [[Christian headcovering|headcovering]].<ref>[[Stephen Scott (writer)|Stephen Scott]]. ''An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups''. Intercourse, Penn.: 1996, pp. 122–123.</ref><ref name="Kraybill2010">{{cite book |last1=Kraybill |first1=Donald B. |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites |year=2010 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-9911-9 |page=240 |language=English}}</ref> |
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The Amish congregations left in Europe slowly merged with the Mennonites. The last Amish congregation to merge with the Mennonites was the 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.<ref>Nolt, S. M. ''A History of the Amish'', Intercourse: Good Books, 1992</ref> |
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Because no division occurred in Europe, the Amish congregations remaining there took the same way as the change-minded Amish Mennonites in North America and slowly merged with the [[Mennonites]]. The last Amish congregation in Germany to merge was the [[Zweibrücken|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.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992}}{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | p = 227}} |
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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; for bishops to assemble to discuss uniformity was an unprecedented notion in the Amish church. By the first several meetings, the conservative bishops agreed to [[boycott]] the conferences. The more progressive members, comprising approximately two thirds of the group, became [[Amish Mennonite]] within several decades, and eventually became Mennonite congregations. The traditional group who wanted to preserve the old ways — the ''Ordnung'' — became known as the Old Order Amish.<ref>Kraybill (2000), p. 67.</ref> |
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=== 20th century === |
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==Religious practices== |
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Although splits happened among the Old Order in the 19th century in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, a major split among the Old Orders took until [[World War I]]. At that time, two very conservative affiliations emerged – the [[Swartzentruber Amish]] in [[Holmes County, Ohio]], and the [[Buchanan Amish affiliation|Buchanan Amish]] in Iowa. The Buchanan Amish soon were joined by like-minded congregations all over the country.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | pp = 264–266}} |
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The Old Order Amish do not have church buildings, but hold worship 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. |
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With Germany's aggression toward the US in World War I came the [[German language in the United States#Persecution during World War I|suppression of the German language in the US]] that eventually led to language shift of most Pennsylvania German speakers, leaving the Amish and other [[Old Order Movement|Old Orders]] as almost the only speakers by the end of the 20th century. This created a [[language barrier]] around the Amish that did not exist before in that form.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. ''The Amish''. Baltimore: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2013, p. 122.</ref> |
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===Humility=== |
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Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of ''Hochmut'' (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and the high value they place on ''Demut'' (humility) and ''[[Gelassenheit]]'' (calmness, composure, placidity) — often translated as "submission" or "letting-be." Gelassenheit is perhaps better understood as a reluctance to be forward, to be self-promoting, or to assert oneself. The Amish willingness to submit to the Will of God, 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 which might make one less dependent on community. Modern innovations like electricity might spark a competition for status goods, or photographs might cultivate personal vanity. |
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In the late 1920s, the more change minded faction of the Old Order Amish, that wanted to adopt the car, broke away from the mainstream and organized under the name [[Beachy Amish]].{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | pp = 278–281}} |
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===Separation from the world=== |
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The Amish consider the Bible a trustworthy guide for living but do not quote it excessively. To do so would be considered a sinful showing of pride. Separation from the rest of society is based on being a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people" ({{bibleverse|1|Peter|2:9|131}}), not being "conformed to this world" ({{bibleverse||Romans|12:2|131}}), avoiding "love the world or the things in the world" ({{bibleverse|1|John|2:15|131}}) and the belief that "friendship with the world is enmity with God" ({{bibleverse||James|4:4|131}}).<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 37 and 45.</ref> |
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During the [[Second World War]], the old question of [[military service]] for the Amish came up again. Because Amish young men in general refused military service, they ended up in the [[Civilian Public Service]] (CPS), where they worked mainly in forestry and hospitals. The fact that many young men worked in hospitals, where they had a lot of contact with more progressive Mennonites and the outside world, had the result that many of these men never joined the Amish church.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | pp = 287–290}} |
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Both out of concern for the effect of absence from the family life, and in order to minimize contact with outsiders, the Amish prefer to work at home. Increased prices of farmland and decreasing revenues for low-tech farming have forced many Amish to work away from the farm, particularly in construction and manufacturing, 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 art]]s play little role in authentic Amish life (though the prized [[Quilt#Amish|Amish quilts]] are a genuine cultural inheritance, unlike [[hex sign]]s), and are in fact regarded with suspicion, as a field where egotism and a display of vanity can easily develop. |
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In the 1950s, the [[Beachy Amish]] laid heavy emphasis on the [[Born again#Anabaptism|New Birth]], personal holiness and [[Sunday School]] education.<ref name="2013Gerlach">{{cite book |last1=Gerlach |first1=Horst |title=My Kingdom Is Not of This World: 300 Years of the Amish, 1683–1983 |year=2013 |publisher=Masthof Press & Bookstore |isbn=978-1-60126-387-2 |page=376 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Camden2006">{{cite book |last1=Camden |first1=Laura L. |title=Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land |date=2006 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-60344-538-2 |page=68 |language=English}}</ref> The ones who wanted to preserve the old way of the Beachy became the [[Old Beachy Amish]].{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | pp = 278–281}} |
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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. |
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In 1966, the [[New Order Amish]] were formed after certain congregations left the Old Order Amish due to issues regarding salvation and "the use of modern agricultural methods."<ref name="Laury2010">{{cite book |last1=Laury |first1=Elise Schebler Roberts, Helen Kelley, Sandra Dallas, Jennifer Chiaverini, Jean Ray |title=The Quilt |date=2010 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-1-61060-536-6 |page=104 |language=en}}</ref> The Old Order Amish believe that they have a "hope for salvation", believing that "joining with other church members to live according to the Ordnung and the Bible will give them the strength to lives worthy of salvation".<ref name="Johnson-Weiner2020">{{cite book |last1=Johnson-Weiner |first1=Karen M. |title=The Lives of Amish Women |date=15 September 2020 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-3870-2 |page=24 |language=en}}</ref> The New Order Amish, on the other hand, affirm that a believer can have [[Assurance_(theology)#Anabaptism|assurance]]—"that one can know the state of his soul while on earth".<ref name="Johnson-Weiner2020"/><ref name="AA2010">{{cite web |title=What's the difference between New Order and Old Order Amish? |url=https://amishamerica.com/whats-the-difference-between-new-order-and-old-order-amish/|year=2010 |publisher=Amish America |access-date=22 May 2021 |language=English}}</ref> |
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Some of the strictest Old Order Amish groups are the [[Nebraska Amish]] ("White-top" Amish), [[Troyer Amish]], and the [[Swartzendruber Amish]].<ref>Kraybill (2000), p. 68.</ref> Nearly all Old Order groups, besides the "Swiss Amish", speak [[Pennsylvania German language|Deitsch]]<!-- NOTE: this is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch" --> 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. There is a continuum from Old Order Amish to progressive [[Mennonite]]s. |
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Until about 1950, almost all Amish children attended small, rural, non-Amish schools, but then school consolidation and mandatory schooling beyond eighth grade caused Amish opposition. Amish communities opened their own Amish schools. In 1972, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] exempted Amish pupils from [[compulsory education]] past [[junior high school|eighth grade]]. By the end of the 20th century, almost all Amish children attended Amish schools.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, (2013) ''The Amish''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 250–255.</ref> |
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===Shunning=== |
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[[File:Flickr - Nicholas T - Bright.jpg|thumb|Red barns are common on Amish farms.]] |
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Members who break church rules may be called to [[Confession|confess]] before the congregation. Those who will not correct their behavior are [[excommunication|excommunicated]]. Excommunicated members are [[Shunning|shunned]] in order to shame the individual into returning to the church. Members may interact and even help a shunned person, but may not accept anything — like a handshake, payment or automobile ride — directly from the wayward person. Some communities have split in the last century over how they apply the practice of shunning, as in the case of Swartzendruber Amish. This form of discipline is recommended by the bishop after a long process of working with the individual and must be unanimously approved by the congregation.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 131-141</ref> Excommunicated members will be accepted back into the church if they return and confess their wrongdoing. |
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In the last quarter of the 20th century, a growing number of Amish men left farm work and started small businesses because of increasing pressure on small-scale farming. Though a wide variety of small businesses exists among the Amish, construction work and woodworking are quite widespread.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. ''The Amish'', Baltimore: 2013, p. 294.</ref> In many Amish settlements, especially the larger ones, farmers are now a minority.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, ''The Amish'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2013, pp. 281–282.</ref> Approximately 12,000 of the 40,000 dairy farms in the United States are Amish-owned as of 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.milkbusiness.com/article/licensed-dairy-farm-numbers-drop-to-just-over-40000 |title=Licensed Dairy Farm Numbers Drop to Just Over 40,000 |date=February 21, 2018 |publisher=Milk Business}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/2018/12/21/amish-dairy-farmers-risk-losing-their-living/2378827002/ |title=Amish dairy farmers at risk of losing their living and way of life as their buyer drops their milk |website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |access-date=December 21, 2018 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123816/https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/2018/12/21/amish-dairy-farmers-risk-losing-their-living/2378827002/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Until the early 20th century, Old Order Amish identity was not linked to the limited use of technologies, as the Old Order Amish and their rural neighbors used the same farm and household technologies. Questions about the use of technologies also did not play a role in the Old Order division of the second half of the 19th century. Telephones were the first important technology that was rejected, soon followed by the rejection of cars, tractors, radios, and many other technological inventions of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Kraybill | first1=Donald B. | last2=Johnson-Weiner | first2=Karen M. | last3=Nolt | first3=Steven M. | title=The Amish | publisher=JHU Press | date=2013 | isbn=978-1-4214-0914-6 | page=313}}</ref> |
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==Religious services== |
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The Old Order Amish have worship services every other Sunday at private homes. The typical district has 80 adults and 90 children under age 19.<ref>Based on data from Lancaster county collected. Kraybill (2001), p. 91.</ref> 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 [[hymn]]s from the ''[[Ausbund]]'', 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<!-- NOTE: this is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch" -->. Amish preachers and deacons are selected by lot<ref>Based on {{bibleverse||Acts|1:23-26|131}}</ref> 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. |
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Old Order Mennonites, Old Colony Mennonites and the Amish are often grouped together in North America's popular press. This is incorrect, according to a 2017 report by ''Canadian Mennonite'' magazine:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/10-things-know-about-mennonites-canada |title=10 things to know about Mennonites in Canada |date=January 12, 2017 |publisher=Canadian Mennonite |access-date=December 6, 2020 |quote=it is in many ways, an option of last resort and it's something we only do when we think we have a critical threat to the community's safety and we need immediate action |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123814/https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/10-things-know-about-mennonites-canada |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Amish do not work on [[Sabbath in Christianity|Sunday]], except to care for animals. Use of money or any purchase is forbidden. Drivers may not be hired to bring members to a church service, except in an emergency.<ref>Kauffman (2001), p. 125.</ref> |
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{{blockquote|The customs of Old Order Mennonites, the Amish communities and Old Colony Mennonites have a number of similarities, but the cultural differences are significant enough so that members of one group would not feel comfortable moving to another group. The Old Order Mennonites and Amish have the same European roots and the language spoken in their homes is the same German dialect. Old Colony Mennonites use Low German, a different German dialect.}} |
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===Communion=== |
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[[Image:AmishHymnal.jpg|280px|thumb|An Amish hymnal or ''Ausbund'']] |
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Generally, the Amish hold [[Eucharist|communion]] in the spring and the autumn, and not necessarily during regular church services. Communion is only held open to those who have been baptized. As with regular services, the men and women sit in separate rooms. The ritual ends with members washing and drying each other's feet.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/religioustraditions.htm | title=Amish Religious Traditions | publisher=Amish Country News | author=Brad Igou |date=1995 | accessdate=2007-09-10}}</ref> |
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==Religious practices== |
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===Baptism=== |
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{{Main|Anabaptist doctrine|Amish religious practices}} |
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The practice of [[believer's baptism]] is the Amish's admission into the church. They and other Anabaptists do not accept that a child can be meaningfully baptized. Their children are expected to follow the will of their parents in all issues, but when they come of age, they must choose to make an adult, permanent commitment to God and the community. Those who come to be baptized sit with one hand over their face, representing humility and submission to the church. The candidates are asked three questions: |
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*1. Can you ''renounce'' the devil, the world, and your own flesh and blood? |
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*2. Can you commit yourself to Christ and His church, and to abide by it and therein to live and to die? |
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*3. And in all order (Ordnung) of the church, according to the word of the Lord, to be ''obedient'' and ''submissive'' to it and to help therein?<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 116-119.</ref> |
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Typically, a deacon ladles water from a bucket into the bishop's cupped hands, which drips over the candidate's head. Then the bishop blesses the young men and greets them into the fellowship of the church with a [[holy kiss]]. The bishop's wife similarly blesses and greets the young women. |
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[[File:De Ausbund 329.jpg|right|thumb|upright|alt=A page of ornate old German text. See description.|A scan of the historical document {{lang|pdc|Diß Lied haben die sieben Brüder im Gefängnüß zu Gmünd gemacht}}]] |
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Baptism is a permanent vow to follow the church and the Ordnung. Since the church leaders only perform weddings for members, baptism is an incentive for young couples with romantic ties, funneling them toward the church. Girls tend to join at an earlier age than boys. About five or six months before the ceremony, classes are held to instruct the candidates, teaching them the strict implications of what they are about to profess. The Saturday before baptism, they are given their last chance to withdraw. The difficulty of walking the narrow path is emphasized, and the applicants are instructed it is better not to vow than to make the vow and break it later on.<ref>The Riddle of Amish Culture | Kraybill | p. 116-7</ref> |
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Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of {{lang|pdc|Hochmut}} (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and the high value they place on {{lang|pdc|Demut}} (humility) and {{lang|pdc|[[Ordnung#Gelassenheit|Gelassenheit]]}} (calmness, composure, placidity), often translated as "submission" or "letting be". {{lang|pdc|Gelassenheit}} is perhaps better understood as a reluctance to be forward, to be self-promoting, or to assert oneself. The Amish's willingness to submit to the "Will of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]]", 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 the community. Modern innovations such as electricity might spark a competition for status goods, or photographs might cultivate personal vanity. Electric power lines would be going against the Bible, which says that you shall not be "conformed to the world" ({{bibleref2|Romans|12:2}}).{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} |
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Membership is taken seriously. Those who join the church, and then later leave, are shunned by the congregation and their families. Those who choose to not join can continue to relate freely with their friends and family. Church growth occurs through having large families and by retaining those children as part of the community. Old Order Amish do not [[Proselytism|proselytize]], and conversion to the Amish faith is rare but not unheard of. |
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Amish church membership begins with [[Believer's baptism|baptism]], usually between the ages of 16 and 23. It is a requirement for [[marriage]] within the Amish church. Once a person is baptized within the church, he or she may marry only within the faith. Church districts have between 20 and 40 families and worship services are held every other Sunday in a member's home or [[barn]]. The district is led by a [[bishop]] and several [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]]s and [[deacons]] who are chosen by a combination of [[election]] and [[cleromancy]] (lot).{{Sfn|Kraybill|1994|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OYNYKYsulbQC&pg=PA3 3]}} |
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===Weddings=== |
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Weddings are typically held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November to early December, after the harvest is in.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 148.</ref> 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.<ref>See [http://www.amishcountrytraditions.com/amish.htm this page] [http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/religioustraditions.htm and this page] for more about the tradition associating celery with Amish weddings.</ref> Rather than immediately taking up housekeeping, the newlywed couple will spend several weekends visiting the homes of friends and relatives who attended the wedding. |
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The rules of the church, the so-called ''[[Ordnung]]'', which differs to some extent between different districts, is reviewed twice a year by all members of the church. Only if all members give their consent to it, [[Eucharist|Lord's supper]] is held. The ''Ordnung'' must be observed by every member and covers many aspects of day-to-day living, including prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line [[electricity]], [[telephones]], and [[automobiles]], as well as [[regulations]] on [[clothing]]. As [[Anabaptist#Today|present-day Anabaptists]], Amish church members practice [[nonresistance]] and will not perform any type of military service. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility, and ''[[Ordnung#Gelassenheit|Gelassenheit]]'', all under the auspices of living what they interpret to be God's word.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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===Funerals=== |
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[[Image:PICT3215.JPG|thumb|200px|A modern Amish cemetery in 2006. Stones are still plain, small, and simple.]] |
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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. The bodies of both men and women are dressed in white clothing by family members of the same sex, women in the white cape and apron of their wedding outfit.<ref>Kraybill (2001) p. 159.</ref> After a funeral, the community gathers together to share a meal. |
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Members who do not conform to these community expectations and who cannot be convinced to [[Repentance|repent]] face [[excommunication]] and [[shunning]]. The modes of shunning vary between different communities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Church Discipline - Amish Studies|url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/religion/church-discipline|publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College}}</ref> On average, about 85 percent of Amish youth choose to be baptized and join the church.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions - Amish Studies |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/frequently-asked-questions}}</ref> During an adolescent period of ''[[rumspringa]]'' (dialectal [Pennsylvania] German for {{gloss|running around}}<ref name="Growing up Amish: the Rumspringa years">{{cite book |last1=Stevick |first1=Richard A. |title=Growing up Amish: the Rumspringa years |date=2014 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=978-1-4214-1372-3 |page=5 |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cyh8AwAAQBAJ |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>) in some communities, nonconforming behavior that would result in the shunning of an adult who had made the permanent commitment of baptism, may be met with a degree of forbearance.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amisch Teenagers Experience the World|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3660/amish-rumspringa|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081110133521/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3660/amish-rumspringa|archive-date=November 10, 2008|publisher=National Geographic Television}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2012}} |
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==Family life== |
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[[Image:Amish children playing baseball, Lyndonville NY.jpg|thumb|Amish children playing baseball, [[Lyndonville, New York]].]] |
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==Way of life== |
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{{Main|Amish way of life}} |
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Having children, raising them, and socialization with neighbors and relatives are the greatest functions of the Amish family. Amish believe large families are a blessing from God.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 88.</ref> The main purposes of ‘family’ can be illustrated within the Amish culture in a variety of ways. The family has authority over the individual, not only during infancy and in youth, but throughout life. Loyalties to parents, grandparents, and relatives may change over time, but they will never cease. A church district is measured by the number of families (households), rather than by the number of baptized persons.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 87.</ref> Families take turns hosting the bi-weekly preaching service. Parents stress their responsibilities and obligations for the correct nurture of their children. They consider themselves accountable to the Lord for the spiritual welfare of their children. |
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[[File:Amish youth groups at Behalt 7.jpg|thumb|Amish youth learning about a church before considering membership.]] |
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The "family" provides the member with a status within the home and within the community. A person is more of a member of the family, rather than an individual. Each member has a job, a position, a responsibility, and a status. Chores within the home are normally divided by gender. The Amish traditional family provides much of the education for the child. Although the formal education ends after they finish eighth grade, the boy or girl is trained for their adult tasks. The boys will work with the father in the fields, in the barn, and around the out buildings. The girls work inside the home and garden, alongside the mother. The home and family become the school for "on the job" training. Amish youth, by and large, see their parents working hard, and they want to help. They want to learn and to be a productive part of the family.<ref>[http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/traditionalfamily.htm The Traditional Family & The Amish<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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Amish lifestyle is regulated by the {{lang|de|[[Ordnung]]}} ("rules")<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pennsylvania Amish Lifestyle |url=https://www.discoverlancaster.com/amish/lifestyle/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Discover Lancaster |language=en-US}}</ref> which differs slightly from community to community and from district to district within a community. There is no central Amish [[governing body|governing authority]]. Each Amish community makes its own decisions, and what is acceptable in one community may be unacceptable in another.<ref name=ebikes>{{cite web |title=Amish communities are using a surprising new kind of vehicle to travel long distances: 'It's a lot quicker' |website=The Cool Down |date=23 Apr 2023 |author=Jeremiah Budin |url=https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/amish-transportation-e-bikes-lancaster-pennsylvania/}}</ref> The {{lang|de|Ordnung}} is agreed upon – or changed – within the whole community of baptized members prior to Communion which takes place two times a year. The meeting where the {{lang|de|Ordnung}} is discussed is called {{lang|de|Ordnungsgemeine}} in Standard German and {{lang|pdc|Ordningsgmee}} in Pennsylvania Dutch. The {{lang|de|Ordnung}} include matters such as dress, permissible uses of technology, religious duties, and rules regarding interaction with outsiders. In these meetings, women also vote in questions concerning the {{lang|de|Ordnung}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson-Weiner |first=Karen |year=2001 |title=The role of women in old order Amish, beachy Amish and fellowship churches. |journal=Mennonite Quarterly Review |volume=75 |pages=231–257}}</ref> |
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Bearing children, raising them, and socializing with neighbors and relatives are the greatest functions of the Amish family. Amish typically believe that large families are a blessing from God. Farm families tend to be larger, because sons are needed to perform farm labor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ericksen |first1=Julia |last2=Klein |first2=Gary |year=1981 |title=Women's Roles and Family Production among the Old Order Amish. |journal=Rural Sociology |volume=46 |pages=282–296}}</ref> Community is central to the Amish way of life. |
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<blockquote> |
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"Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. One of the greatest needs of our time is men who will assume the responsibility which God has placed on their shoulders. Not to accept that responsibility is to lie down on the job, to fail God’s will." Family Life, Amish monthly magazine. |
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</blockquote> |
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Working hard is considered godly, and some technological advancements have been considered undesirable because they reduce the need for hard work. Machines such as automatic floor cleaners in barns have historically been rejected as this provides young farmhands with too much free time.{{sfn|Kraybill|2001}} |
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Sports and recreation are shared by all members of the family. There are church outings and family get-togethers where activities are entered into and shared by all. |
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=== |
===Transportation=== |
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Amish communities are known for traveling by [[Amish buggy|horse and buggy]] because they feel [[horse-drawn vehicles]] promote a slow pace of life. But most Amish communities do also allow riding in [[motor vehicles]], such as buses and cars.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Amish Buggy |date=2 Sep 2011 |accessdate=23 Apr 2023 |website=Amish America |url=https://amishamerica.com/amish-buggy/}}</ref> In recent years many Amish people have taken to using [[electric bicycles]] as they are faster than either walking or harnessing up a horse and buggy.<ref name=ebikes /> |
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===Clothing=== |
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The Amish time for retirement is not a set or fixed time. Considerations of health, family needs, and personal desires, all play an important part in determining when retirement occurs, usually around the age of fifty to seventy. The elderly do not go to a retirement facility, they remain at home. If the house is large enough they continue living with everyone else. Oftentimes there is an adjacent dwelling, called the ''Grossdaadi Haus'', where grandparents take up residence. They continue to help with work on the farm and in the home, working at their own pace as they are able. This allows them independence but does not strip them of family involvement.<ref>Amish Society|Hostetler pp.168-169</ref> |
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{{Main|Plain dress}} |
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[[File:Amish Farmhouse.jpg|thumb|Clothing is plain in style and sewn by hand.]] |
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The Amish are known for their plain attire. Men wear solid colored shirts, broad-brimmed hats, and suits that signify similarity amongst one another. Amish men grow beards to symbolize manhood and marital status, as well as to promote humility. They are forbidden from growing mustaches because mustaches are seen by the Amish as being affiliated with the military, which they are strongly opposed to, due to their pacifist beliefs. Women have similar guidelines on how to dress, which are also expressed in the {{lang|de|Ordnung}}, the Amish version of legislation. They are to wear calf-length dresses, muted colors along with [[Bonnet (headgear)|bonnets]] and [[apron]]s. [[Kapp (headcovering)|Prayer kapps]] and bonnets are worn by the women because they are a visual representation of their religious beliefs and promote unity through the tradition of every woman wearing one. The color of the bonnet signifies whether a woman is single or married. Single women wear black bonnets and married women wear white. The color coding of bonnets is important because women are not allowed to wear jewelry, such as wedding rings, as it is seen as drawing attention to the body which can induce pride in the individual.<ref name="Plain Diversity">{{Cite book |last1=Nolt |first1=Steven M. |title=Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities (Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies) |last2=Meyers |first2=Thomas J. |year=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0801886058}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2019}} |
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All clothing is sewn by hand, but the way to fasten the garment widely depends on whether the Amish person is a part of the New Order or Old Order Amish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=H. M. J. |title=History and customs of the Amish people |publisher=Maple Press Company |year=1946 |location=York, Pennsylvania |asin=B004UOJ17K}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2019}} The Old Order Amish seldom, if ever, use buttons because they are seen as too flashy; instead, they use the [[hook and eye]] approach to fashion clothing or metal snaps. The New Order Amish are slightly more progressive and allow the usage of buttons to help attire clothing.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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The Amish method of retirement ensures that the elderly maintain contact with family and relatives. Loneliness is not a problem because they keep meaningful social contacts through various community events, such as frolics, auctions, weddings, holiday, and other community activities.<ref>Amish Society{Hostetler pp.170</ref> |
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===Cuisine=== |
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If the aged become ill or infirm, then the family members take up caring for them. The parents helped raise the younger members, therefore the younger family care for the them in their old age. |
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[[File:Amish market.jpg|thumb|Amish food sold at a market.]] |
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Amish cuisine is noted for its simplicity and traditional qualities. Food plays an important part in Amish social life and is served at [[potluck]]s, weddings, fundraisers, farewells, and other events.<ref>Sherry Gore Zondervan. ''Simply Delicious Amish Cooking''.Zondervan, 2013.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Eicher |first1=Lovina |url=https://archive.org/details/amishcooksannive0000eich |title=The Amish Cook's Anniversary Book: 20 Years of Food, Family, and Faith |last2=Williams |first2=Kevin |date=2010 |publisher=Andrews McMeel |isbn=978-0740797651}}</ref><ref>Lovina Eicher. ''[https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0740773720 The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith]''. 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vincent |first=Bill |title=Traditional Amish Recipes |year=2012 |location=Bloomington, Indiana}}</ref> Many Amish foods are sold at markets including pies, preserves, bread mixes, pickled produce, desserts, and canned goods. Many Amish communities have also established restaurants for visitors. Amish meat consumption is similar to the American average though they tend to eat more preserved meat.<ref>Gebra Cuyun Carter. Food Intake, Dietary Practices...Among the Amish ''[https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:66950]'' 2008.</ref> |
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Amish cuisine is often mistaken for the similar [[cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch]] with some ethnographic and regional variances,<ref>{{cite book|title=Food Culture: Anthropology, Linguistics and Food Studies |editor-first1=Janet|editor-last1=Chrzan |editor-first2=John |editor-last2=Brett |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2017| page=224}}</ref> as well as differences in what cookbook writers and food historians emphasize about the traditional [[foodway]]s and intertwined religious culture and celebrations of Amish communities. While mythologies about the diffusion of [[shoofly pie]] are common subject matter for studies of [[American cuisine]], food anthropologists point out that the culinary practices of Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish are innovative and dynamic, evolving across time and geographical spaces, and that not all the Pennsylvania Dutch are Amish, and not all Amish live in Pennsylvania. Distinguishing local mythologies from culinary fact is accomplished by dedicated anthropological field studies in combination with studies of literary sources, usually newspaper archives, diaries and household records.<ref>{{cite book|title=Research Methods for Anthropological Studies of Food and Nutrition: Volumes I–III, Volumes 1–3 |editor-first1=Janet|editor-last1=Chrzan |editor-first2=John |editor-last2=Brett |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2017| page=221}}</ref> |
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===Child discipline=== |
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==Subgroups== |
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The Amish stress strict obedience to their children, and this is taught and enforced by parents and preachers. Several passages in the Bible are used to support this view. Their children, as do all children, may pout or resist a parent's request. However, when such attitudes become open resistance,<!-- This information is from the listed source-please leave unchanged. --> a razor strap, a willow switch, or a buggy whip may be administered to their bottoms. Such things as tantrums, making faces, calling another bad names, and general disobedience are rare because the child knows such actions will result in [[corporal punishment]]. Most youthful dissatisfactions are expressed verbally, but profanity is never allowed because the guilty can expect swift punishment.<ref>Amish Society{Hostetler pp.160</ref> |
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{{main|Subgroups of Amish}} |
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The Amish fall into three main subgroups—the Old Order Amish, the [[New Order Amish]], and the [[Beachy Amish]]—all of whom wear [[plain dress]] and live their life according to the Bible as codified in their church's ''[[Ordnung]]''.<ref name="MeyersNolt2005"/><ref name="Misiroglu2015"/> The Old Order Amish and New Order Amish conduct their worship in German, speak [[Pennsylvania Dutch language|Pennsylvania German]], and use [[Buggy (carriage)#Amish_buggy|buggies]] for transportation, in contrast to the Beachy Amish who use modern technology (inclusive of motor cars) and conduct worship in the local language of the area in which they reside (with exception of the [[Old Beachy Amish]] who continue to use Pennsylvania German).<ref name="Johnson-Weiner2017"/> Both the New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish emphasize the [[Born again#Anabaptism|New Birth]], [[evangelism|evangelize]] to seek converts, and have [[Sunday School]]s.<ref name="Gerlach2013"/><ref name="MeyersNolt2005"/> |
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Over the years, the Amish churches have divided many times mostly over questions concerning the Ordnung, but also over doctrinal disputes, mainly about shunning. The largest group, the "Old Order" Amish, a conservative faction that separated from other Amish in the 1860s, are those who have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. The [[New Order Amish]] are a group of Amish whom some scholars see best described as a subgroup of Old Order Amish, despite the name.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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===Youth, Courting, and Rumspringa=== |
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''[[Rumspringa]]'' (German/Deitsch,<!-- NOTE: this is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch" --> "running or jumping around") is the period of adolescence that begins the time of serious courtship, and, during which, church rules may be relaxed. As in non-Amish families, it is understood that there will likely be a certain amount of misbehavior, but it is neither encouraged nor overlooked. At the end of this period, Amish young adults are baptized into the church, and usually marry a spouse, with marriage only being permitted among church members. Just a small number of young people choose not to join the church, deciding to live the rest of their lives in wider society and marrying someone outside the community. |
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===Affiliations=== |
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The age for courting begins at sixteen (in some communities, the girl could be as young as fourteen). The most common event for boy-girl association is the bi-weekly Sunday evening sing, however the youth use sewing-bees, frolics, and weddings for other opportunities. The sing is often at the same house or barn as the Sunday morning service. Teens may arrive from several close-by districts, thus providing socialization on a wider scale than from a single church.<ref>Amish Society|Hostetler (Fourth Edition), p. 146.</ref> |
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As of 2011, about 40 different Old Order Amish affiliations were known to exist. The eight major affiliations of the Old Order Amish are listed below, with Lancaster as the largest one in number of districts and population:<ref>Kraybill, Donald B., Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt (eds.). ''The Amish''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, p. 139.</ref> |
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{| class="wikitable" |
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On the day of the sing, and after the chores are over, the young man dresses in his for-gut clothes, makes his appearance neat, and ensures his buggy and horse are clean. A sister, or sister's friend may ride with him, but usually not his girlfriend. At the sing, boys are on one side of a long table, the girls on the other side. Each person is able to announce their choice of a hymn, and only the faster ones are chosen. Conversation takes place between songs. The formal end of the sing is about ten o'clock, after which there is a great deal of talking, joking, and visiting. The boys who don't have a girlfriend, may pair up with a Maidel (girl).<ref>Amish Society|Hostetler (Fourth Edition), p. 146.</ref> Following this, the boy takes the girl home in his open topped courting buggy. |
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|- |
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! Affiliation !! Date established !! Origin !! States !! Settlements !! Church districts |
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|- |
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| [[Lancaster Amish affiliation|Lancaster]] || 1760 || Pennsylvania || 8 || 37 || 291 |
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|- |
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| [[Elkhart-LaGrange Amish affiliation|Elkhart-LaGrange]] || 1841 || Indiana || 3 || 9 || 176 |
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|- |
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| [[Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation|Holmes Old Order]] || 1808 || Ohio || 1 || 2 || 147 |
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|- |
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| [[Buchanan Amish affiliation|Buchanan]]/Medford || 1914 || Indiana || 19 || 67|| 140 |
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|- |
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| [[Geauga County, Ohio|Geauga I]] || 1886 || Ohio || 6 || 11 || 113 |
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|- |
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| [[Swartzentruber Amish|Swartzentruber]] || 1913|| Ohio || 15 || 43|| 119 |
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|- |
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| [[Geauga County, Ohio|Geauga II]] || 1962 || Ohio || 4 || 27 || 99 |
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|- |
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| [[Adams County, Indiana|Swiss (Adams)]] || 1850 || Indiana || 5 || 15 || 86 |
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|} |
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===Use of technology by different affiliations=== |
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Marrying a first-cousin isn't allowed among the Amish, and second-cousin relationships are frowned upon, though they may occur. Marriage to a "Swartz" cousin, in Lancaster County is not permitted (first cousin once removed). |
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The table below indicates the use of certain technologies by different Amish affiliations. The use of cars is not allowed by any Old and New Order Amish, nor are radio, television, or in most cases the use of the Internet. Three affiliations – "Lancaster", "Holmes Old Order" and "Elkhart-LaGrange" — are not only the three largest affiliations but also represent the mainstream among the Old Order Amish. The most conservative affiliations are at the top, the most modern ones at the bottom. Technologies used by very few are on the left; the ones used by most are on the right. The percentage of all Amish who use a technology is also indicated approximately.{{Clarify timeframe|date=November 2018}} The Old Order Amish culture involves lower greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors and activities with the exception of diet, and their per-person emissions has been estimated to be less than one quarter that of the wider society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Subak |first=Susan |title=The Five-Ton Life |date=2018 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0803296886 |page=59}}''</ref> |
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{{Amish technology comparison}} |
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<blockquote> |
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The onset of courtship is usually not openly discussed within the family or among friends. Excessive teasing by siblings or friends at the wrong time is considered invasive. Respecting privacy, or at least pretending not to know, is a prevailing mode of behavior, even among parents.<ref>Amish Society|Hostetler (Fourth Edition), p. 146.</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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===Language=== |
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==Lifestyle and culture== |
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{{Main|Pennsylvania Dutch language}} |
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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 considered "worldly")<ref>"The Amish vs. Tobacco." by Brad Igou. 1992. Amish Country News. [http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/amishtobacco.htm]</ref> and moderate use of alcohol<ref>"Ohio's Amish seek help for underage drinking." By Amy Beth Graves (AP). Sunday, May 21, 2000. [[Cincinnati Enquirer]] [http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/05/21/loc_ohios_amish_seek.html]</ref> are generally permitted, particularly among older and more conservative groups. |
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Most Old Order Amish, [[New Order Amish]] and the [[Old Beachy Amish]] speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and refer to non-Amish people as "English", regardless of ethnicity.<ref>{{cite web |title="Behalt": Amish settlers in the 18th century American colonies |url=https://www.communitynewslinesville.com/horsin-around-with-roseanne/3563-behalt-amish-settlers-in-the-18th-century-american-colonies |publisher=The Community News |access-date=25 April 2024 |quote=These days, the “Old Beachy Amish,” the “New Order Amish,” and the Old Order Amish still speak Pennsylvania German}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Amish Community |url=https://www.llceranglais.fr/the-amish-community.html |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=LLCER Anglais {{!}} Site d'aide à la phonologie anglaise, grammaire, linguistique et civilisations anglophones |language=fr-CA}}</ref> Two Amish subgroups – called Swiss Amish – whose ancestors migrated to the United States in the 1850s speak a form of [[Bernese German]] (Adams County, IN and daughter settlements) or a [[Low Alemannic German|Low Alemannic]] [[Alsatian dialect]] (Allen County, IN and daughter settlements).<ref>Chad Thompson: ''The Languages of the Amish of Allen County, Indiana: Multilingualism and Convergence'', in Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 69–91</ref> |
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Contrary to popular belief, the word "Dutch" in "Pennsylvania Dutch" is not a mistranslation, but rather a corruption of the Pennsylvania German [[endonym]] {{lang|pdc|Deitsch}}, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch / German" or "German".<ref>Hughes Oliphant Old: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 6: The Modern Age. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007, p. 606.</ref><ref>Mark L. Louden: Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language. JHU Press, 2006, p. 2</ref><ref>Hostetler, John A. (1993), ''Amish Society'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, p. 241</ref><ref>Irwin Richman: The Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Arcadia Publishing, 2004, p. 16.</ref> Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Middle Dutch|Diets]] and [[German language|Deutsch]] are all [[cognate]]s and descend from the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] word {{wikt-lang|gem-pro|*þiudiskaz}} meaning "popular" or "of the people".<ref>W. Haubrichs, "''Theodiscus'', Deutsch und Germanisch – drei Ethnonyme, drei Forschungsbegriffe. Zur Frage der Instrumentalisierung und Wertbesetzung deutscher Sprach- und Volksbezeichnungen." In: H. Beck et al., ''Zur Geschichte der Gleichung "germanisch-deutsch"'' (2004), 199–228</ref> The continued use of "Pennsylvania Dutch" was strengthened by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 19th century as a way of distinguishing themselves from later (post 1830) waves of German immigrants to the United States, with the Pennsylvania Dutch referring to themselves as {{lang|pdc|Deitsche}} and to Germans as {{lang|pdc|Deitschlenner}} (literally "Germany-ers", compare {{lang|de|Deutschländ-er}}) whom they saw as a related but distinct group.<ref>Mark L. Louden: ''Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language''. JHU Press, 2006, pp. 3–4 {{ISBN|1421418282}}</ref> |
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===Modern technology=== |
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[[Image:Amish vs modern transportation.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Modern and Amish transportation in Pennsylvania.]] |
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Older Order Amish are known for their avoidance of certain modern technologies. Amish do not view [[technology]] as evil, and individuals may petition for acceptance of a particular technology in the local community. In Pennsylvania, bishops meet in the spring and fall to discuss common concerns, including the appropriate response to new technology, and then pass this information on to ministers and deacons in a subsequent meeting.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 98-101.</ref> Because of this flat governing structure, variations of practice develop in each community. |
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[[Image:Farm-amish-phone-booth.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Telephone booth set up by an "English" farmer for emergency use by local Amish families.]] |
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According to one scholar, "today, almost all Amish are functionally bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English; however, domains of usage are sharply separated. Pennsylvania Dutch dominates in most in-group settings, such as the dinner table and preaching in church services. In contrast, English is used for most reading and writing. English is also the medium of instruction in schools and is used in business transactions and often, out of politeness, in situations involving interactions with non-Amish. Finally, the Amish read prayers and sing in [[Standard German]] (which, in Pennsylvania Dutch, is called {{lang|pdc|Hochdeitsch}}<!-- this is not a mistake. Do not alter spelling.--><ref group="lower-alpha">{{lang|pdc|Hochdeitsch}} is the Pennsylvania Dutch equivalent of the Standard German word {{lang|de|Hochdeutsch}}; both words literally mean "High German".</ref>) at church services. The distinctive use of three different languages serves as a powerful conveyor of Amish identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hurst |first1=Charles E. |title=An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community |url=https://archive.org/details/amishparadoxdive00hurs |url-access=limited |last2=McConnell |first2=David L. |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0801893988 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/amishparadoxdive00hurs/page/n31 15]–16}}</ref> "Although 'the English language is being used in more and more situations,' Pennsylvania Dutch is 'one of a handful of minority languages in the United States that is neither endangered nor supported by continual arrivals of immigrants.'"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hurst |first1=Charles E. |title=An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community |url=https://archive.org/details/amishparadoxdive00hurs |url-access=limited |last2=McConnell |first2=David L. |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0801893988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/amishparadoxdive00hurs/page/n31 15]}}</ref> |
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High voltage electricity was rejected by 1920 through the actions of a strict bishop, as a reaction against more liberal Amish<ref>The Peachey group split from the Old Order Amish in 1910 and eventually became affiliated with the Beachy Amish</ref> and to avoid a physical connection to the outside world.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 197-212.</ref> Because of the early prohibition of electricity, individual decisions about the use of new inventions such as the television would not be necessary. Electricity is used in some situations when it can be produced without access to [[Electricity distribution|outside power lines]]. Batteries, with their limited applications, are acceptable. Electric generators can be used for welding, recharging batteries, and powering milk stirrers. Outdoor electrical appliances such as riding and hand-pushed lawn mowers and string trimmers are used in some communities. Amish families have non-electric versions of appliances, such as [[absorption refrigerator|kerosene-powered refrigerator]]s. |
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===Ethnicity=== |
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Amish communities adopt compromise solutions involving technology that seem strange to outsiders. Gas-powered farm equipment, such as tillers or mowers, may be 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 out-compete other farmers in their community if they have to move the equipment manually. Amish farmers employ chemical [[pesticide]]s, chemical [[fertilizer]]s, and [[artificial insemination]] of cows.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 313.</ref> |
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The Amish largely share a German or [[Swiss people|Swiss]]-German ancestry.<ref>Hugh F. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider. ''Revised Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies''. Morgantown, Penn.: 2007. This comprehensive volume gives names, dates, and places of births and deaths, and relationships of most of the known people of this unique sect from the early 1700s until about 1860 or so. The authors also include a five-page "History of the First Amish Communities in America".</ref> They generally use the term "Amish" only for members of their faith community and not as an ethnic designation. However some [[List of Amish and their descendants|Amish descendants]] recognize their cultural background knowing that their genetic and cultural traits are uniquely different from other ethnicities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/genetic-disorders-hit-amish-hard/ |title=Genetic Disorders Hit Amish Hard |work=CBS News |date=June 8, 2005 |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222172442/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/genetic-disorders-hit-amish-hard/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hammond2000">{{cite book |last=Hammond |first=Phillip E. |year=2000 |title=The Dynamics of Religious Organizations: The Extravasation of the Sacred and Other Essays |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=59 |isbn=978-0198297628 |quote=1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "jack Mormon," "banned Amish," or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."<br> 2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."<br> 3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity"}}</ref> Those who choose to affiliate with the church, or young children raised in Amish homes, but too young to yet be church members, are considered to be Amish. Certain Mennonite churches have a high number of people who were formerly from Amish congregations. Although more Amish immigrated to North America in the 19th century than during the 18th century, most of today's Amish descend from 18th-century immigrants. The latter tended to emphasize tradition to a greater extent, and were perhaps more likely to maintain a separate Amish identity.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | p = 104}} There are a number of Amish Mennonite church groups that had never in their history been associated with the Old Order Amish because they split from the Amish mainstream in the time when the Old Orders formed in the 1860s and 1870s. The former Western Ontario Mennonite Conference (WOMC) was made up almost entirely of former Amish Mennonites who reunited with the Mennonite Church in Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/W4781ME.html |title=Western Ontario Mennonite Conference |last=Gingerich |first=Orland |year=1990 |website=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |access-date=July 5, 2008 |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106144930/http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/W4781ME.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Orland Gingerich's book ''The Amish of Canada'' devotes the vast majority of its pages not to the Beachy or Old Order Amish, but to congregations in the former WOMC.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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===Para-Amish groups=== |
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[[Image:Amish Farmhouse.jpg|thumb|Amish household]] |
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Several other groups, called "[[para-Amish]]" by [[G. C. Waldrep]] and others, share many characteristics with the Amish, such as [[horse and buggy]] transportation, [[plain dress]], and the preservation of the German language. The members of these groups are largely of Amish origin, but they are not in fellowship with other Amish groups because they adhere to theological doctrines (e.g., [[assurance of salvation]]) or practices ([[community of goods]]) that are normally not accepted among mainstream Amish. The [[Bergholz Community]] is a different case; it is not seen as Amish anymore because the community has shifted away from many core Amish principles.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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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. |
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==Population and distribution== |
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Restrictions are not meant to impose suffering. Disabled people are allowed to use motorized [[wheelchairs]]; electricity is allowed in the home for medical equipment.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 114-115.</ref> Those who break the rules may be given many months to resolve the problem so that they can use a computer to complete a business project or remove electric wiring from a new house.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 136.</ref> |
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[[File:Amish_SettlementsMap.png|thumb|400px|Amish settlements in the United States and Canada, 2022]] |
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{{Historical populations |
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| shading = off |
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| percentages = pagr |
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| 1920 | 5000 |
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| 1928 | 7000 |
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| 1936 | 9000 |
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| 1944 | 13000 |
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| 1952 | 19000 |
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| 1960 | 28000 |
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| 1968 | 39000 |
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| 1976 | 57000 |
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| 1984 | 84000 |
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| 1992 | 128150 |
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| 2000 | 166000 |
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| 2010 | 249500 |
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| 2020 | 350665 |
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| 2023 | 383565 |
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| footnote = Source: 1992,<ref name="2013 population">{{Cite web |url=http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_Trends_1992_2013.asp |title=Amish Population Trends 1992–2013 |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College |access-date=June 12, 2013 |archive-date=June 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614055427/http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_Trends_1992_2013.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> 2000,<ref name="etown">{{Cite web |url=http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/PDF/Statistics/Population_Change_Summary_1992_2008.pdf |title=Amish Population Change Summary 1992–2008 |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College |access-date=July 8, 2009 |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119075527/http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/PDF/Statistics/Population_Change_Summary_1992_2008.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 2010,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2016/06/Population_Change_2010-2015.pdf |title=Amish Population Change, 2010–2015 (Alphabetical Order) |website=Groups.etown.edu |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815024629/https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2016/06/Population_Change_2010-2015.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 2020,<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2020">{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/statistics-population-2020/ |title=Amish Population Profile, 2020 |date=August 18, 2019 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111151807/https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/statistics-population-2020/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 2021,<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2021">{{Cite web |url=https://amishamerica.com/2021-amish-population/#maincontent |title=The Amish Population in 2021 |date=August 12, 2021 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=August 22, 2021 |archive-date=August 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812190707/https://amishamerica.com/2021-amish-population/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 2023<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023"/> |
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}} |
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Because the Amish are usually baptized no earlier than 18 and children are not counted in local congregation numbers, estimating their numbers is difficult. Rough estimates from various studies placed their numbers at 125,000 in 1992, 166,000 in 2000, and 221,000 in 2008.<ref name="etown" /> Thus, from 1992 to 2008, population growth among the Amish in North America was 84 percent (3.6 percent per year). During that time, they established 184 new settlements and moved into six new states.<ref name="Trends">{{Cite web |url=http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_Trends_1992_2008.asp |title=Population Trends 1992–2008 |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606152522/http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_Trends_1992_2008.asp |archive-date=June 6, 2009 |access-date=July 8, 2009}}</ref> In 2000, about 165,620 Old Order Amish resided in the United States, of whom 73,609 were church members.{{Sfn | Kraybill | 2000}}{{Rp |needed=yes |date=October 2012}} The Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of seven children per family in the 1970s<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ericksen |first1=Julia A. |last2=Ericksen |first2=Eugene P. |last3=Hostetler |first3=John A. |last4=Huntington |first4=Gertrude E. |date=July 1979 |title=Fertility Patterns and Trends among the Old Order Amish |journal=Population Studies |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=255–276 |doi=10.2307/2173531 |issn=0032-4728 |jstor=2173531 |oclc=39648293 |pmid=11630609}}</ref> and a total fertility rate of 5.3 in the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-eric-kaufmann-population-religion-culture-6e85bf9c8c07 |title=Eric Kaufmann on Immigration, Identity, and the Limits of Individualism (Ep. 70) |date=July 3, 2019 |access-date=November 26, 2019}}</ref> |
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Although most Amish will not drive cars, they 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 {{convert|25|mi|km}}, and then it must rest for a considerable period, restricting the Amish to a radius of {{convert|12.5|mi|km}} from home. Moreover, a horse and buggy can only sustain {{convert|10|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}} over an extended distance, and thus is impractical for emergencies.<ref> [http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/041018.Caruthers.discover.html Purdue University]</ref> Regular bus service between Amish communities has been established in some areas, and train travel is accepted. |
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In 2010, a few religious bodies, including the Amish, changed the way their adherents were reported to better match the standards of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. When looking at all Amish adherents and not solely Old Order Amish, about 241,000 Amish adherents were in 28 U.S. states in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2012/nov-dec/article2.asp |title=Indiana's Amish Population |last=Manns |first=Molly |website=InContext |publisher=Indiana Business Research Center |access-date=January 14, 2013 |archive-date=December 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121228163601/http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2012/nov-dec/article2.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The avoidance of telephone technology is also misunderstood. The Amish dislike the telephone because it interferes with their separation from the world. By bringing 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. Amish of Lancaster County use the telephone primarily for outgoing calls, with the added restriction that the telephone not be inside the house, but rather in a phone "booth" or small out-building placed far enough from the house as to make its use inconvenient. These private phones may be shared by more than one family. This allows the Amish to control their communication, and not have telephone calls invade their homes, but also to 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 cell phone use by the non-Amish population, Amish communities are seeing an increase in the private phone shanties.<ref> See, for example, [Dan Morse "Still Called by Faith to the Booth: As Pay Phones Vanish, Amish and Mennonites Build Their Own"], ''The Washington Post'', September 3, 2006, p. C1; see also |
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[http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/amish.html Diane Zimmerman Umble's work] on the subject of the Amish and telephones</ref> Many Amish, particularly those who run businesses, use voicemail service.<ref>Kraybill, Donald ''Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits'', Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004</ref> 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.<ref>Howard Rheingold "Look Who's Talking", ''Wired'', January, 1999, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.01/amish.html</ref> |
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=== |
===Distribution by country=== |
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====United States==== |
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In addition to English, most Amish speak a distinctive [[German dialect]] called [[Pennsylvania German language|Pennsylvania German]] or Pennsylvania Dutch, which they call ''Deitsch'' ("German"). <!-- NOTE: "Deitsch" is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch". --> Pennsylvania German is derived from [[Palatinate German]] of the eighteenth century along with words borrowed from English.<ref>Smith, p. 511.</ref> The English term "Dutch" originally referred to all forms of the German language, whose own name for itself is ''Deutsch''. Deitsch <!-- NOTE: this is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch" -->is distinct from [[Plautdietsch]] and [[Hutterite German]] dialects spoken by other Anabaptist groups. |
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{{See also|List of U.S. states by Amish population|Amish in Ohio|Amish in Maryland}} |
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{| class="wikitable sortable floatleft" |
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|+ Amish population by U.S. state and year |
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! data-sort-type="text" | State |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 1992 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2000 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2010 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2020 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2023 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Pennsylvania || 32,710 || 44,620 || 59,350 || 81,500 || 89,765 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Ohio || 34,830 || 48,545 || 58,590 || 78,280 || 84,065 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Indiana || 23,400 || 32,840 || 43,710 || 59,305 || 63,645 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Wisconsin || 6,785 || 9,390 || 15,360 || 22,235 || 24,920 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | New York || 4,050 || 4,505 || 12,015 || 21,230 || 23,285 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Michigan || 5,150 || 8,495 || 11,350 || 16,525 || 18,445 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Missouri || 3,745 || 5,480 || 9,475 || 14,520 || 16,690 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Kentucky || 2,625 || 4,850 || 7,750 || 13,595 || 15,450 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Iowa || 3,525 || 4,445 || 7,190 || 9,780 || 9,930 |
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|} |
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The United States is the home to the overwhelming majority (98 percent) of the Amish people. In 2023, Old Order communities were present in 32 U.S. states. The total Amish population in the United States {{as of|2023|June|lc=y}} has stood at 377,300<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023" /> up 9,975 or 2.7 percent, compared to the previous year. Pennsylvania has the largest population (89 thousand), followed by Ohio (84 thousand) and Indiana (63.6 thousand), {{as of|2023|June|lc=y}}.<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2022">{{Cite web |url=https://amishamerica.com/amish-population-2022-new-mexico/#maincontent |title=Amish Population 2022: Amish Call New Mexico Home |date=July 29, 2022 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-date= |archive-url= }}</ref> The largest Amish settlements are in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster County]] in southeastern Pennsylvania (43,400), [[Holmes County, Ohio|Holmes County]] and adjacent counties in northeastern Ohio (39,525), and [[Elkhart County, Indiana|Elkhart]] and [[LaGrange County, Indiana|LaGrange]] counties in northeastern Indiana (28,275), {{as of|2023|June|lc=y}}.<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023" /> The highest concentration of Amish in the world is in the Holmes County community; nearly 50 percent of the entire population of Holmes County is Amish as of 2010.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurst |first=Charles E. |title=An Amish paradox : diversity & change in the world's largest Amish community |date=2010 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |others=McConnell, David L. |isbn=978-0801893995 |location=Baltimore |oclc=647908343}}</ref> |
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Now limited primarily to the Amish and [[Old Order Mennonite]]s, Pennsylvania German was originally spoken by many [[German-American]] immigrants in Pennsylvania, especially 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 in-group language of discourse. There are small dialectal variations between communities, such as Lancaster County and Indiana speech varieties. The Amish are aware of regional variation, and occasionally experience difficulty in understanding speakers from outside their own area. |
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[[File:Amish_SettlementsMap_PA.png|thumb|350px|Amish settlements in Pennsylvania, the state with the largest Amish population, 2022]] |
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===Clothing=== |
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[[Image:Lancaster County Amish 02.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Amish girls in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]].]] |
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[[Hook-and-eye closure]]s or [[Pin (device)|straight pins]] are used as fasteners on dress clothing. [[Snap fastener|Snaps]] are used on everyday clothes, and [[button]]s for work shirts and trousers. The historic restriction on buttons is attributed to tradition and their potential for ostentation.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp. 66-70.</ref> 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 and polka-dots are not allowed in Amish dress. |
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The largest concentration of Amish west of the [[Mississippi River]] is in Missouri, with other settlements in eastern Iowa and [[southeast Minnesota]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_by_State_2009.asp |title=Amish Population by State |year=2009 |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College |access-date=February 4, 2012 |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119100112/http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Population_by_State_2009.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> The largest Amish settlements in Iowa are located near [[Kalona, Iowa|Kalona]] and [[Bloomfield, Iowa|Bloomfield]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://amishamerica.com/iowa-amish/ |title=Iowa Amish |website=amishamerica.com |date=October 12, 2010 |access-date=September 18, 2015 |archive-date=October 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013234421/http://amishamerica.com/iowa-amish/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The largest settlement in Wisconsin is near [[Cashton, Wisconsin|Cashton]] with 13 congregations, i.e. about 2,000 people in 2009.<ref>[http://amishamerica.com/wisconsin-amish/#cashton "Wisconsin Amish: Cashton"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123813/https://amishamerica.com/wisconsin-amish/#cashton |date=April 28, 2021 }} at amishamerica.com.</ref> |
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Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color, such as blue. Aprons are often worn at home, usually in white or black, and are always worn when attending church. A cape, which consists of a triangular piece of cloth, is usually worn, beginning around the teenage years, and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woolen cloak is worn. 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. Girls wear colored bonnets until age nine; older girls and women wear black bonnets.<ref>Kraybill (2001) p. 62.</ref> Girls begin wearing a cape for church and dress up occasions at about age eight. Single women wear a white cape to church until about the age of thirty. Everyday capes are colored, matching the dress, until about age forty when only black is used.<ref>Kraybill (2001) p. 61.</ref> |
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Because of the rapid population growth of the Amish communities, new settlements in the United States are being established each year, thus: 18 new settlements were established in 2016, 24 in 2017, 18 in 2018, 27 in 2019, 26 in 2020, 19 in 2021, 15 in 2022 and 10 by June 2023.<ref>[http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2021/08/Amish-Pop-2021_by-state-and-county.pdf Amish Population in the United States and Canada by State and County, September 18, 2021 by Edsel Burdge, Jr., Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College.]</ref><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2020" /><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2022" /><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023" /> The main reason for the continuous expansion is to obtain enough affordable farmland, other reasons for new settlements include locating in isolated areas that support their lifestyle, moving to areas with cultures conducive to their way of life, maintaining proximity to family or other Amish groups, and sometimes to resolve church or leadership conflicts.<ref name="Trends" /> |
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Men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, [[suspenders]], broad-rimmed [[straw hat]]s in the warmer months, and black felt hats in the colder months. Married men and those over forty grow a [[beard]]. [[Moustache]]s are not allowed, because they are associated with European military officers.<ref>Kraybill (2001), pp 63-65.</ref> A beard serves the same symbolic function as a wedding ring and marks the passage into manhood. |
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The adjacent table shows the eight states with the largest Amish population in the years 1992, 2000, 2010, 2020 and 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2015/08/Population_Change_1992-2013.pdf/ |title=Amish Population Change 1992–2013 (Alphabetical Order) |website=Population Trends 1992–2013. 21-Year Highlights |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306140703/https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2015/08/Population_Change_1992-2013.pdf |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |access-date=September 5, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Kraybill|2001}}<ref>[http://www.rcms2010.org/ ''2010 U.S. Religion Census''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822073845/http://www.rcms2010.org/ |date=August 22, 2014 }}, official website.</ref><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2000-2021">{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/files/2021/08/Population_Change_2000-2021.pdf |title=Amish Population Change, 2000-2021 |date=August 12, 2021 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=March 19, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2020" /><ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023" /> |
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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 <!-- NOTE: this is the correct spelling for the Amish dialect; please DO NOT "correct" it to "Deutsch" -->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. |
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== |
====Canada==== |
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{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" |
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Amish populations have higher incidences of particular [[genetic disorder]]s, including [[dwarfism]] ([[Ellis-van Creveld syndrome]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v24/n3/full/ng0300_203.html|title=Ellis-van Creveld syndrome and the Amish|publisher=[[Nature Genetics]]|year=2000|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> various [[metabolic disorders]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/104542765/abstract|title=Pediatric medicine and the genetic disorders of the Amish and Mennonite people of Pennsylvania|publisher=[[American Journal of Medical Genetics]]|date=[[2003-06-27]]|quote=Regional hospitals and midwives routinely send whole-blood filter paper neonatal screens for tandem mass spectrometry and other modern analytical methods to detect 14 of the metabolic disorders found in these populations...|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> and unusual distribution of blood-types.<ref>Hostetler, p. 330.</ref> Amish represent a collection of different [[deme (biology)|demes]] or genetically-closed communities.<ref>Hostetler, p. 328.</ref> Since almost all Amish descend from about 200 18th century founders, genetic disorders from inbreeding exist in more isolated districts. Some of these disorders are quite rare, or unique, and are serious enough to increase the mortality rate among Amish children. The majority of Amish accept these as "Gottes Wille" (God's will); they reject use of preventive genetic tests prior to marriage and genetic testing of unborn children to discover genetic disorder. Amish are willing to participate in studies of genetics diseases. Their extensive family histories are useful to researchers investigating diseases such as [[Alzheimer's]], [[Parkinson's]], and [[macular degeneration]]. |
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|+ Amish population by Canadian province and year |
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|- |
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! data-sort-type="text" | Canada |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 1992 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2010 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2020 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2023 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | All of Canada || 2,295 || 4,725 || 5,995 || 6,100 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Ontario || 2,295|| 4,725 || 5,605 || 5,645 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Prince Edward Isl. || 0 || 0 || 250 || 280 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | New Brunswick || 0 || 0 || 70 || 95 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Manitoba || 0 || 0 || 70 || 80 |
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|- |
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|} |
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Amish settlements are in four Canadian provinces: Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and New Brunswick. The majority of Old Order settlements is located in the province of Ontario, namely [[Oxford County, Ontario|Oxford]] ([[Norwich Township, Ontario|Norwich Township]]) and [[Norfolk County, Ontario|Norfolk]] Counties. A small community is also established in [[Bruce County, Ontario|Bruce County]] ([[Huron-Kinloss|Huron-Kinloss Township]]) near [[Lucknow, Ontario|Lucknow]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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In 2016, several dozen Old Order Amish families founded two new settlements in [[Kings County, Prince Edward Island|Kings County]] in the province of Prince Edward Island. Increasing land prices in Ontario had reportedly limited the ability of members in those communities to purchase new farms.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/amish-scout-new-community-in-p-e-i-1.2802434 |title=Amish scout new community in P.E.I. |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=September 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912145659/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/amish-scout-new-community-in-p-e-i-1.2802434 |url-status=live }}</ref> At about the same time a new settlement was founded near [[Perth-Andover]] in New Brunswick, only about {{convert|12|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Amish settlements in Maine. In 2017, an Amish settlement was founded in Manitoba near [[Stuartburn, Manitoba|Stuartburn]].<ref>[http://amishamerica.com/amish-moving-to-fourth-canadian-province/ ''Amish Moving To Fourth Canadian Province''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006194623/http://amishamerica.com/amish-moving-to-fourth-canadian-province/ |date=October 6, 2018 }} at amishamerica.com.</ref> |
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Amish are conscious of the advantages of [[exogamy]]. A common bloodline in one community will often be absent in another, and genetic disorders can be avoided by choosing spouses from unrelated communities. For example, the founding families of the Lancaster County Amish are unrelated to the founders of the [[Perth County, Ontario]] Amish community. |
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====Latin America==== |
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Amish do not carry private commercial health insurance. About two-thirds of the Amish in Lancaster County participate in Church Aid, an informal self-insurance plan for helping members with catastrophic medical expenses.<ref>{{cite web |
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{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" |
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|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501360.html |
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|+ Amish population by South American country and year |
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|title=Amish Reluctantly Accept Donations |
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|- |
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|last=Rubinkam |
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! data-sort-type="text" | Country |
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|first=Michael |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2010 |
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|publisher=The Washington Post |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2020 |
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|date=October 5, 2006 |
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! data-sort-type="number" | 2023 |
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|accessdate=2008-03-25 |
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|- |
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}}</ref> A handful of American [[hospital]]s, starting in the mid-1990s, created special outreach programs to assist the Amish. The first of these programs was instituted at the Susquehanna Health System in central Pennsylvania by James Huebert. This program has earned national media attention in the United States, and has spread to several surrounding hospitals.<ref>[http://www.dailyitem.com/archive/2004/0618/local/stories/04local.htm The Daily Item — Doctors make house calls in barn]</ref><ref>[http://www.imt.ie/lifestyle/2007/08/a_culture_vastly_different_fro.html]The Irish Medical Times. A culture vastly different from the rest of America</ref> Treating genetic problems is the mission of [[Clinic for Special Children]] in [[Strasburg, Pennsylvania]], which has developed effective treatments for such problems as [[maple syrup urine disease]], a previously fatal disease. The clinic is embraced by most Amish, ending the need for parents to leave the community to receive proper care for their children, an action that might result in shunning. |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Bolivia || 0 || 160 || 190 |
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|- |
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| style="text-align: left;" | Argentina || 0 || 50 || 0 |
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|} |
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There are currently two Amish settlements in South American nations: Argentina and Bolivia. The majority of Old Order settlements are located in Bolivia. The first attempt by Old Order Amish to settle in Latin America was in Paradise Valley, near [[Galeana, Nuevo León]], Mexico, but the settlement lasted from only 1923 to 1929.{{Sfn | Nolt | 1992 | p = }} An Amish settlement was tried in Honduras from about 1968 to 1978, but this settlement failed too.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=Cory|last2=Anderson|first2=Jennifer|year=2016|title=The Amish Settlement in Honduras, 1968–1978|url=https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/amishstudies/vol4/iss1/2|journal=Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies|volume=4|issue=1|pages=1–50|doi=10.18061/1811/78020|doi-access=free|hdl=1811/78020|hdl-access=free |issn = 2471-6383}}</ref> In 2015, new settlements of New Order Amish were founded east of [[San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca|Catamarca]], Argentina, and Colonia Naranjita, Bolivia, about {{convert|75|miles}} southwest of [[Santa Cruz de la Sierra|Santa Cruz]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://amishamerica.com/2016-amish-population/ |title=2016 Amish Population: Two New Settlements In South America |website=Amishamerica.com |date=June 27, 2016 |access-date=December 28, 2017}}</ref> Most of the members of these new communities come from [[Old Colony Mennonite]] background and have been living in the area for several decades.<ref name="Amish Population Profile, 2018">[https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-2018/ ''Amish Population Profile, 2018''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205121144/http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-2018/ |date=February 5, 2019 }} at Amish Studies – The Young Center.</ref> |
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====Europe==== |
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DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children, located in [[Middlefield, Ohio]], has been treating special-needs children with inherited or metabolic disorders since May 2002.<ref>[http://ddcclinic.org DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children]</ref> The DDC Clinic provides treatment, research, and educational services to Amish and non-Amish children and their families. |
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In Europe, no split occurred between Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites; like the Amish Mennonites in North America, the European Amish assimilated into the Mennonite mainstream during the second half of the 19th century through the first decades of the 20th century. Eventually, they dropped the word "Amish" from the names of their congregations and lost their Amish identity and culture. The last European Amish congregation joined the Mennonites in 1937 in Ixheim, today part of [[Zweibrücken]] in the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate region]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ixheim_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany) |title=Ixheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany) |website=Gameo.org |publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=August 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802144031/http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Ixheim_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany) |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Seekers and joiners== |
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Although not forbidden or thought of as immoral, most Amish do not practice any form of [[birth control]], hence their large families. They are against abortion and also find "artificial insemination, genetics, eugenics, and stem cell research" to be "inconsistent with Amish values and beliefs".<ref>{{cite book|title=Transcultural concepts in nursing care | author=Margaret M. Andrews and Joyceen S. Boyle | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Tq-rL8VcQBQC&pg=PA455&lpg=PA455&dq=abortion+amish&source=web&ots=bNuZh0TJLU&sig=iNvLbTsuyFfhqMI1_1ebdPDbbxQ | publisher=Lippincott | date=2002 | accessdate=2008-01-19}}</ref> |
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{{main|Seeker (Anabaptism)}} |
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Only a few hundred outsiders, so-called seekers, have ever joined the Old Order Amish.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Cory|date=March 1, 2016|title=Religious Seekers' Attraction to the Plain Mennonites and Amish|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-015-0222-5|journal=Review of Religious Research|language=en|volume=58|issue=1|pages=125–147|doi=10.1007/s13644-015-0222-5|s2cid=142046764|issn=2211-4866|access-date=February 17, 2021|archive-date=April 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123828/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13644-015-0222-5|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 1950, only some 75 non-Anabaptist people have joined and remained lifelong members of the Amish.<ref name="Donald B. Kraybill 2013, page 159">Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. ''The Amish''. Baltimore: 2013, p. 159.</ref> Since 1990, some twenty people of [[Russian Mennonite]] background have joined the Amish in [[Aylmer, Ontario]].<ref name="Donald B. Kraybill 2013">Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. ''The Amish''. Baltimore: 2013, pp. 160f.</ref> |
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''People's Helpers'' is an Amish-organized network of mental health caregivers who help families dealing with mental illness and recommend professional counselors.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 105.</ref> Suicide rates for the Amish of Lancaster County were 5.5 per 100,000 in 1980, about half that of the general population and a third the rate of the non-religious population.<ref>The overall suicide rate in 1980 in the USA was 12.5 per 100,000. Kraybill et al. "Suicide Patterns in a Religious Subculture: The Old Order Amish," International Journal of Moral and Social Studies 1 (Autumn 1986).</ref> |
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Two whole Christian communities have joined the Amish: The church at [[Smyrna, Maine]], one of the five [[Christian Communities (Elmo Stoll)|Christian Communities]] of [[Elmo Stoll]] after Stoll's death<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Waldrep |first=G. C. |author-link=G. C. Waldrep |year=2008 |title=The New Order Amish And Para-Amish Groups: Spiritual Renewal Within Tradition |journal=Mennonite Quarterly Review |volume=3 |page=420}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/peterhoover-real-anabaptists-4.html |title=Radical Anabaptists Today – Part 4 |last=Hoover |first=Peter |website=Scrollpublishing.com |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228232654/http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/peterhoover-real-anabaptists-4.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the church at [[Manton, Michigan]], which belonged to a community that was founded by Harry Wanner (1935–2012), a minister of [[Stauffer Mennonite|Stauffer Old Order Mennonite]] background.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Waldrep |first=G. C. |author-link=G. C. Waldrep |year=2008 |title=The New Order Amish And Para-Amish Groups: Spiritual Renewal Within Tradition |journal=Mennonite Quarterly Review |volume=3 |page=416}}</ref> The "[[Michigan Amish Churches]]", with which Smyrna and Manton affiliated, are said to be more open to seekers and converts than other Amish churches. Most of the members of these two para-Amish communities originally came from [[Plain people|Plain churches]], i.e. Old Order Amish, [[Old Order Mennonite]], or [[Old German Baptist Brethren]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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==Education== |
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[[Image:Amish schoolhouse.jpg|left|thumb|230px|Amish schoolhouse in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]] in 1941.]] |
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[[Image:Amish On the way to school by Gadjoboy2.jpg|thumb|Amish schoolchildren]] |
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More people have tested Old Order Amish life for weeks, months, or even years, but in the end decided not to join. Others remain close to the Amish, but never think of joining.<ref name="Donald B. Kraybill 2013, page 159" /> |
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The Amish do not educate their children past the [[eighth grade]], believing that the basic knowledge offered up to that point is sufficient to prepare one for the Amish lifestyle.<ref>{{cite web |
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|url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED455996&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED455996 |
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|title=Amish Schools in the United States and Canada — ''Abstract'' |
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|last=Dewalt |
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|first=Mark W |
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|publisher=Education Resources Information Center |
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|date=April 10, 2001 |
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |
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|url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED354492&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED354492 |
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|title=Reading in Old Order Amish Schools — ''Abstract'' |
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|last=Ediger |
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|first=Marlow |
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|publisher=Education Resources Information Center |
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|date=1992 |
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}}</ref> |
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Almost no Amish go to [[high school]], much less to [[college]]. In many communities, the Amish operate their own schools, which are typically [[one-room schoolhouse]]s with teachers (young unmarried women) from the Amish community. These schools provide education in many crafts, and are therefore eligible as vocational education, fulfilling the nationwide requirement of education through the 10th grade or its equivalent. There are Amish children who go to non-Amish public schools, even schools that are far away and that include a very small Amish population. For instance, there have been some Amish children who have attended Leesburg Elementary School in [[Leesburg, Indiana]] (about {{convert|12|mi|km}} 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 the eighth grade. This is often handled by having the children repeat the 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, word usage, and arithmetic. They performed below the national average, however, in vocabulary.<ref>Hostetler, p. 188.</ref> |
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On the other hand, the [[Beachy Amish]], many of whom conduct their services in English and allow for a limited range of modern conveniences, regularly receive seekers into their churches as visitors, and eventually, as members.<ref name="Huber2019">{{cite web |last1=Huber |first1=Tim |title=Far-flung outposts translate Plain life |url=https://anabaptistworld.org/far-flung-outposts-translate-plain-life/ |publisher=Anabaptist World |access-date=22 May 2021 |language=English |date=30 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Beachy2021">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions |url=http://www.beachyam.org/FAQs.htm |publisher=BeachyAM |access-date=22 May 2021 |language=English}}</ref> |
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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 this, finding that the benefits of universal education do not justify a violation of the [[Free Exercise Clause]] of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]. |
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[[Stephen Scott (writer)|Stephen Scott]], himself a convert to the [[Old Order River Brethren]], distinguishes four types of seekers: |
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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 one of the most active scholars studying the Amish today. |
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* ''Checklist seekers'' are looking for a few certain specifications. |
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* ''Cultural seekers'' are more enchanted with the lifestyle of the Amish than with their religion. |
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* ''Spiritual utopian seekers'' are looking for true [[New Testament]] Christianity. |
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* ''Stability seekers'' come with emotional issues, often from [[dysfunctional family|dysfunctional families]].<ref name="Donald B. Kraybill 2013" /> |
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Various congregations belonging to Old Order Anabaptism and Conservative Anabaptism lend support to Christian Aid Ministries, a missionary arm of these movements, along with Iron Curtain and Freiheit Messengers Prison Ministry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hurst |first1=Charles E. |last2=McConnell |first2=David L. |title=An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community |date=5 April 2010 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-9790-0 |language=en}}</ref> |
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==Relations with the outside world== |
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[[Image:Shipshewana-indiana-amish-buggy.jpg|thumb|250px|Amish buggy rides offered in tourist-oriented [[Shipshewana, Indiana]].]] |
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The Amish feel the pressures of the modern world. [[Child labor laws in the United States|Child labor laws]], for example, are seriously threatening their long-established ways of life. Amish children are taught at an early age to work hard. Parents will supervise the children in new tasks, to ensure that they learn to do them effectively and safely. The modern [[child labor laws]] conflict with allowing the Amish parents to decide whether their children are competent to perform hazardous tasks.{{Fact|date=September 2008}} |
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==Health== |
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Contrary to popular belief, some of the Amish vote, and they have been courted by national parties as potential [[swing vote]]rs: 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.{{Fact|date=September 2008}} |
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{{main|Health among the Amish}} |
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[[File:Amish farm morristown new york.jpg|thumb|alt=An Amish woman and three children, on a path to a house and six wooden farm buildings, past some farm equipment|Amish farm near Morristown, New York]] |
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[[File:Sharing the Load - Amish Healthcare Financing.pdf|alt=|thumb|right|A 2016 study on Amish community funding for health care]] |
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Amish populations have higher incidences of particular conditions, including [[dwarfism]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McKusick |first=Victor A |year=2000 |title=Ellis-van Creveld syndrome and the Amish |journal=[[Nature Genetics]] |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=203–204 |doi=10.1038/73389 |pmid=10700162|s2cid=1418080 }}</ref> [[Angelman syndrome]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harlalka |first=GV |year=2013 |title=Mutation of HERC2 causes developmental delay with Angelman-like features |url=http://jmg.bmj.com/content/early/2012/12/13/jmedgenet-2012-101367 |journal=Journal of Medical Genetics |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=65–73 |doi=10.1136/jmedgenet-2012-101367 |pmid=23243086 |s2cid=206997462 |access-date=November 3, 2014 |archive-date=November 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103170627/http://jmg.bmj.com/content/early/2012/12/13/jmedgenet-2012-101367 |url-status=live }}</ref> and various [[metabolic disorders]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Morton |first1=D. Holmes |last2=Morton |first2=Caroline S. |last3=Strauss |first3=Kevin A. |last4=Robinson |first4=Donna L. |last5=Puffenberger |first5=Erik G |last6=Hendrickson |first6=Christine |last7=Kelley |first7=Richard I. |date=June 27, 2003 |title=Pediatric medicine and the genetic disorders of the Amish and Mennonite people of Pennsylvania |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/104542765/abstract |url-status=dead |journal=[[American Journal of Medical Genetics]] |volume=121C |issue=1 |pages=5–17 |doi=10.1002/ajmg.c.20002 |pmid=12888982 |s2cid=25532297 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105052615/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/104542765/abstract |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |access-date=July 2, 2008 |quote=Regional hospitals and midwives routinely send whole-blood filter-paper neonatal screens for tandem mass spectrometry and other modern analytical methods to detect 14 of the metabolic disorders found in these populations...}}</ref> as well as an unusual distribution of blood types.{{Sfn | Hostetler | 1993 | p = 330}}{{Explain|reason=Unusual in what way?|date=September 2023}} The Amish represent a collection of different [[deme (biology)|demes]] or genetically closed communities.{{Sfn | Hostetler | 1993 | p = 328}} Although the Amish do not have higher [[Incidence (epidemiology)|incidence]] of genetic disorders than the general population,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Nolt |first=Steven M. |title=The Amish: A Concise Introduction |date=2016 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1421419565 |location=Baltimore |page=1-21, 106}}</ref> since almost all Amish descend from a few hundred 18th-century founders, some recessive conditions are more [[Prevalence|prevalent]] (an example of the [[founder effect]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crowley|first=William K.|year=1978|title=Old Order Amish Settlement: Diffusion and Growth|journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers|volume=68|issue=2|page=251|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1978.tb01194.x|jstor=2562217|issn=0004-5608}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Landing|first=James E.|date=July 1969|title=Geographic Models of Older Order Amish Settlements|journal=The Professional Geographer|volume=21|issue=4|page=238|doi=10.1111/j.0033-0124.1969.00238.x|issn=0033-0124}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Francomano|first1=Clair A.|last2=McKusick|first2=Victor A.|last3=Biesecker|first3=Leslie G.|date=August 15, 2003|title=Medical genetic studies in the Amish: Historical perspective|journal=American Journal of Medical Genetics|volume=121C|issue=1|pages=1–4|doi=10.1002/ajmg.c.20001|pmid=12888981|s2cid=7688595|issn=0148-7299}}</ref> Some of these disorders are rare or unique, and are serious enough to increase the mortality rate among Amish children. The Amish are aware of the advantages of [[exogamy]], but for religious reasons, marry only within their communities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/2004/07/23/sids.php |title=Genomics in Amish Country |last=Ruder |first=Katherine 'Kate' |date=July 23, 2004 |publisher=Genome News Network |access-date=July 2, 2009 |archive-date=January 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110190716/http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/2004/07/23/sids.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The majority of Amish accept these as {{lang|pdc|Gottes Wille}} (God's will); they reject the use of preventive genetic tests prior to marriage and [[genetic testing]] of unborn children to discover genetic disorders. When children are born with a disorder, they are accepted into the community and tasked with chores within their ability.<ref name="Birthing">{{Cite journal |last=Showalter|first=Anita |year=2000 |title=Birthing among the Amish |journal=International Journal of Childbirth Education |volume=15 |pages=10}}</ref> However, Amish are willing to participate in studies of genetic diseases.<ref name=":0" /> Their extensive family histories are useful to researchers investigating diseases such as [[Alzheimer's]], [[Parkinson's]], and [[macular degeneration]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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While the Amish are at an increased risk for some genetic disorders, researchers have found their tendency for clean living can lead to better health. Overall cancer rates in the Amish are reduced and tobacco-related cancers in Amish adults are 37 percent and non-tobacco-related cancers are 72 percent of the rate for Ohio adults. Skin cancer rates are lower for Amish, even though many Amish make their living working outdoors where they are exposed to sunlight. They are typically covered and dressed by wearing wide-brimmed hats and long sleeves which protect their skin.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.internalmedicine.osu.edu/genetics/article.cfm?id=5307 |title=Amish Have Lower Rates of Cancer, Ohio State Study Shows |date=January 1, 2010 |publisher=[[Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center|Ohio State University Medical Center]] |location=Columbus, OH |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616103822/http://www.internalmedicine.osu.edu/genetics/article.cfm?id=5307 |archive-date=June 16, 2010 |access-date=January 6, 2010}}</ref> |
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They are [[nonresistance|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 [[Northkill Amish Settlement|Jacob Hochstetler (1704-1775)]] that his sons stop shooting at hostile Indians, who proceeded to kill some of the family and take others captive.<ref>Nolt, pp. 66-67</ref> During World War I two young men held at [[Fort Leavenworth]], known for its brutality against conscientious objectors,<ref>Two [[Hutterite]]s were tortured to death at Leavenworth.</ref> refused to wear prison uniforms because of the buttons. They were tortured by the guards — held under cold showers until completely chilled, knocked down to the cement floor and dragged by their hair and ears — until they relented and put on the uniforms.<ref>Smith, p. 545.</ref> During World War II the Amish entered [[Civilian Public Service]]. |
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Treating genetic problems is the mission of [[Clinic for Special Children]] in [[Strasburg, Pennsylvania]], which has developed effective treatments for such problems as [[maple syrup urine disease]], a previously fatal disease. The clinic is embraced by most Amish, ending the need for parents to leave the community to receive proper care for their children, an action that might result in shunning. Another clinic is DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children, located in [[Middlefield, Ohio]], for special-needs children with inherited or metabolic disorders.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ddcclinic.org/ |title=DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children |date=October 7, 2011 |access-date=November 25, 2011 }}</ref> The DDC Clinic provides treatment, research, and educational services to Amish and non-Amish children and their families.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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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. |
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[[Image:Nappanee-indiana-amish-acres.jpg|thumb|250px|Amish Acres, an Amish crafts and tourist attraction in [[Nappanee, Indiana]].]] |
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People's Helpers is an Amish-organized network of mental health caregivers who help families dealing with mental illness and recommend professional counselors.{{Sfn | Kraybill | 2001 | p = 105}} Suicide rates for the Amish are about half that of the general population.{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|The overall suicide rate in 1980 in the US was 12.5 per 100,000.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kraybill |title=Suicide Patterns in a Religious Subculture: The Old Order Amish |date=Autumn 1986 |work=International Journal of Moral and Social Studies |volume=1 |others=et al}}</ref>}} |
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In 1961, the United States [[Internal Revenue Service]] announced that since the Amish refuse [[Social Security (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.<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00001402----000-.html U.S. Code collection]</ref> Self-employed individuals in certain sects do not pay into, nor receive benefits from, United States Social Security, nor do their similarly-exempt employees. [[Tax forms in the United States|Internal Revenue Service form 4029]] grants this exemption to members of a religious group that is conscientiously opposed to accepting benefits of any private or public insurance, provides a reasonable level of living for its dependent members and has existed continuously since December 31, 1950.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4029.pdf|title= Application for Exemption From Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits|publisher=[[Internal Revenue Service]]|year=2006|accessdate=2008-07-02}}</ref> A visible sign of the care Amish provide for the elderly is the smaller ''Grossdaadi Heiser'' or ''Daadiheiser'' ("grandfather house"), often built near the main dwelling. Amish employees of non-Amish employers are taxed, but they do not apply for benefits.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 279.</ref> Aside from Social Security and [[workers' compensation]], American Amish pay all required [[tax]]es.<ref>Kraybill (2001), p. 273.</ref> |
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The Old Order Amish do not typically carry private commercial health insurance.<ref name="Post">{{Cite news |last=Rubinkam |first=Michael |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501360.html |title=Amish Reluctantly Accept Donations |date=October 5, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 25, 2008 |archive-date=September 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927020542/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501360.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Beliefs.asp |title=Amish Studies – Beliefs |publisher=Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College |access-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-date=February 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212110331/http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Beliefs.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> A handful of American hospitals, starting in the mid-1990s, created special outreach programs to assist the Amish. In some Amish communities, the church will collect money from its members to help pay for medical bills of other members.<ref name="Birthing" /> Although the Amish are often perceived by outsiders as rejecting all modern technologies, this is not the case and modern medicine is employed by Amish communities, including hospital births and other advanced treatments. As they go without health insurance and pay up front for services, Amish individuals will often travel to Mexico for non-urgent care and surgery to reduce costs.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Millman|first=Joel|date=February 21, 2006|title=How the Amish Drive Down Medical Costs|language=en-US|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114048909124578710|access-date=April 28, 2021|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216092750/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114048909124578710|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Robinson|first=Ryan|title=Amish facing passport dilemma|url=https://lancasteronline.com/news/amish-facing-passport-dilemma/article_38cad95d-9d46-57ab-84c5-5566de1cfc28.html|access-date=April 28, 2021|website=LancasterOnline|date=February 7, 2007 |language=en|archive-date=July 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730181402/http://lancasteronline.com/news/amish-facing-passport-dilemma/article_38cad95d-9d46-57ab-84c5-5566de1cfc28.html|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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The Amish have, on occasion, encountered discrimination and hostility from their neighbors. During the two 20th century [[World War]]s, 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 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|Milverton]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]], was struck in the face by a beer bottle believed to have been thrown from a passing car;<ref>[http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/lifetime/issue4/page7.htm "Amish girl hit with beer bottle"]</ref> she required thousands of dollars' worth of surgery to her face (which was paid for by an outpouring of donations from the public). |
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Most Amish clearly seem to use some form [[birth control]], a fact that generally is not discussed among the Amish, but indicated by the fact that the number of children systematically increases in correlation with the conservatism of a congregation, the more conservative, the more children. The large number of children is due to the fact that many children are appreciated by the community and not because there is no birth control.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, (2013) ''The Amish''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 157–158.</ref>{{Contradictory inline|reason=Do they use birth control, or not?|date=May 2024}} Some communities openly allow access to birth control to women whose health would be compromised by childbirth.<ref name="Birthing" /> The Amish are against abortion and also find "[[artificial insemination]], genetics, [[eugenics]], and [[stem cell research]]" to be "inconsistent with Amish values and beliefs".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=Margaret M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tq-rL8VcQBQC&q=abortion+amish&pg=PA455 |title=Transcultural concepts in nursing care |last2=Boyle |first2=Joyceen S. |journal=Journal of Transcultural Nursing |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=178–180 |publisher=Lippincott |year=2002 |isbn=978-0781736800 |access-date=January 19, 2008 |pmid=12113145 |doi=10.1177/10459602013003002 |s2cid=201377433 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123823/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tq-rL8VcQBQC&q=abortion+amish&pg=PA455 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Portrayal in popular entertainment== |
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===Film=== |
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[[Peter Weir]]'s 1985 acclaimed drama ''[[Witness (1985 film)|Witness]]'' is set and filmed in the Amish community of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The story focuses on the interaction and culture clash of an Amish family with a Philadelphia detective ([[Harrison Ford]]) hiding among them while he investigates a murder that an Amish boy witnessed. The film won an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for screenwriting, and it was nominated for several other [[Academy Award]]s. ''Harvest of Fire'' is a 1996 [[Hallmark Hall of Fame]] made-for-TV movie about an FBI agent's investigation of cases of suspected arson in an Amish farming community, and the relationship she develops with an Amish woman who helps her to uncover the truth. The 2002 documentary ''[[Devil's Playground (film)|Devil's Playground]]'' follows a group of Amish teenagers during [[rumspringa]], and it portrays their personal dilemma with both the 'English' world and the decision on whether or not to be baptized as adult members of the church. |
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==Life in the modern world== |
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Some comic movie portrayals of the Amish include [[Randy Quaid]]’s Amish character "Ishmael Boorg" in ''[[Kingpin (film)|Kingpin]],'' directed by the [[Farrelly brothers]] in 1996, and the 1997 ''[[For Richer or Poorer]]'', starring [[Tim Allen]] and [[Kirstie Alley]], also about city folk hiding among the Amish. [[Rob Reiner]]'s 1994 comedy, [[North (film)|''North'']], includes a short vignette sequel to ''[[Witness (1985 film)|Witness]],'' with two of the original actors, [[Kelly McGillis]] and [[Alexander Godunov]], portraying what might have happened to their characters after the end of ''Witness.'' The 1968 comedy ''[[The Night They Raided Minsky's]]'' is the story of an Amish girl who goes to New York in the 1920s to be a dancer, and ends up as a [[burlesque]] stripper. |
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{{Main|Amish life in the modern world}} |
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[[File:Traditional Amish buggy.jpg|thumb|alt=Horsedrawn grey buggy in multilane auto traffic, with rearview mirrors, directional signals, lights, and reflectors|Traditional, [[Lancaster Amish affiliation|Lancaster]] style [[Amish buggy]]]] |
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The latest movie is "Saving Sarah Cain" based on the novel “The Redemption of Sarah Cain” by Beverly Lewis. |
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[[File:Amish School near Rebersburg PA.jpg|thumb|Amish school near [[Rebersburg, Pennsylvania]]]] |
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As time has passed, the Amish have felt pressures from the modern world. Issues such as taxation, [[Amish life in the modern world#Education|education]], law and its enforcement, and occasional discrimination and hostility are areas of difficulty.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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===Literature=== |
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====Modern novels==== |
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[[Paul Levinson]]'s 1999 [[Locus Award]]-winning novel, ''[[Phil D'Amato#The Novels|The Silk Code]]'' portrays Amish farmers involved in a science-fiction mystery about biotechnology and mysterious deaths. [[Jodi Picoult]]'s 2000 novel (and 2004 TV movie) ''[[Plain Truth]],'' deals with a crime concerning the death of a newborn infant on an Amish farm. Other novels dealing with the Amish are [[Lurlene McDaniel]]'s 2002 ''The Angels Trilogy,'' and [[Beverly Lewis]]' extensive series of Amish romantic fiction. |
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The modern way of life in general has increasingly diverged from that of Amish society. On occasion, this has resulted in sporadic discrimination and hostility from their neighbors, such as throwing of stones or other objects at Amish horse-drawn carriages on the roads.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Iseman |first=David |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1uBRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5866,396113 |title=Trumbull probes attack on woman, Amish buggy |date=May 18, 1988 |work=[[The Vindicator]] |access-date=July 12, 2011 |page=1 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308211345/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1uBRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5866,396113 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-15ZAAAAIBAJ&pg=6383,209217 |title=Stone Amish |date=September 12, 1949 |work=[[Painesville Telegraph]] |access-date=July 12, 2011 |page=2 |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107170203/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-15ZAAAAIBAJ&pg=6383%2C209217 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q8Q_AAAAIBAJ&pg=2772%2C3130040 |title=State Police Arrest 25 Boys in Rural Areas |date=October 25, 1958 |work=[[The Vindicator]] |access-date=July 12, 2011 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308234531/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q8Q_AAAAIBAJ&pg=2772%2C3130040 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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====Older novels==== |
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[[Helen Reimensnyder Martin]]'s 1905 novel ''Sabina, a Story of the Amish,'' similar to her 1904 novel ''Tillie, a Mennonite Maid,'' so harshly depicted its subjects as to provoke cries of misrepresentation. [[Anna Balmer Myers]]' 1920 novel ''Patchwork; a Story of "the Plain People,"'' like her 1921 novel ''Amanda: A Daughter of the Mennonites,'' are generally regarded as gentle correctives to the work of Martin. Ruth Lininger Dobson's 1937 novel ''Straw in the Wind,'' written while a student at the [[University of Michigan]] and receiving the school's [[Hopwood Award]], so negatively depicted the Amish of Indiana that [[Joseph Yoder]] was motivated to correct the severe stereotypes with a more accurate book about the Amish way of life. In 1940, he wrote the gentler ''Rosanna of the Amish,'' a story of his mother's life (and his own). He later wrote a sequel, ''Rosanna's Boys'' (1948), as well as other books presenting and recording what he regarded as a truer picture of Amish culture. |
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The Amish do not usually educate their children past the eighth grade, believing that the basic knowledge offered up to that point is sufficient to prepare one for the Amish lifestyle. Almost no Amish go to high school and college. In many communities, the Amish operate their own schools, which are typically one-room schoolhouses with teachers (usually young, unmarried women) from the Amish community. 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]]'' (1972), the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the conviction,<ref>''Wisconsin v. Yoder'', 182 N.W.2d 539 (Wis. 1971).</ref> and the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] affirmed this, finding the benefits of universal education were not sufficient justification to overcome scrutiny under the [[Free Exercise Clause]] of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]].<ref>''Wisconsin v. Yoder'', 406 U.S. 205, 32 L.Ed.2d 15, 92 S.Ct. 1526 (1972).</ref> |
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====Children's literature==== |
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[[Marguerite de Angeli]]'s 1936 children's story ''[[Henner's Lydia]]'' portrays a tender Amish family. The author sketched many of the illustrations at the site of the [http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=40146077&x=-75948315&z=14&l=0&m=h&v=2 little red schoolhouse] still standing at the intersection of PA route 23 and Red Schoolhouse Road, just west of Morgantown, Pennsylvania. Today the building is the Amish Mennonite Information Center. The Lancaster County landscape, portrayed in the end papers of the book, can be recognized throughout the area. De Angeli's illustrations of a nearby bank barn were sketched just hours before the barn was destroyed by fire. She incorporated the incident in her 1944 [[Caldecott Medal|Caldecott Honor]] book ''Yonie Wondernose,'' a story about a curious Amish boy, younger brother to the Lydia of ''Henner's Lydia.'' |
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The Amish are subject to sales and property taxes. As they seldom own motor vehicles, they rarely have occasion to pay motor vehicle registration fees or spend money on the purchase of fuel for vehicles.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.wwmt.com/articles/rumble-1366086-joseph-0in.html |title=Rumble strips removed after the Amish say they're dangerous |date=August 20, 2009 |work=[[WWMT]] television news |access-date=November 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928092054/http://www.wwmt.com/articles/rumble-1366086-joseph-0in.html |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |quote=Dobberteen is one of a growing number of people in St. Joseph County who believes that the Amish shouldn't have a say in what happens with a state road. 'Some people are saying, "Well jeeze, you know the Amish people don't pay taxes for that, why are we filling them in" what do you think about that? We pay our taxes,' said Dobberteen. Roads are paid for largely with gas tax and vehicle registration fees, which the Amish have no reason to pay.}}</ref> Under their beliefs and traditions, generally the Amish do not agree with the idea of Social Security benefits and have a religious objection to insurance.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/amish-faq/ |title=Top Ten FAQ (about the Amish) |last=Kraybill |first=Donald |publisher=PBS/The American Experience |access-date=February 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419054904/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/amish-faq/ |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/u-s-struggles-health-reform-amish-go-their-own-way-8C11345954 |title=As U.S. struggles with health reform, the Amish go their own way |last=Kelley |first=Daniel |date=October 6, 2013 |work=NBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214175101/https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/u-s-struggles-health-reform-amish-go-their-own-way-8C11345954 |archive-date=February 14, 2020 |access-date=February 14, 2020}}</ref> On this basis, the United States [[Internal Revenue Service]] agreed in 1961 that they did not need to pay [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]-related taxes. In 1965, this policy was codified into law.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1402- |title=U.S. Code collection |publisher=[[Cornell Law School]] |access-date=September 20, 2012 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123830/https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1402 |url-status=live }}</ref> Self-employed individuals in certain sects do not pay into or receive benefits from the United States Social Security system. This exemption applies to a religious group that is conscientiously opposed to accepting benefits of any private or public insurance, provides a reasonable level of living for its dependent members, and has existed continuously since December 31, 1950.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4029.pdf |title=Application for Exemption From Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits |year=2006 |publisher=[[Internal Revenue Service]] |access-date=July 2, 2008 |archive-date=June 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630145820/http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4029.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. Supreme Court clarified in 1982 that Amish employers are not exempt, but only those Amish individuals who are self-employed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/oasi/45/SSR82-44-oasi-45.html |title=U.S. v. Lee, 102 S. Ct. 1051 (1982) |date=August 20, 2009 |access-date=November 24, 2011 |quote=On appeal, the Supreme Court noted that the exemption provided by 26 U.S.C. 1402(g) is available only to self-employed individuals and does not apply to employers or employees. As to the constitutional claim, the court held that since accommodating the Amish beliefs under the circumstances would unduly interfere with the fulfillment of the overriding governmental interest in assuring mandatory and continuous participation in and contribution to the Social Security system, the limitation on religious liberty involved here was justified. Consequently, in reversing the district court, the Supreme Court held that, unless Congress provides otherwise, the tax imposed on employers to support the Social Security system must be uniformly applicable to all.}}</ref> |
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===Theatre=== |
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The 1955 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical show, ''[[Plain and Fancy]],'' is an early stage-play portrayal of the Amish people. Set in Lancaster County, it tells of a couple from New York who encounter the quaint Amish lifestyle when they arrive to sell off some property. This show depicted "shunning" and "barn-raising" to the American audience for the first time. Another play featuring the Amish is ''[[Quiet in the Land]],'' a [[Canadian]] play concerning Amish struggles during World War I (1917-1918). |
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==Publishing== |
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In 1964, Pathway Publishers was founded by two Amish farmers to print more material about the Amish and Anabaptists in general. It is located in [[Lagrange, Indiana]], and [[Aylmer, Ontario|Aylmer]], Ontario. Pathway has become the major publisher of Amish school textbooks, general-reading books, and periodicals. Also, a number of private enterprises publish everything from general reading to reprints of older literature that has been considered of great value to Amish families.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pathway_Publishers |title=Pathway Publishers |website=Gameo.org |publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=November 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112152251/http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Pathway_Publishers |url-status=live }}</ref> Some Amish read the Pennsylvania German newspaper {{lang|pdc|[[Hiwwe wie Driwwe]]|italics=yes}}, and some of them even contribute dialect texts.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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[[NBC]] aired, in 1988, a family drama called ''[[Aaron's Way]]'' about an Amish family who moved to California and had to adjust to a non-Amish lifestyle. Numerous other TV shows have presented episodes with Amish characters or storylines. Some of them include ''[[Pinky and the Brain]],'' ''[[Arthur (TV series)]],'' ''[[Picket Fences]],'' ''[[Murder She Wrote]],'' ''[[MacGyver]],'' ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'', ''[[Tales of the Gold Monkey]]'', and ''[[Cold Case]]''.<ref>Brad Igou, "The Amish in the Media," [http://www.amishnews.com/amisharticles/amishinmedia.htm ''Amish County News''], 2001/2005</ref> In the summer of 2004, a controversial reality-television program called ''[[Amish in the City]]'' aired on [[UPN]]. Amish teenagers were exposed to non-Amish culture by living together with "English" teens, and at the time of the show, had yet to decide if they wanted to be baptized into the Amish church. The conduct of the teenagers involved would not be condoned by the majority of the Old Order Amish. A similar miniseries called ''The Outsiders'' was broadcast by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in 2008. On October 7, 2007, the [[CBS]] television show ''[[Cold Case]]'' featured an episode titled "Running Around," in which the team re-opened the 2006 case of a missing Amish girl murdered during her rumspringa journey to Philadelphia. |
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== Dog breeding == |
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Amish and [[Mennonites|Mennonite]] communities across many states have turned to [[dog breeding]] as a lucrative source of income. According to the USDA list of licensees, over 98% of Ohio's [[puppy mill]]s are run by the Amish, as are 97% of Indiana's, and 63% of Pennsylvania's.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APHIS Public Search Tool |url=https://aphis-efile.force.com/PublicSearchTool/s/inspection-reports |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=aphis-efile.force.com}}</ref> In [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster County]], Pennsylvania, there are roughly 300 licensed breeders, and an estimated further 600 unlicensed breeding facilities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Puppies 'Viewed as Livestock' in Amish Community, Says Rescue Advocate |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7187712&page=1 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> |
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[["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s 1996 parody ''[[Amish Paradise]]'' and the accompanying music video was an affectionate send-up of [[Coolio]]'s earlier hip-hop song ''[[Gangsta's Paradise]],'' with Yankovic in Amish garb, and lyrics reflecting Amish themes. |
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Reports of poor standards of care and treatment of dogs as a [[cash crop]] by members of the Amish community has led to calls for puppy mills and auctions to be closed, with one breeder being issued with a restraining order from the practice for numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. At the time the restraining order was issued, the breeder had at least 1000 dogs in their care.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kauffman |first=Clark|date=2021-10-01 |title=Citing 'shocking' actions of Iowa dog breeder, judge issues restraining order |url=https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/10/01/citing-shocking-actions-of-iowa-dog-breeder-judge-issues-restraining-order/ |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=Iowa Capital Dispatch |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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==Similar groups== |
==Similar groups== |
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Anabaptist groups that sprang from the same late 19th-century [[Old Order Movement]] as the Amish share their [[Pennsylvania Dutch|Pennsylvania German heritage]] and often still retain similar features in dress. These Old Order groups include different subgroups of [[Old Order Mennonite]]s, traditional [[Schwarzenau Brethren]] and [[Old Order River Brethren]]. The [[Noah Hoover Mennonite|Noah Hoover Old Order Mennonites]] are so similar in outward aspects to the Old Order Amish, including dress, beards, horse and buggy, [[extremism|extreme]] restrictions on modern technology, Pennsylvania German language, that they are often perceived as Amish and even called Amish.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=25261 |title=7 News Belize |website=7newsbelize.com |access-date=December 13, 2014 |archive-date=October 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015123500/http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=25261 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S72788ME.html |title=Stauffer Mennonite Church |website=Gameo.org |publisher=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-date=May 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513012434/http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S72788ME.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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{{Unreferencedsection|date=September 2008}} |
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[[Old Order Mennonite]]s, [[Hutterite]]s, and [[Old German Baptist Brethren]], are distinct from the Amish. They all emigrated from Europe, but they arrived with different dialects, separate cultures, and diverse religious traditions. |
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[[Russian Mennonites|Conservative "Russian" Mennonites]] and [[Hutterite]]s who also dress plain and speak German dialects emigrated from other European regions at different times with different German dialects, separate cultures, and related but different religious traditions.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.etown.edu/YoungCenter.aspx?topic=About+Anabaptists+and+Pietists |title=Elizabethtown College |publisher=Etown – Young Center |access-date=November 25, 2011 |archive-date=January 17, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117005305/http://www.etown.edu/centers/young-center/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Particularly, the Hutterites live communally<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277694/Hutterites |title=Hutterites |access-date=November 9, 2008 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date= |archive-date=December 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211055426/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277694/Hutterite |url-status=live }}</ref> and are generally accepting of modern technology.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/hutterites.html |title=Hutterites |last=Laverdure |first=Paul |year=2006 |publisher=Canadian Plains Research Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013223110/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/hutterites.html |archive-date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=November 9, 2008 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan}}</ref> |
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Particularly, the Hutterites live communally and do not have the same roots as other Anabaptists. Instead, they use modern farming methods, including extended and crew-cab pickup trucks for personal transportation. |
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In Ukraine there is a [[:uk:Кашкетники|nameless movement of Baptists]] that has been compared to the Amish, due to their similar beliefs of plain living and pacifism.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Romanyshyn |first1=Yuliana |title=They live like Amish, but they are not |url=https://www.kyivpost.com/article/guide/people/they-live-like-amish-but-they-are-not-400974.html |website=KyivPost |access-date=7 December 2021 |date=1 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Mash |first1=Dave |title=Living the Amish faith half way across the world… |url=https://thebargainhunter.com/news/features/living-the-amish-faith-half-way-across-the-world-ukrainian-amish-exhibit-similar-faith-choices-to-amish-mennonite-beliefs |website=The Bargain Hunter |access-date=7 December 2021 |language=en |date=7 December 2021}}</ref> |
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[[Testimony of Simplicity|Plain Quakers]] are similar in manner and lifestyle, but unrelated to the Amish. Early Quakers were influenced, to some degree, by the Anabaptists. Most modern Quakers have since abandoned their traditional dress. |
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The few remaining [[Conservative Friends|Plain Quakers]] are similar in manner and lifestyle, including their attitudes toward war, but are unrelated to the Amish.{{sfn |Hamm|2003|p=101}} Early Quakers were influenced, to some degree, by the [[Anabaptists]], and in turn influenced the Amish in colonial Pennsylvania. Almost all modern Quakers have since abandoned their traditional dress.{{sfn|Hamm|2003|pp=103–105}} |
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==Abuse controversy== |
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Several high-profile cases have centered attention of [[sexual abuse]] upon Amish children. In a few smaller isolated areas it has been called "almost a plague in some communities."<ref>[http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/feature_labi_janfeb05.msp Legal Affairs — The Gentle People]</ref> Amish Bishops and preachers mete out punishment for sins, (generally in the form of [[shunning]]). Because Amish keep discipline within the authority of the church, sexual abuse may be less-often reported to law enforcement. Since men dominate their society, women and children who have been mistreated have little recourse. In fact, they may be shunned should they seek outside help. Mary Byler was raped over a hundred times between the ages of 8 and 14 by her brothers, and then was excommunicated and shunned for reporting her abusers.<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=316371&page=1 ABC News: Sexual Abuse in the Amish Community] and [http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=189191&page=2 ABC News: Sex Abuse Case Shocks Amish Community]</ref> |
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Another young woman was repeatedly raped by her brother-in-law, who was eventually punished by being shunned for two-and-a-half months.<ref>[http://www.amishabuse.com/chapter5pg3.htm Amish Deception 1]: Learn the truth about the Swartzentruber Amish community in Ohio: Chapter 5 Page 3</ref> Some groups have also been accused of tolerating severe [[child abuse|physical abuse of children]].<ref>[http://www.amishabuse.com Amish Abuse: Amish Deception]</ref> 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 make it more difficult for victims to seek help. |
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==Relations with Native Americans== |
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The [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]] newspaper ''[[Intelligencer Journal]]'' published a four-part series on domestic abuse, child abuse, and child sexual abuse inside Amish (and Mennonite) families within the heart of Pennsylvania 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."<ref> Kraybill, D.B. and J.P. Hurd (2006). Horse-and-Buggy Mennonites: hoofbeats of humility in a postmodern world. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, p. 159-160. </ref> |
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The [[Northkill Amish Settlement]], established in 1740 in [[Berks County, Pennsylvania]], was the first identifiable Amish community in the [[New World]]. During the [[French and Indian War]], the Hochstetler Massacre occurred: Local tribes attacked the Jacob Hochstetler [[homestead (buildings)|homestead]] in the Northkill settlement on September 19, 1757. The sons of the family took their weapons but father Jacob did not allow them to shoot due to the [[Anabaptist doctrine]] of [[nonresistance]].<ref name="Long">{{cite web |last1=Long |first1=Steve |title=The Doctrine of Nonresistance |url=https://www.pilgrimministry.org/literature/the-doctrine-of-nonresistance |publisher=Pilgrim Mennonite Conference |access-date=20 May 2022 |language=English |archive-date=May 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518064655/https://www.pilgrimministry.org/literature/the-doctrine-of-nonresistance |url-status=dead }}</ref> Jacob Sr.'s wife, Anna (Lorentz) Hochstetler, a daughter (name unknown) and Jacob Jr. were killed by the Native Americans. Jacob Sr. and sons Joseph and Christian were taken captive. Jacob escaped after about eight months, but the boys were held for several years.<ref>{{cite book | last=Nolt | first=Steven M. | title=The Amish | publisher=JHU Press | date=May 2016 | isbn=978-1-4214-1956-5 | page=84}}</ref> When freed, both of these sons joined the church and one of them became a minister.<ref name="Long"/> |
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As early as 1809 Amish were farming side by side with Native American farmers in Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/amish/ |title=WGBH American Experience. The Amish |publisher=PBS |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=December 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207174633/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/amish/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Cones Kupwah Snowflower, a Shawnee genealogist, the Amish and Quakers were known to incorporate Native Americans into their families to protect them from ill-treatment, especially after the [[Indian Removal Act|Removal Act of 1832]].{{clarify|[[Indian Removal Act]]?|date=April 2017}}<ref>Cones Kupwah Snowflower in NAAH No. July 14, 1996 "Let's Get Physical"</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2017}} |
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The Amish community recently has started to address the issue of abuse awareness. The Amish publisher [[Pathway Publishing Company|Pathway Publishers]], has run several series in the magazine ''[[Family Life]]'' which touch on the subjects of sexual and physical abuse. They have also distributed, free-of-charge, resources for abused persons, and for their families. Some Amish have objected to the articles, preferring that the subject not be raised, claiming these problems exist only among the "English".<ref> Rensberger, Susan. (2003) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding the Amish. New York, Alpha Books (Penguin Group), p. 181 - 183</ref> |
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The Amish, as pacifists, did not engage in warfare with Native Americans, nor displace them directly, but were among the European immigrants whose arrival resulted in their displacement.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mcusa-archives.org/Resources/gathering--amishorshawnee.html |title=Gathering at the Hearth: Stories Mennonites Tell |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219184613/http://mcusa-archives.org/Resources/gathering--amishorshawnee.html |archive-date=December 19, 2010 |access-date=November 22, 2016}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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In 2012, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society collaborated with the Native American community to construct a replica Iroquois Longhouse.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/attempting-to-repair-the-past-an-american-indian-longhouse-exhibit-coming-to-amish-country/ |title=Attempting to Repair the Past: An American Indian Longhouse Exhibit Coming to Amish Country |date=April 29, 2012 |website=Indiancountrymedianetwork.com |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=September 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908013101/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/attempting-to-repair-the-past-an-american-indian-longhouse-exhibit-coming-to-amish-country/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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{{Portal|Christianity}} |
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* [[Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center]] |
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* [[Amish furniture]] |
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* [[Amish music]] |
* [[Amish music]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Barn raising]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Bank of Bird-in-Hand]] |
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* [[Christian views on poverty and wealth]] |
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* [[Fancy Dutch]] |
* [[Fancy Dutch]] |
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* [[ |
* [[Hutterites]] |
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* [[Amish |
* [[List of Amish and their descendants]] |
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* ''[[ |
* ''[[Martyr's Mirror]]'' |
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* [[Mennonites]] |
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* [[Neo-Luddism]] |
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* [[Shakers|Shaker]] |
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* [[Pinecraft (Sarasota)|Pinecraft]] |
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* [[Plain people]] |
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* [[West Nickel Mines School shooting]] |
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== |
==Notes== |
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{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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*{{cite book|author=Hostetler, John A.|authorlink= John A. Hostetler|title=Amish Society|edition=fourth edition|ocation=Baltimore, Maryland; London|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8018-4442-3}} |
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*{{cite book|author=Kraybill, Donald B.|authorlink=Donald Kraybill|title=Anabaptist World USA|publisher=Herald Press|year=2000|isbn=0836191633}} |
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*{{cite book|title=The Riddle of Amish Culture|author=Kraybill, Donald B.|authorlink=Donald Kraybill|edition=Revised edition|year=2001|isbn=080186772X}} |
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==Bibliography== |
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*{{cite book |last=Smith |first=C. Henry |other=Revised and expanded by Cornelius Krahn |title=Smith's Story of the Mennonites |year=1981 |publisher=Faith and Life Press |location=Newton, Kansas |id=ISBN 0-87303-069-9| pages=249-356 }} |
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{{refbegin|2}} |
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* {{cite book |last1=Hamm |first1=Thomas D. |title=The Quakers in America |date=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50893-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9y2KvxT-tgC |access-date=February 20, 2021 |language=en}} |
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* {{Citation |last=Hostetler |first=John |title=Amish Society |url=https://archive.org/details/amishsociety00host_0 |year=1993 |edition=4th |place=Baltimore, Maryland; London |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-4442-3 |author-link=John A. Hostetler}}. |
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* {{Citation |last=Kraybill |first=Donald B |title=The Amish Struggle with Modernity |page=304 |year=1994 |editor-last=Olshan |editor-first=Marc A |place=Hanover, NH |publisher=University Press of New England}}. |
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* {{Citation |last=Kraybill |first=Donald B |title=The Anabaptist Escalator |author-link=Donald Kraybill}}. |
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* {{Citation |last=Kraybill |first=Donald B |title=Anabaptist World USA |year=2001 |author-mask=3 |orig-year=2000 |publisher=Herald Press |isbn=978-0-8361-9163-9 |author-link=Donald Kraybill|ref={{sfnref|Kraybill|2000}}}}. |
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* {{Citation |last=Kraybill |first=Donald B |title=The Riddle of Amish Culture |year=2001 |publisher=JHU Press |author-mask=3 |edition=revised |isbn=978-0-8018-6772-9 |author-link=Donald Kraybill}}. |
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* {{Citation |last=Nolt |first=Steven M. |title=A History of the Amish |year=1992 |place=Intercourse |publisher=Good Books}}. |
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* {{Citation |title=Amish America |url=http://amishamerica.typepad.com/amish_america/swiss_amish/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302035944/http://amishamerica.typepad.com/amish_america/swiss_amish/ |contribution=Swiss Amish |publisher=Type pad |access-date=March 26, 2009 |archive-date=March 2, 2009 |url-status=live}}. |
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{{refend}} |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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{{main|Literature on the Amish}} |
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{{sourcesstart|2}} |
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{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}} |
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* ''Die Botschaft'' (Lancaster, PA 17608-0807; 717-392-1321). Magazine for Old Order Amish published by non-Amish; only Amish may place advertisements. |
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* ''Die Botschaft'' – Lancaster, PA – Newspaper for Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites; only Amish may place advertisements. |
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* ''The Budget'' (P.O. Box 249, Sugarcreek, OH 44681; 330-852-4634). Weekly newspaper by and for Amish. |
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* ''The Diary'' |
* ''The Diary'' – Gordonville, PA – Monthly newsmagazine by and for Old Order Amish. |
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* Beachy, Leroy (2011). ''Unser Leit ... The Story of the Amish''. Millersburg, OH: Goodly Heritage Books. {{ISBN|0-9832397-0-3}} |
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*DeWalt, Mark W. ''Amish Education in the United States and Canada''. Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2006. 224 pp. |
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* DeWalt, Mark W. (2006). ''Amish Education in the United States and Canada''. Rowman and Littlefield Education. |
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*Garret, Ottie A and Ruth Irene Garret. ''True Stories of the X-Amish: Banned, Excommunicated and Shunned'', Horse Cave, KY: Neu Leben, 1998. |
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*Garret, Ruth Irene. '' |
* Garret, Ottie A and Ruth Irene Garret (1998). ''True Stories of the X-Amish: Banned, Excommunicated and Shunned'', Horse Cave, KY: Neu Leben. |
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* Garret, Ruth Irene (1998). ''Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life'', Thomas More.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Good, Merle and Phyllis. ''20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites''. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 1979. |
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* Gehman Richard. "Plainest of Pennsylvania's Plain People Amish Folk". ''National Geographic'', August 1965, pp. 226–53. |
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*Hostetler, John A. ed. ''Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. 319 pp. |
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* Good, Merle and Phyllis (1979). ''20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites''. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. |
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* Igou, Brad. ''The Amish in Their Own Words: Amish Writings from 25 Years of Family Life'', Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1999. 400 pp. |
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* |
* Hostetler, John A. ed. (1989). ''Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* Igou, Brad (1999). ''The Amish in Their Own Words: Amish Writings from 25 Years of Family Life'', Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Keim, Albert. ''Compulsory Education and the Amish: The Right Not to be Modern''. Beacon Press, 1976. 211 pp. |
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* Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (2006). ''Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Kraybill, Donald B. ''The Amish of Lancaster County''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008. |
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* Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (2017) ''New York Amish : Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State'' (Cornell UP, 2017). |
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*Kraybill, Donald B. ed. ''The Amish and the State''. Foreword by Martin E. Marty. 2nd ed.: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. 351 pp. |
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* Keim, Albert (1976). ''Compulsory Education and the Amish: The Right Not to be Modern''. Beacon Press. |
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*Kraybill, Donald B. and Marc A. Olshan, ed. ''The Amish Struggle with Modernity''. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994. 304 pp. |
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*Kraybill, Donald B. |
* Kraybill, Donald B., Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, ''The Amish'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 500 pp. |
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* Kraybill, Donald B. "Amish." in ''Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America,'' edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 97–112. [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3273300018/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=2101fa51 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123834/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=wikipedia&id=GALE%7CCX3273300018&v=2.1&it=r&sid=GPS&asid=2101fa51 |date=April 28, 2021 }} |
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*Kraybill, Donald B. and Steven M. Nolt. ''Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits''. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. 286 pp. |
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* Kraybill, Donald B. (2008). ''The Amish of Lancaster County''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.* Kraybill, Donald B. ed. (2003). ''The Amish and the State''. Foreword by Martin E. Marty. 2nd ed.: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher. ''Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy''. New York: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 256 pp. |
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* Kraybill, Donald B. (2014). ''Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Nolt, Steven M. ''A history of the Amish''. Rev. and updated ed.: Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 2003. 379 pp. |
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* |
* Kraybill, Donald B. & Carl D. Bowman (2002). ''On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* Kraybill, Donald B. & Steven M. Nolt (2004). ''Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits''. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Schachtman, Tom. ''Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish''. New York: North Point Press, 2006. 286 pp. |
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* Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt & David L. Weaver-Zercher (2006). ''Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy''. New York: Jossey-Bass.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Schlabach, Theron F. ''Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites and Amish in Nineteenth-Century America''. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1988. 415 pp. |
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* Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt & David L. Weaver-Zercher (2010). ''The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World''. New York: Jossey-Bass.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Schmidt, Kimberly D., Diane Zimmerman Umble, and Steven D. Reschly, eds. ''Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. 416 pp. |
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* Luthy, David (1991). ''Amish Settlements That Failed, 1840–1960''. LaGrange, IN: Pathway Publishers.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Scott, Stephen. ''The Amish Wedding and Other Special Occasions of the Old Order Communities''. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 1988. 128pp. |
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* Mackall, Joe: ''Plain Secrets: An Outsider among the Amish'', Boston, Mass. 2007. |
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*Stevick, Richard A. ''Growing Up Amish: the Teenage Years''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. 320 pp. |
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* |
* Nolt, Steven M. and Thomas J. Myers (2007). ''Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* Schachtman, Tom (2006). ''Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish''. New York: North Point Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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*Umble, Diane Zimmerman and David L. Weaver-Zercher, eds. ''The Amish and the Media''. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. 288 pp. |
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* Schlabach, Theron F. (1988). ''Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites and Amish in Nineteenth-Century America''. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* Weaver-Zercher, David L. ''The Amish in the American Imagination''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. 280 pp. |
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* Schmidt, Kimberly D., Diane Zimmerman Umble, & Steven D. Reschly, eds. (2002) ''Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* [[Stephen Scott (writer)|Scott, Stephen]] (1988). ''The Amish Wedding and Other Special Occasions of the Old Order Communities''. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.{{ISBN?}} |
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* {{Citation |last1=Smith |first1=C Henry |title=Smith's Story of the Mennonites |pages=249–356 |year=1981 |edition=revised & expanded |place=Newton, Kansas |publisher=Faith and Life Press |isbn=978-0-87303-069-4 |last2=Krahn |first2=Cornelius}}. |
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* Smith, Jeff (2016). ''Becoming Amish''. Cedar, MI: Dance Hall Press{{ISBN?}} |
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* Stevick, Richard A. (2007). ''Growing Up Amish: the Teenage Years''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.{{ISBN?}} |
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* Umble, Diane Zimmerman (2000). ''Holding the Line: the Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life''. Johns Hopkins University Press. |
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* Umble, Diane Zimmerman & David L. Weaver-Zercher, eds. (2008). ''The Amish and the Media''. Johns Hopkins University Press |
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* Weaver-Zercher, David L. (2001). ''The Amish in the American Imagination''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. |
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* Yoder, Harvey (2007). ''The Happening: Nickel Mines School Tragedy''. Berlin, OH: TGS International. |
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{{refend}} |
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==External links== |
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{{sourcesend}} |
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{{commons category|Amish}} |
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* ''[https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/amishstudies/ The Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies]'' |
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* [http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Amish "Amish"] in the [[Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online]] |
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* [http://www.beachyam.org/FAQs.htm Select Affiliations in the Seven Plain Anabaptist Religious Traditions - Beachy AM] |
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* [https://amishamerica.com/ "Amish America"], a website dedicated to news and information about the Amish |
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* [http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Index.asp "Amish Studies"] at Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at [[Elizabethtown College]] |
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* [https://www.goshen.edu/mhl/ Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College] |
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* [https://lancasterpa.com/amish/amish-frequently-asked-questions/ "FAQs About the Amish"], by resident experts at the Mennonite Information Center. |
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* "The Amish in Missouri" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114000409/http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu/Amish.htm |date=November 14, 2020 }} from the Missouri Folklore Society |
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{{Amish}} |
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== External links == |
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{{Anabaptists}} |
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{{commonscat|Amish}} |
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{{Simple living}} |
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* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A4574ME.html "Amish" from Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online] |
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{{Authority control}} |
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* [http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Index.asp Amish Studies] at Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at [[Elizabethtown College]] |
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* [http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/feature_labi_janfeb05.html The Gentle People] — Legal affairs article about how [[incest]] is handled in the Amish community |
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*[http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu/Amish.htm The Amish in Missouri, from the Missouri Folkore Society] |
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Latest revision as of 20:54, 13 August 2024
An Amish family riding in a traditional Amish buggy in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania | |
Total population | |
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(2023, Old Order Amish)[1] | |
Founder | |
Jakob Ammann | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States (large populations in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania; notable populations in Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin; small populations in various other states) Canada (mainly in Ontario) | |
Religions | |
Anabaptist | |
Scriptures | |
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The Amish (/ˈɑːmɪʃ/; Pennsylvania German: Amisch; German: Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins.[2] As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination.[3][4] The Amish are closely related to Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites—denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity.[5] The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit (submission to God's will).
The Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Mennonite Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann.[6] Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.[7] In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites; the latter do not abstain from using motor cars, whereas the Old Order Amish retained much of their traditional culture. When people refer to the Amish today, they normally refer to the Old Order Amish, though there are other subgroups of Amish.[8] The Amish fall into three main subgroups—the Old Order Amish, the New Order Amish, and the Beachy Amish—all of whom wear plain dress and live their life according to the Bible as codified in their church's Ordnung.[9][10][11] The Old Order Amish and New Order Amish conduct their worship in German, speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and use buggies for transportation, in contrast to the Beachy Amish who use modern technology (inclusive of motor cars) and conduct worship in the local language of the area in which they reside.[10] Both the New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish emphasize the New Birth, evangelize to seek converts, and have Sunday Schools.[12][9]
In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Most Old Order Amish, New Order Amish and the Old Beachy Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch, but Indiana's Swiss Amish also speak Alemannic dialects.[13] As of 2023[update], over 377,000 Old Order Amish lived in the United States, and about 6,000 lived in Canada: a population that is rapidly growing.[14] Amish church groups seek to maintain a degree of separation from the non-Amish world. Non-Amish people are generally referred to as "English" by the Amish, and outside influences are often described as "worldly".
Amish church membership begins with adult baptism, usually between the ages of 16 and 23. Church districts have between 20 and 40 families, and Old Order Amish and New Order Amish worship services are held every other Sunday in a member's home or barn, while the Beachy Amish worship every Sunday in churches.[15] The rules of the church, the Ordnung, which differs to some extent between different districts, are reviewed twice a year by all members of the church. The Ordnung must be observed by every member and covers many aspects of Old Order Amish day-to-day living, including prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity, telephones, and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing. Generally, a heavy emphasis is placed on church and family relationships. The Old Order Amish typically operate their own one-room schools and discontinue formal education after grade eight (age 13 – 14). Most Amish do not buy commercial insurance or participate in Social Security. As present-day Anabaptists, Amish church members practice nonresistance and will not perform any type of military service.[16]
History
[edit]Beginnings of Anabaptist Christianity
[edit]The Anabaptist movement, from which the Amish later emerged, started in circles around Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) who led the early Reformation in Switzerland. In Zürich on January 21, 1525, Conrad Grebel and George Blaurock practiced believer's baptism to each other and then to others.[17] This Swiss movement, part of the Radical Reformation, later became known as Swiss Brethren.[18]
Emergence of the Amish
[edit]The term Amish was first used as a Schandename (a term of disgrace) in 1710 by opponents of Jakob Amman, an Anabaptist leader. The first informal division between Swiss Brethren was recorded in the 17th century between Oberländers (those living in the hills) and Emmentalers (those living in the Emmental). The Oberländers were a more extreme congregation; their zeal pushed them into more remote areas.[citation needed]
Swiss Anabaptism developed, from this point, in two parallel streams, most clearly marked by disagreement over the preferred treatment of "fallen" believers. The Emmentalers (sometimes referred to as Reistians, after bishop Hans Reist, a leader among the Emmentalers) argued that fallen believers should only be withheld from communion, and not regular meals. The Amish argued that those who had been banned should be avoided even in common meals. The Reistian side eventually formed the basis of the Swiss Mennonite Conference. Because of this common heritage, Amish and conservative Mennonites from southern Germany and Switzerland retain many similarities. Those who leave the Amish fold tend to join various congregations of Conservative Mennonites.[19][20]
Migration to North America
[edit]Amish began migrating to Pennsylvania, then-regarded favorably due to the lack of religious persecution and attractive land offers, in the early 18th century as part of a larger migration from the Palatinate and neighboring areas. Between 1717 and 1750, approximately 500 Amish migrated to North America, mainly to the region that became Berks County, Pennsylvania, but later moved, motivated by land issues and by security concerns tied to the French and Indian War. Many eventually settled in Lancaster County. A second wave of around 1,500 arrived around the mid-19th century and settled mostly in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and southern Ontario. Most of these late immigrants eventually did not join the Old Order Amish but more liberal groups.[21]
1850–1878 Division into Old Orders and Amish Mennonites
[edit]Most Amish communities that were established in North America did not ultimately retain their Amish identity. The major division that resulted in the loss of identity of many Amish congregations occurred in the third quarter of the 19th century. The forming of factions worked its way out at different times at different places. The process was rather a "sorting out" than a split. Amish people are free to join another Amish congregation at another place that fits them best.[citation needed]
In the years after 1850, tensions rose within individual Amish congregations and between different Amish congregations. Between 1862 and 1878, yearly Dienerversammlungen (ministerial conferences) were held at different places, concerning how the Amish should deal with the tensions caused by the pressures of modern society.[22] The meetings themselves were a progressive idea; for bishops to assemble to discuss uniformity was an unprecedented notion in the Amish church.[citation needed] By the first several meetings, the more traditionally minded bishops agreed to boycott the conferences.[citation needed]
The more progressive members, comprising roughly two-thirds of the group, became known by the name Amish Mennonite, and eventually united with the Mennonite Church, and other Mennonite denominations, mostly in the early 20th century. The more traditionally minded groups became known as the Old Order Amish.[23] The Egli Amish had already started to withdraw from the Amish church in 1858. They soon drifted away from the old ways and changed their name to "Defenseless Mennonite" in 1908.[24] Congregations who took no side in the division after 1862 formed the Conservative Amish Mennonite Conference in 1910, but dropped the word "Amish" from their name in 1957; in the year 2000 many congregations left to organize the Biblical Mennonite Alliance in order to continue the practice of traditional Anabaptist ordinances, such as headcovering.[25][26]
Because no division occurred in Europe, the Amish congregations remaining there took the same way as the change-minded Amish Mennonites in North America and slowly merged with the Mennonites. The last Amish congregation in Germany to merge was the 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.[27][28]
20th century
[edit]Although splits happened among the Old Order in the 19th century in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, a major split among the Old Orders took until World War I. At that time, two very conservative affiliations emerged – the Swartzentruber Amish in Holmes County, Ohio, and the Buchanan Amish in Iowa. The Buchanan Amish soon were joined by like-minded congregations all over the country.[29]
With Germany's aggression toward the US in World War I came the suppression of the German language in the US that eventually led to language shift of most Pennsylvania German speakers, leaving the Amish and other Old Orders as almost the only speakers by the end of the 20th century. This created a language barrier around the Amish that did not exist before in that form.[30]
In the late 1920s, the more change minded faction of the Old Order Amish, that wanted to adopt the car, broke away from the mainstream and organized under the name Beachy Amish.[31]
During the Second World War, the old question of military service for the Amish came up again. Because Amish young men in general refused military service, they ended up in the Civilian Public Service (CPS), where they worked mainly in forestry and hospitals. The fact that many young men worked in hospitals, where they had a lot of contact with more progressive Mennonites and the outside world, had the result that many of these men never joined the Amish church.[32]
In the 1950s, the Beachy Amish laid heavy emphasis on the New Birth, personal holiness and Sunday School education.[33][34] The ones who wanted to preserve the old way of the Beachy became the Old Beachy Amish.[31]
In 1966, the New Order Amish were formed after certain congregations left the Old Order Amish due to issues regarding salvation and "the use of modern agricultural methods."[35] The Old Order Amish believe that they have a "hope for salvation", believing that "joining with other church members to live according to the Ordnung and the Bible will give them the strength to lives worthy of salvation".[36] The New Order Amish, on the other hand, affirm that a believer can have assurance—"that one can know the state of his soul while on earth".[36][37]
Until about 1950, almost all Amish children attended small, rural, non-Amish schools, but then school consolidation and mandatory schooling beyond eighth grade caused Amish opposition. Amish communities opened their own Amish schools. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court exempted Amish pupils from compulsory education past eighth grade. By the end of the 20th century, almost all Amish children attended Amish schools.[38]
In the last quarter of the 20th century, a growing number of Amish men left farm work and started small businesses because of increasing pressure on small-scale farming. Though a wide variety of small businesses exists among the Amish, construction work and woodworking are quite widespread.[39] In many Amish settlements, especially the larger ones, farmers are now a minority.[40] Approximately 12,000 of the 40,000 dairy farms in the United States are Amish-owned as of 2018.[41][42]
Until the early 20th century, Old Order Amish identity was not linked to the limited use of technologies, as the Old Order Amish and their rural neighbors used the same farm and household technologies. Questions about the use of technologies also did not play a role in the Old Order division of the second half of the 19th century. Telephones were the first important technology that was rejected, soon followed by the rejection of cars, tractors, radios, and many other technological inventions of the 20th century.[43]
Old Order Mennonites, Old Colony Mennonites and the Amish are often grouped together in North America's popular press. This is incorrect, according to a 2017 report by Canadian Mennonite magazine:[44]
The customs of Old Order Mennonites, the Amish communities and Old Colony Mennonites have a number of similarities, but the cultural differences are significant enough so that members of one group would not feel comfortable moving to another group. The Old Order Mennonites and Amish have the same European roots and the language spoken in their homes is the same German dialect. Old Colony Mennonites use Low German, a different German dialect.
Religious practices
[edit]Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of Hochmut (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and the high value they place on Demut (humility) and Gelassenheit (calmness, composure, placidity), often translated as "submission" or "letting be". Gelassenheit is perhaps better understood as a reluctance to be forward, to be self-promoting, or to assert oneself. The Amish's willingness to submit to the "Will of Jesus", 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 the community. Modern innovations such as electricity might spark a competition for status goods, or photographs might cultivate personal vanity. Electric power lines would be going against the Bible, which says that you shall not be "conformed to the world" (Romans 12:2).[citation needed]
Amish church membership begins with baptism, usually between the ages of 16 and 23. It is a requirement for marriage within the Amish church. Once a person is baptized within the church, he or she may marry only within the faith. Church districts have between 20 and 40 families and worship services are held every other Sunday in a member's home or barn. The district is led by a bishop and several ministers and deacons who are chosen by a combination of election and cleromancy (lot).[45]
The rules of the church, the so-called Ordnung, which differs to some extent between different districts, is reviewed twice a year by all members of the church. Only if all members give their consent to it, Lord's supper is held. The Ordnung must be observed by every member and covers many aspects of day-to-day living, including prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity, telephones, and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing. As present-day Anabaptists, Amish church members practice nonresistance and will not perform any type of military service. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility, and Gelassenheit, all under the auspices of living what they interpret to be God's word.[citation needed]
Members who do not conform to these community expectations and who cannot be convinced to repent face excommunication and shunning. The modes of shunning vary between different communities.[46] On average, about 85 percent of Amish youth choose to be baptized and join the church.[47] During an adolescent period of rumspringa (dialectal [Pennsylvania] German for 'running around'[48]) in some communities, nonconforming behavior that would result in the shunning of an adult who had made the permanent commitment of baptism, may be met with a degree of forbearance.[49][failed verification]
Way of life
[edit]Amish lifestyle is regulated by the Ordnung ("rules")[50] which differs slightly from community to community and from district to district within a community. There is no central Amish governing authority. Each Amish community makes its own decisions, and what is acceptable in one community may be unacceptable in another.[51] The Ordnung is agreed upon – or changed – within the whole community of baptized members prior to Communion which takes place two times a year. The meeting where the Ordnung is discussed is called Ordnungsgemeine in Standard German and Ordningsgmee in Pennsylvania Dutch. The Ordnung include matters such as dress, permissible uses of technology, religious duties, and rules regarding interaction with outsiders. In these meetings, women also vote in questions concerning the Ordnung.[52]
Bearing children, raising them, and socializing with neighbors and relatives are the greatest functions of the Amish family. Amish typically believe that large families are a blessing from God. Farm families tend to be larger, because sons are needed to perform farm labor.[53] Community is central to the Amish way of life.
Working hard is considered godly, and some technological advancements have been considered undesirable because they reduce the need for hard work. Machines such as automatic floor cleaners in barns have historically been rejected as this provides young farmhands with too much free time.[54]
Transportation
[edit]Amish communities are known for traveling by horse and buggy because they feel horse-drawn vehicles promote a slow pace of life. But most Amish communities do also allow riding in motor vehicles, such as buses and cars.[55] In recent years many Amish people have taken to using electric bicycles as they are faster than either walking or harnessing up a horse and buggy.[51]
Clothing
[edit]The Amish are known for their plain attire. Men wear solid colored shirts, broad-brimmed hats, and suits that signify similarity amongst one another. Amish men grow beards to symbolize manhood and marital status, as well as to promote humility. They are forbidden from growing mustaches because mustaches are seen by the Amish as being affiliated with the military, which they are strongly opposed to, due to their pacifist beliefs. Women have similar guidelines on how to dress, which are also expressed in the Ordnung, the Amish version of legislation. They are to wear calf-length dresses, muted colors along with bonnets and aprons. Prayer kapps and bonnets are worn by the women because they are a visual representation of their religious beliefs and promote unity through the tradition of every woman wearing one. The color of the bonnet signifies whether a woman is single or married. Single women wear black bonnets and married women wear white. The color coding of bonnets is important because women are not allowed to wear jewelry, such as wedding rings, as it is seen as drawing attention to the body which can induce pride in the individual.[56][page needed]
All clothing is sewn by hand, but the way to fasten the garment widely depends on whether the Amish person is a part of the New Order or Old Order Amish.[57][page needed] The Old Order Amish seldom, if ever, use buttons because they are seen as too flashy; instead, they use the hook and eye approach to fashion clothing or metal snaps. The New Order Amish are slightly more progressive and allow the usage of buttons to help attire clothing.[citation needed]
Cuisine
[edit]Amish cuisine is noted for its simplicity and traditional qualities. Food plays an important part in Amish social life and is served at potlucks, weddings, fundraisers, farewells, and other events.[58][59][60][61] Many Amish foods are sold at markets including pies, preserves, bread mixes, pickled produce, desserts, and canned goods. Many Amish communities have also established restaurants for visitors. Amish meat consumption is similar to the American average though they tend to eat more preserved meat.[62]
Amish cuisine is often mistaken for the similar cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch with some ethnographic and regional variances,[63] as well as differences in what cookbook writers and food historians emphasize about the traditional foodways and intertwined religious culture and celebrations of Amish communities. While mythologies about the diffusion of shoofly pie are common subject matter for studies of American cuisine, food anthropologists point out that the culinary practices of Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish are innovative and dynamic, evolving across time and geographical spaces, and that not all the Pennsylvania Dutch are Amish, and not all Amish live in Pennsylvania. Distinguishing local mythologies from culinary fact is accomplished by dedicated anthropological field studies in combination with studies of literary sources, usually newspaper archives, diaries and household records.[64]
Subgroups
[edit]The Amish fall into three main subgroups—the Old Order Amish, the New Order Amish, and the Beachy Amish—all of whom wear plain dress and live their life according to the Bible as codified in their church's Ordnung.[9][8] The Old Order Amish and New Order Amish conduct their worship in German, speak Pennsylvania German, and use buggies for transportation, in contrast to the Beachy Amish who use modern technology (inclusive of motor cars) and conduct worship in the local language of the area in which they reside (with exception of the Old Beachy Amish who continue to use Pennsylvania German).[10] Both the New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish emphasize the New Birth, evangelize to seek converts, and have Sunday Schools.[12][9]
Over the years, the Amish churches have divided many times mostly over questions concerning the Ordnung, but also over doctrinal disputes, mainly about shunning. The largest group, the "Old Order" Amish, a conservative faction that separated from other Amish in the 1860s, are those who have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. The New Order Amish are a group of Amish whom some scholars see best described as a subgroup of Old Order Amish, despite the name.[citation needed]
Affiliations
[edit]As of 2011, about 40 different Old Order Amish affiliations were known to exist. The eight major affiliations of the Old Order Amish are listed below, with Lancaster as the largest one in number of districts and population:[65]
Affiliation | Date established | Origin | States | Settlements | Church districts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lancaster | 1760 | Pennsylvania | 8 | 37 | 291 |
Elkhart-LaGrange | 1841 | Indiana | 3 | 9 | 176 |
Holmes Old Order | 1808 | Ohio | 1 | 2 | 147 |
Buchanan/Medford | 1914 | Indiana | 19 | 67 | 140 |
Geauga I | 1886 | Ohio | 6 | 11 | 113 |
Swartzentruber | 1913 | Ohio | 15 | 43 | 119 |
Geauga II | 1962 | Ohio | 4 | 27 | 99 |
Swiss (Adams) | 1850 | Indiana | 5 | 15 | 86 |
Use of technology by different affiliations
[edit]The table below indicates the use of certain technologies by different Amish affiliations. The use of cars is not allowed by any Old and New Order Amish, nor are radio, television, or in most cases the use of the Internet. Three affiliations – "Lancaster", "Holmes Old Order" and "Elkhart-LaGrange" — are not only the three largest affiliations but also represent the mainstream among the Old Order Amish. The most conservative affiliations are at the top, the most modern ones at the bottom. Technologies used by very few are on the left; the ones used by most are on the right. The percentage of all Amish who use a technology is also indicated approximately.[timeframe?] The Old Order Amish culture involves lower greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors and activities with the exception of diet, and their per-person emissions has been estimated to be less than one quarter that of the wider society.[66]
Affiliation[67] | Tractor for fieldwork | Roto-tiller | Power lawn mower | Propane gas | Bulk milk tank | Mechanical milker | Mechanical refrigerator | Pickup balers | Inside flush toilet | Running water bath tub | Tractor for belt power | Pneumatic tools | Chain saw | Pressurized lamps | Motorized washing machines |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Swartzentruber | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Some | No | No | Yes |
Nebraska | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Some | No | No | No | No | Some | No | Yes |
Swiss (Adams) | No | No | Some | No | No | No | No | No | Some | No | No | Some | Some | Some | Some |
Buchanan/Medford | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Some | No | Yes | Yes |
Danner | No | No | No | Some | No | No | Some | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
Geauga I | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Some | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Holmes Old Order | No | Some | Some | No | No | No | Some | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Elkhart-LaGrange | No | Some | Some | Some | Some | Some | Some | Some | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lancaster | No | No | Some | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Nappanee | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Kalona | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Percentage of use by all Amish | 6 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 35 | 40 | 50 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 75 | 90 | 97 |
Language
[edit]Most Old Order Amish, New Order Amish and the Old Beachy Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and refer to non-Amish people as "English", regardless of ethnicity.[68][69] Two Amish subgroups – called Swiss Amish – whose ancestors migrated to the United States in the 1850s speak a form of Bernese German (Adams County, IN and daughter settlements) or a Low Alemannic Alsatian dialect (Allen County, IN and daughter settlements).[70]
Contrary to popular belief, the word "Dutch" in "Pennsylvania Dutch" is not a mistranslation, but rather a corruption of the Pennsylvania German endonym Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch / German" or "German".[71][72][73][74] Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, Dutch, Diets and Deutsch are all cognates and descend from the Proto-Germanic word *þiudiskaz meaning "popular" or "of the people".[75] The continued use of "Pennsylvania Dutch" was strengthened by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 19th century as a way of distinguishing themselves from later (post 1830) waves of German immigrants to the United States, with the Pennsylvania Dutch referring to themselves as Deitsche and to Germans as Deitschlenner (literally "Germany-ers", compare Deutschländ-er) whom they saw as a related but distinct group.[76]
According to one scholar, "today, almost all Amish are functionally bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English; however, domains of usage are sharply separated. Pennsylvania Dutch dominates in most in-group settings, such as the dinner table and preaching in church services. In contrast, English is used for most reading and writing. English is also the medium of instruction in schools and is used in business transactions and often, out of politeness, in situations involving interactions with non-Amish. Finally, the Amish read prayers and sing in Standard German (which, in Pennsylvania Dutch, is called Hochdeitsch[a]) at church services. The distinctive use of three different languages serves as a powerful conveyor of Amish identity.[77] "Although 'the English language is being used in more and more situations,' Pennsylvania Dutch is 'one of a handful of minority languages in the United States that is neither endangered nor supported by continual arrivals of immigrants.'"[78]
Ethnicity
[edit]The Amish largely share a German or Swiss-German ancestry.[79] They generally use the term "Amish" only for members of their faith community and not as an ethnic designation. However some Amish descendants recognize their cultural background knowing that their genetic and cultural traits are uniquely different from other ethnicities.[80][81] Those who choose to affiliate with the church, or young children raised in Amish homes, but too young to yet be church members, are considered to be Amish. Certain Mennonite churches have a high number of people who were formerly from Amish congregations. Although more Amish immigrated to North America in the 19th century than during the 18th century, most of today's Amish descend from 18th-century immigrants. The latter tended to emphasize tradition to a greater extent, and were perhaps more likely to maintain a separate Amish identity.[82] There are a number of Amish Mennonite church groups that had never in their history been associated with the Old Order Amish because they split from the Amish mainstream in the time when the Old Orders formed in the 1860s and 1870s. The former Western Ontario Mennonite Conference (WOMC) was made up almost entirely of former Amish Mennonites who reunited with the Mennonite Church in Canada.[83] Orland Gingerich's book The Amish of Canada devotes the vast majority of its pages not to the Beachy or Old Order Amish, but to congregations in the former WOMC.[citation needed]
Para-Amish groups
[edit]Several other groups, called "para-Amish" by G. C. Waldrep and others, share many characteristics with the Amish, such as horse and buggy transportation, plain dress, and the preservation of the German language. The members of these groups are largely of Amish origin, but they are not in fellowship with other Amish groups because they adhere to theological doctrines (e.g., assurance of salvation) or practices (community of goods) that are normally not accepted among mainstream Amish. The Bergholz Community is a different case; it is not seen as Amish anymore because the community has shifted away from many core Amish principles.[citation needed]
Population and distribution
[edit]Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
1920 | 5,000 | — |
1928 | 7,000 | +4.30% |
1936 | 9,000 | +3.19% |
1944 | 13,000 | +4.70% |
1952 | 19,000 | +4.86% |
1960 | 28,000 | +4.97% |
1968 | 39,000 | +4.23% |
1976 | 57,000 | +4.86% |
1984 | 84,000 | +4.97% |
1992 | 128,150 | +5.42% |
2000 | 166,000 | +3.29% |
2010 | 249,500 | +4.16% |
2020 | 350,665 | +3.46% |
2023 | 383,565 | +3.03% |
Source: 1992,[84] 2000,[85] 2010,[86] 2020,[87] 2021,[88] 2023[1] |
Because the Amish are usually baptized no earlier than 18 and children are not counted in local congregation numbers, estimating their numbers is difficult. Rough estimates from various studies placed their numbers at 125,000 in 1992, 166,000 in 2000, and 221,000 in 2008.[85] Thus, from 1992 to 2008, population growth among the Amish in North America was 84 percent (3.6 percent per year). During that time, they established 184 new settlements and moved into six new states.[89] In 2000, about 165,620 Old Order Amish resided in the United States, of whom 73,609 were church members.[90][page needed] The Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of seven children per family in the 1970s[91] and a total fertility rate of 5.3 in the 2010s.[92]
In 2010, a few religious bodies, including the Amish, changed the way their adherents were reported to better match the standards of the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. When looking at all Amish adherents and not solely Old Order Amish, about 241,000 Amish adherents were in 28 U.S. states in 2010.[93]
Distribution by country
[edit]United States
[edit]State | 1992 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pennsylvania | 32,710 | 44,620 | 59,350 | 81,500 | 89,765 |
Ohio | 34,830 | 48,545 | 58,590 | 78,280 | 84,065 |
Indiana | 23,400 | 32,840 | 43,710 | 59,305 | 63,645 |
Wisconsin | 6,785 | 9,390 | 15,360 | 22,235 | 24,920 |
New York | 4,050 | 4,505 | 12,015 | 21,230 | 23,285 |
Michigan | 5,150 | 8,495 | 11,350 | 16,525 | 18,445 |
Missouri | 3,745 | 5,480 | 9,475 | 14,520 | 16,690 |
Kentucky | 2,625 | 4,850 | 7,750 | 13,595 | 15,450 |
Iowa | 3,525 | 4,445 | 7,190 | 9,780 | 9,930 |
The United States is the home to the overwhelming majority (98 percent) of the Amish people. In 2023, Old Order communities were present in 32 U.S. states. The total Amish population in the United States as of June 2023[update] has stood at 377,300[1] up 9,975 or 2.7 percent, compared to the previous year. Pennsylvania has the largest population (89 thousand), followed by Ohio (84 thousand) and Indiana (63.6 thousand), as of June 2023[update].[94] The largest Amish settlements are in Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania (43,400), Holmes County and adjacent counties in northeastern Ohio (39,525), and Elkhart and LaGrange counties in northeastern Indiana (28,275), as of June 2023[update].[1] The highest concentration of Amish in the world is in the Holmes County community; nearly 50 percent of the entire population of Holmes County is Amish as of 2010.[95]
The largest concentration of Amish west of the Mississippi River is in Missouri, with other settlements in eastern Iowa and southeast Minnesota.[96] The largest Amish settlements in Iowa are located near Kalona and Bloomfield.[97] The largest settlement in Wisconsin is near Cashton with 13 congregations, i.e. about 2,000 people in 2009.[98]
Because of the rapid population growth of the Amish communities, new settlements in the United States are being established each year, thus: 18 new settlements were established in 2016, 24 in 2017, 18 in 2018, 27 in 2019, 26 in 2020, 19 in 2021, 15 in 2022 and 10 by June 2023.[99][87][94][1] The main reason for the continuous expansion is to obtain enough affordable farmland, other reasons for new settlements include locating in isolated areas that support their lifestyle, moving to areas with cultures conducive to their way of life, maintaining proximity to family or other Amish groups, and sometimes to resolve church or leadership conflicts.[89]
The adjacent table shows the eight states with the largest Amish population in the years 1992, 2000, 2010, 2020 and 2023.[100][54][101][102][87][1]
Canada
[edit]Canada | 1992 | 2010 | 2020 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|
All of Canada | 2,295 | 4,725 | 5,995 | 6,100 |
Ontario | 2,295 | 4,725 | 5,605 | 5,645 |
Prince Edward Isl. | 0 | 0 | 250 | 280 |
New Brunswick | 0 | 0 | 70 | 95 |
Manitoba | 0 | 0 | 70 | 80 |
Amish settlements are in four Canadian provinces: Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and New Brunswick. The majority of Old Order settlements is located in the province of Ontario, namely Oxford (Norwich Township) and Norfolk Counties. A small community is also established in Bruce County (Huron-Kinloss Township) near Lucknow.[citation needed]
In 2016, several dozen Old Order Amish families founded two new settlements in Kings County in the province of Prince Edward Island. Increasing land prices in Ontario had reportedly limited the ability of members in those communities to purchase new farms.[103] At about the same time a new settlement was founded near Perth-Andover in New Brunswick, only about 12 km (7.5 mi) from Amish settlements in Maine. In 2017, an Amish settlement was founded in Manitoba near Stuartburn.[104]
Latin America
[edit]Country | 2010 | 2020 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|
Bolivia | 0 | 160 | 190 |
Argentina | 0 | 50 | 0 |
There are currently two Amish settlements in South American nations: Argentina and Bolivia. The majority of Old Order settlements are located in Bolivia. The first attempt by Old Order Amish to settle in Latin America was in Paradise Valley, near Galeana, Nuevo León, Mexico, but the settlement lasted from only 1923 to 1929.[27] An Amish settlement was tried in Honduras from about 1968 to 1978, but this settlement failed too.[105] In 2015, new settlements of New Order Amish were founded east of Catamarca, Argentina, and Colonia Naranjita, Bolivia, about 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Santa Cruz.[106] Most of the members of these new communities come from Old Colony Mennonite background and have been living in the area for several decades.[107]
Europe
[edit]In Europe, no split occurred between Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites; like the Amish Mennonites in North America, the European Amish assimilated into the Mennonite mainstream during the second half of the 19th century through the first decades of the 20th century. Eventually, they dropped the word "Amish" from the names of their congregations and lost their Amish identity and culture. The last European Amish congregation joined the Mennonites in 1937 in Ixheim, today part of Zweibrücken in the Palatinate region.[108]
Seekers and joiners
[edit]Only a few hundred outsiders, so-called seekers, have ever joined the Old Order Amish.[109] Since 1950, only some 75 non-Anabaptist people have joined and remained lifelong members of the Amish.[110] Since 1990, some twenty people of Russian Mennonite background have joined the Amish in Aylmer, Ontario.[111]
Two whole Christian communities have joined the Amish: The church at Smyrna, Maine, one of the five Christian Communities of Elmo Stoll after Stoll's death[112][113] and the church at Manton, Michigan, which belonged to a community that was founded by Harry Wanner (1935–2012), a minister of Stauffer Old Order Mennonite background.[114] The "Michigan Amish Churches", with which Smyrna and Manton affiliated, are said to be more open to seekers and converts than other Amish churches. Most of the members of these two para-Amish communities originally came from Plain churches, i.e. Old Order Amish, Old Order Mennonite, or Old German Baptist Brethren.[citation needed]
More people have tested Old Order Amish life for weeks, months, or even years, but in the end decided not to join. Others remain close to the Amish, but never think of joining.[110]
On the other hand, the Beachy Amish, many of whom conduct their services in English and allow for a limited range of modern conveniences, regularly receive seekers into their churches as visitors, and eventually, as members.[115][116]
Stephen Scott, himself a convert to the Old Order River Brethren, distinguishes four types of seekers:
- Checklist seekers are looking for a few certain specifications.
- Cultural seekers are more enchanted with the lifestyle of the Amish than with their religion.
- Spiritual utopian seekers are looking for true New Testament Christianity.
- Stability seekers come with emotional issues, often from dysfunctional families.[111]
Various congregations belonging to Old Order Anabaptism and Conservative Anabaptism lend support to Christian Aid Ministries, a missionary arm of these movements, along with Iron Curtain and Freiheit Messengers Prison Ministry.[117]
Health
[edit]Amish populations have higher incidences of particular conditions, including dwarfism,[118] Angelman syndrome,[119] and various metabolic disorders,[120] as well as an unusual distribution of blood types.[121][further explanation needed] The Amish represent a collection of different demes or genetically closed communities.[122] Although the Amish do not have higher incidence of genetic disorders than the general population,[3] since almost all Amish descend from a few hundred 18th-century founders, some recessive conditions are more prevalent (an example of the founder effect).[123][124][125] Some of these disorders are rare or unique, and are serious enough to increase the mortality rate among Amish children. The Amish are aware of the advantages of exogamy, but for religious reasons, marry only within their communities.[126] The majority of Amish accept these as Gottes Wille (God's will); they reject the use of preventive genetic tests prior to marriage and genetic testing of unborn children to discover genetic disorders. When children are born with a disorder, they are accepted into the community and tasked with chores within their ability.[127] However, Amish are willing to participate in studies of genetic diseases.[125] Their extensive family histories are useful to researchers investigating diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and macular degeneration.[citation needed]
While the Amish are at an increased risk for some genetic disorders, researchers have found their tendency for clean living can lead to better health. Overall cancer rates in the Amish are reduced and tobacco-related cancers in Amish adults are 37 percent and non-tobacco-related cancers are 72 percent of the rate for Ohio adults. Skin cancer rates are lower for Amish, even though many Amish make their living working outdoors where they are exposed to sunlight. They are typically covered and dressed by wearing wide-brimmed hats and long sleeves which protect their skin.[128]
Treating genetic problems is the mission of Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, which has developed effective treatments for such problems as maple syrup urine disease, a previously fatal disease. The clinic is embraced by most Amish, ending the need for parents to leave the community to receive proper care for their children, an action that might result in shunning. Another clinic is DDC Clinic for Special Needs Children, located in Middlefield, Ohio, for special-needs children with inherited or metabolic disorders.[129] The DDC Clinic provides treatment, research, and educational services to Amish and non-Amish children and their families.[citation needed]
People's Helpers is an Amish-organized network of mental health caregivers who help families dealing with mental illness and recommend professional counselors.[130] Suicide rates for the Amish are about half that of the general population.[b]
The Old Order Amish do not typically carry private commercial health insurance.[132][133] A handful of American hospitals, starting in the mid-1990s, created special outreach programs to assist the Amish. In some Amish communities, the church will collect money from its members to help pay for medical bills of other members.[127] Although the Amish are often perceived by outsiders as rejecting all modern technologies, this is not the case and modern medicine is employed by Amish communities, including hospital births and other advanced treatments. As they go without health insurance and pay up front for services, Amish individuals will often travel to Mexico for non-urgent care and surgery to reduce costs.[134][135]
Most Amish clearly seem to use some form birth control, a fact that generally is not discussed among the Amish, but indicated by the fact that the number of children systematically increases in correlation with the conservatism of a congregation, the more conservative, the more children. The large number of children is due to the fact that many children are appreciated by the community and not because there is no birth control.[136][contradictory] Some communities openly allow access to birth control to women whose health would be compromised by childbirth.[127] The Amish are against abortion and also find "artificial insemination, genetics, eugenics, and stem cell research" to be "inconsistent with Amish values and beliefs".[137]
Life in the modern world
[edit]As time has passed, the Amish have felt pressures from the modern world. Issues such as taxation, education, law and its enforcement, and occasional discrimination and hostility are areas of difficulty.[citation needed]
The modern way of life in general has increasingly diverged from that of Amish society. On occasion, this has resulted in sporadic discrimination and hostility from their neighbors, such as throwing of stones or other objects at Amish horse-drawn carriages on the roads.[138][139][140]
The Amish do not usually educate their children past the eighth grade, believing that the basic knowledge offered up to that point is sufficient to prepare one for the Amish lifestyle. Almost no Amish go to high school and college. In many communities, the Amish operate their own schools, which are typically one-room schoolhouses with teachers (usually young, unmarried women) from the Amish community. 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 (1972), the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the conviction,[141] and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this, finding the benefits of universal education were not sufficient justification to overcome scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.[142]
The Amish are subject to sales and property taxes. As they seldom own motor vehicles, they rarely have occasion to pay motor vehicle registration fees or spend money on the purchase of fuel for vehicles.[143] Under their beliefs and traditions, generally the Amish do not agree with the idea of Social Security benefits and have a religious objection to insurance.[144][145] On this basis, the United States Internal Revenue Service agreed in 1961 that they did not need to pay Social Security-related taxes. In 1965, this policy was codified into law.[146] Self-employed individuals in certain sects do not pay into or receive benefits from the United States Social Security system. This exemption applies to a religious group that is conscientiously opposed to accepting benefits of any private or public insurance, provides a reasonable level of living for its dependent members, and has existed continuously since December 31, 1950.[147] The U.S. Supreme Court clarified in 1982 that Amish employers are not exempt, but only those Amish individuals who are self-employed.[148]
Publishing
[edit]In 1964, Pathway Publishers was founded by two Amish farmers to print more material about the Amish and Anabaptists in general. It is located in Lagrange, Indiana, and Aylmer, Ontario. Pathway has become the major publisher of Amish school textbooks, general-reading books, and periodicals. Also, a number of private enterprises publish everything from general reading to reprints of older literature that has been considered of great value to Amish families.[149] Some Amish read the Pennsylvania German newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe, and some of them even contribute dialect texts.[citation needed]
Dog breeding
[edit]Amish and Mennonite communities across many states have turned to dog breeding as a lucrative source of income. According to the USDA list of licensees, over 98% of Ohio's puppy mills are run by the Amish, as are 97% of Indiana's, and 63% of Pennsylvania's.[150] In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, there are roughly 300 licensed breeders, and an estimated further 600 unlicensed breeding facilities.[151]
Reports of poor standards of care and treatment of dogs as a cash crop by members of the Amish community has led to calls for puppy mills and auctions to be closed, with one breeder being issued with a restraining order from the practice for numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. At the time the restraining order was issued, the breeder had at least 1000 dogs in their care.[152]
Similar groups
[edit]Anabaptist groups that sprang from the same late 19th-century Old Order Movement as the Amish share their Pennsylvania German heritage and often still retain similar features in dress. These Old Order groups include different subgroups of Old Order Mennonites, traditional Schwarzenau Brethren and Old Order River Brethren. The Noah Hoover Old Order Mennonites are so similar in outward aspects to the Old Order Amish, including dress, beards, horse and buggy, extreme restrictions on modern technology, Pennsylvania German language, that they are often perceived as Amish and even called Amish.[153][154]
Conservative "Russian" Mennonites and Hutterites who also dress plain and speak German dialects emigrated from other European regions at different times with different German dialects, separate cultures, and related but different religious traditions.[155] Particularly, the Hutterites live communally[156] and are generally accepting of modern technology.[157]
In Ukraine there is a nameless movement of Baptists that has been compared to the Amish, due to their similar beliefs of plain living and pacifism.[158][159]
The few remaining Plain Quakers are similar in manner and lifestyle, including their attitudes toward war, but are unrelated to the Amish.[160] Early Quakers were influenced, to some degree, by the Anabaptists, and in turn influenced the Amish in colonial Pennsylvania. Almost all modern Quakers have since abandoned their traditional dress.[161]
Relations with Native Americans
[edit]The Northkill Amish Settlement, established in 1740 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, was the first identifiable Amish community in the New World. During the French and Indian War, the Hochstetler Massacre occurred: Local tribes attacked the Jacob Hochstetler homestead in the Northkill settlement on September 19, 1757. The sons of the family took their weapons but father Jacob did not allow them to shoot due to the Anabaptist doctrine of nonresistance.[16] Jacob Sr.'s wife, Anna (Lorentz) Hochstetler, a daughter (name unknown) and Jacob Jr. were killed by the Native Americans. Jacob Sr. and sons Joseph and Christian were taken captive. Jacob escaped after about eight months, but the boys were held for several years.[162] When freed, both of these sons joined the church and one of them became a minister.[16]
As early as 1809 Amish were farming side by side with Native American farmers in Pennsylvania.[163] According to Cones Kupwah Snowflower, a Shawnee genealogist, the Amish and Quakers were known to incorporate Native Americans into their families to protect them from ill-treatment, especially after the Removal Act of 1832.[clarification needed][164][better source needed]
The Amish, as pacifists, did not engage in warfare with Native Americans, nor displace them directly, but were among the European immigrants whose arrival resulted in their displacement.[165]
In 2012, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society collaborated with the Native American community to construct a replica Iroquois Longhouse.[166]
See also
[edit]- Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center
- Amish furniture
- Amish music
- Barn raising
- Bank of Bird-in-Hand
- Christian views on poverty and wealth
- Fancy Dutch
- Hutterites
- List of Amish and their descendants
- Martyr's Mirror
- Mennonites
- Neo-Luddism
- Shaker
- Pinecraft
- Plain people
- West Nickel Mines School shooting
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Amish Population Profile, 2023". Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. September 2, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
- ^ Harry, Karen; Herr, Sarah A. (April 2, 2018). Life beyond the Boundaries: Constructing Identity in Edge Regions of the North American Southwest. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-60732-696-0.
The Amish were one of many Anabaptist groups that grew from the Radical Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe (Hostetler 1993).
- ^ a b Nolt, Steven M. (2016). The Amish: A Concise Introduction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1-21, 106. ISBN 978-1421419565.
- ^ Anderson, Cory; Kenda, Loren (December 22, 2015). "What Kinds of Places Attract and Sustain Amish Populations?". Rural Sociology. 80 (4): 483–511. doi:10.1111/ruso.12083. ISSN 0036-0112.
- ^ "Anabaptists". Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
The Amish are one of many Anabaptist groups that trace their roots to the Anabaptist movement in sixteenth-century Europe at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Other groups include Mennonites, Hutterites, the Brethren in Christ, and Brethren groups that began in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708.
- ^ Kraybill 2001, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Kraybill 2001, p. 8.
- ^ a b Misiroglu, Gina (March 26, 2015). American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-47728-0.
There are various sects of Amish. Old Order Amish maintain the practices best known in mainstream society. These practices include rigorous restrictions on the use of modern conveniences such as electricity automobiles, and telephones. Other groups, such as the Beachy Amish and New Order Amish, use electricity and automobiles, among other modern conveniences, but they still consider themselves Amish.
- ^ a b c d Meyers, Thomas J.; Nolt, Steven M. (2005). An Amish Patchwork: Indiana's Old Orders in the Modern World. Indiana University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-253-34538-7.
Groups that today identify themselves as Amish include not only the Old Orders but also the so-called New Order Amish and the Beachy Amish ... The New Order Amish share much with their Old Order Amish religious kin, including horse-and-buggy culture and identifiably traditional dress patterns, but the New Orders employ a more explicit language of personal salvation and are also somewhat less wary of technology—for example, permitting telephones in homes. The Beachy Amish ... are plain in their appearance but clearly less traditional than Old Orders in lifestyle. Beachy Amish members drive cars, use English in worship, and place emphasis on evangelism and missions.
- ^ a b c Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (May 2, 2017). New York Amish: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-0813-8.
- ^ Kraybill, Donald B. (May 1, 2003). The Riddle of Amish Culture. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-7631-8.
...the Old Order Amish, New Order Amish, and Beachy Amish represent three different affiliations.
- ^ a b Gerlach, Horst (June 1, 2013). My Kingdom Is Not of This World: 300 Years of the Amish, 1683-1983. Masthof Press & Bookstore. p. 376. ISBN 978-1-60126-387-2.
- ^ Zook, Noah; Yoder, Samuel L (1998). "Berne, Indiana, Old Order Amish Settlement". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, (2013) The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 157–158.
- ^ Kroeker, Marvin E. "Amish". Oklahoma Historical Society. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
The Clarita and Chouteau Amish are identified by the typical Old Order markers of buggies, beards, and bonnets. They speak Pennsylvania German, are schooled through the eighth grade, wear plain attire, worship in homes, and do not use electricity. ... By comparison, the Beachy Amish are less conservative than the Old Order. They install electricity, drive cars, own computers and cell phones, use church buildings, allow secondary schooling, and have less stringent dress codes. They engage in evangelistic outreach. More than any other European ethnic group in Oklahoma, the Amish have retained a distinct cultural identity by consciously drawing symbolic boundaries between themselves and the society around them.
- ^ a b c Long, Steve. "The Doctrine of Nonresistance". Pilgrim Mennonite Conference. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn, Michael A. G. Haykin. The Baptist Story, Nashville, 2015, p. 12.
- ^ C. Arnold Snyder. Anabaptist History and Theology: An Introduction. Kitchener, Ontario, 1995, p. 62.
- ^ Smith & Krahn 1981, pp. 212–214.
- ^ Kraybill 2000, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Crowley, William K. (1978). "Old Order Amish Settlement: Diffusion and Growth". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 68 (2): 250–251. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1978.tb01194.x. ISSN 0004-5608. JSTOR 2562217.
- ^ Nolt 1992, p. 159.
- ^ Nolt 1992, pp. 157–178.
- ^ "Our History". Fecministries.org. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Stephen Scott. An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups. Intercourse, Penn.: 1996, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Kraybill, Donald B. (2010). Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. JHU Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-8018-9911-9.
- ^ a b Nolt 1992.
- ^ Nolt 1992, p. 227.
- ^ Nolt 1992, pp. 264–266.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, p. 122.
- ^ a b Nolt 1992, pp. 278–281.
- ^ Nolt 1992, pp. 287–290.
- ^ Gerlach, Horst (2013). My Kingdom Is Not of This World: 300 Years of the Amish, 1683–1983. Masthof Press & Bookstore. p. 376. ISBN 978-1-60126-387-2.
- ^ Camden, Laura L. (2006). Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land. Texas A&M University Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-60344-538-2.
- ^ Laury, Elise Schebler Roberts, Helen Kelley, Sandra Dallas, Jennifer Chiaverini, Jean Ray (2010). The Quilt. Voyageur Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-61060-536-6.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (September 15, 2020). The Lives of Amish Women. JHU Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4214-3870-2.
- ^ "What's the difference between New Order and Old Order Amish?". Amish America. 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, (2013) The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 250–255.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. The Amish, Baltimore: 2013, p. 294.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, The Amish Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 2013, pp. 281–282.
- ^ "Licensed Dairy Farm Numbers Drop to Just Over 40,000". Milk Business. February 21, 2018.
- ^ "Amish dairy farmers at risk of losing their living and way of life as their buyer drops their milk". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ^ Kraybill, Donald B.; Johnson-Weiner, Karen M.; Nolt, Steven M. (2013). The Amish. JHU Press. p. 313. ISBN 978-1-4214-0914-6.
- ^ "10 things to know about Mennonites in Canada". Canadian Mennonite. January 12, 2017. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
it is in many ways, an option of last resort and it's something we only do when we think we have a critical threat to the community's safety and we need immediate action
- ^ Kraybill 1994, p. 3.
- ^ "Church Discipline - Amish Studies". Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions - Amish Studies".
- ^ Stevick, Richard A. (2014). Growing up Amish: the Rumspringa years (Second ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4214-1372-3. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
- ^ "Amisch Teenagers Experience the World". National Geographic Television. Archived from the original on November 10, 2008.
- ^ "Pennsylvania Amish Lifestyle". Discover Lancaster. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ a b Jeremiah Budin (April 23, 2023). "Amish communities are using a surprising new kind of vehicle to travel long distances: 'It's a lot quicker'". The Cool Down.
- ^ Johnson-Weiner, Karen (2001). "The role of women in old order Amish, beachy Amish and fellowship churches". Mennonite Quarterly Review. 75: 231–257.
- ^ Ericksen, Julia; Klein, Gary (1981). "Women's Roles and Family Production among the Old Order Amish". Rural Sociology. 46: 282–296.
- ^ a b Kraybill 2001.
- ^ "The Amish Buggy". Amish America. September 2, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
- ^ Nolt, Steven M.; Meyers, Thomas J. (2007). Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities (Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801886058.
- ^ Klein, H. M. J. (1946). History and customs of the Amish people. York, Pennsylvania: Maple Press Company. ASIN B004UOJ17K.
- ^ Sherry Gore Zondervan. Simply Delicious Amish Cooking.Zondervan, 2013.
- ^ Eicher, Lovina; Williams, Kevin (2010). The Amish Cook's Anniversary Book: 20 Years of Food, Family, and Faith. Andrews McMeel. ISBN 978-0740797651.
- ^ Lovina Eicher. The Amish Cook at Home: Simple Pleasures of Food, Family, and Faith. 2008.
- ^ Vincent, Bill (2012). Traditional Amish Recipes. Bloomington, Indiana.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Gebra Cuyun Carter. Food Intake, Dietary Practices...Among the Amish [1] 2008.
- ^ Chrzan, Janet; Brett, John, eds. (2017). Food Culture: Anthropology, Linguistics and Food Studies. Berghahn Books. p. 224.
- ^ Chrzan, Janet; Brett, John, eds. (2017). Research Methods for Anthropological Studies of Food and Nutrition: Volumes I–III, Volumes 1–3. Berghahn Books. p. 221.
- ^ Kraybill, Donald B., Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt (eds.). The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, p. 139.
- ^ Subak, Susan (2018). The Five-Ton Life. University of Nebraska Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0803296886.
- ^ "Amish Technology Use in Different Groups".
- ^ ""Behalt": Amish settlers in the 18th century American colonies". The Community News. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
These days, the "Old Beachy Amish," the "New Order Amish," and the Old Order Amish still speak Pennsylvania German
- ^ "The Amish Community". LLCER Anglais | Site d'aide à la phonologie anglaise, grammaire, linguistique et civilisations anglophones (in Canadian French). Retrieved December 6, 2022.
- ^ Chad Thompson: The Languages of the Amish of Allen County, Indiana: Multilingualism and Convergence, in Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 69–91
- ^ Hughes Oliphant Old: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 6: The Modern Age. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007, p. 606.
- ^ Mark L. Louden: Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language. JHU Press, 2006, p. 2
- ^ Hostetler, John A. (1993), Amish Society, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, p. 241
- ^ Irwin Richman: The Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Arcadia Publishing, 2004, p. 16.
- ^ W. Haubrichs, "Theodiscus, Deutsch und Germanisch – drei Ethnonyme, drei Forschungsbegriffe. Zur Frage der Instrumentalisierung und Wertbesetzung deutscher Sprach- und Volksbezeichnungen." In: H. Beck et al., Zur Geschichte der Gleichung "germanisch-deutsch" (2004), 199–228
- ^ Mark L. Louden: Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language. JHU Press, 2006, pp. 3–4 ISBN 1421418282
- ^ Hurst, Charles E.; McConnell, David L. (2010). An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community. The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0801893988.
- ^ Hurst, Charles E.; McConnell, David L. (2010). An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0801893988.
- ^ Hugh F. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider. Revised Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies. Morgantown, Penn.: 2007. This comprehensive volume gives names, dates, and places of births and deaths, and relationships of most of the known people of this unique sect from the early 1700s until about 1860 or so. The authors also include a five-page "History of the First Amish Communities in America".
- ^ "Genetic Disorders Hit Amish Hard". CBS News. June 8, 2005. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
- ^ Hammond, Phillip E. (2000). The Dynamics of Religious Organizations: The Extravasation of the Sacred and Other Essays. Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0198297628.
1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "jack Mormon," "banned Amish," or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."
2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."
3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity" - ^ Nolt 1992, p. 104.
- ^ Gingerich, Orland (1990). "Western Ontario Mennonite Conference". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
- ^ "Amish Population Trends 1992–2013". Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College. Archived from the original on June 14, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
- ^ a b "Amish Population Change Summary 1992–2008" (PDF). Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
- ^ "Amish Population Change, 2010–2015 (Alphabetical Order)" (PDF). Groups.etown.edu. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Amish Population Profile, 2020". Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. August 18, 2019. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
- ^ "The Amish Population in 2021". Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. August 12, 2021. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
- ^ a b "Population Trends 1992–2008". Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College. Archived from the original on June 6, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2009.
- ^ Kraybill 2000.
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- ^ Anderson, Cory (March 1, 2016). "Religious Seekers' Attraction to the Plain Mennonites and Amish". Review of Religious Research. 58 (1): 125–147. doi:10.1007/s13644-015-0222-5. ISSN 2211-4866. S2CID 142046764. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^ a b Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. The Amish. Baltimore: 2013, p. 159.
- ^ a b Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt. The Amish. Baltimore: 2013, pp. 160f.
- ^ Waldrep, G. C. (2008). "The New Order Amish And Para-Amish Groups: Spiritual Renewal Within Tradition". Mennonite Quarterly Review. 3: 420.
- ^ Hoover, Peter. "Radical Anabaptists Today – Part 4". Scrollpublishing.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Waldrep, G. C. (2008). "The New Order Amish And Para-Amish Groups: Spiritual Renewal Within Tradition". Mennonite Quarterly Review. 3: 416.
- ^ Huber, Tim (September 30, 2019). "Far-flung outposts translate Plain life". Anabaptist World. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". BeachyAM. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
- ^ Hurst, Charles E.; McConnell, David L. (April 5, 2010). An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9790-0.
- ^ McKusick, Victor A (2000). "Ellis-van Creveld syndrome and the Amish". Nature Genetics. 24 (3): 203–204. doi:10.1038/73389. PMID 10700162. S2CID 1418080.
- ^ Harlalka, GV (2013). "Mutation of HERC2 causes developmental delay with Angelman-like features". Journal of Medical Genetics. 50 (2): 65–73. doi:10.1136/jmedgenet-2012-101367. PMID 23243086. S2CID 206997462. Archived from the original on November 3, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
- ^ Morton, D. Holmes; Morton, Caroline S.; Strauss, Kevin A.; Robinson, Donna L.; Puffenberger, Erik G; Hendrickson, Christine; Kelley, Richard I. (June 27, 2003). "Pediatric medicine and the genetic disorders of the Amish and Mennonite people of Pennsylvania". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 121C (1): 5–17. doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.20002. PMID 12888982. S2CID 25532297. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
Regional hospitals and midwives routinely send whole-blood filter-paper neonatal screens for tandem mass spectrometry and other modern analytical methods to detect 14 of the metabolic disorders found in these populations...
- ^ Hostetler 1993, p. 330.
- ^ Hostetler 1993, p. 328.
- ^ Crowley, William K. (1978). "Old Order Amish Settlement: Diffusion and Growth". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 68 (2): 251. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1978.tb01194.x. ISSN 0004-5608. JSTOR 2562217.
- ^ Landing, James E. (July 1969). "Geographic Models of Older Order Amish Settlements". The Professional Geographer. 21 (4): 238. doi:10.1111/j.0033-0124.1969.00238.x. ISSN 0033-0124.
- ^ a b Francomano, Clair A.; McKusick, Victor A.; Biesecker, Leslie G. (August 15, 2003). "Medical genetic studies in the Amish: Historical perspective". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 121C (1): 1–4. doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.20001. ISSN 0148-7299. PMID 12888981. S2CID 7688595.
- ^ Ruder, Katherine 'Kate' (July 23, 2004). "Genomics in Amish Country". Genome News Network. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2009.
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- ^ Kraybill 2001, p. 105.
- ^ Kraybill (Autumn 1986), "Suicide Patterns in a Religious Subculture: The Old Order Amish", International Journal of Moral and Social Studies, vol. 1, et al
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- ^ Millman, Joel (February 21, 2006). "How the Amish Drive Down Medical Costs". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
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- ^ Andrews, Margaret M.; Boyle, Joyceen S. (2002). "Transcultural concepts in nursing care". Journal of Transcultural Nursing. 13 (3). Lippincott: 178–180. doi:10.1177/10459602013003002. ISBN 978-0781736800. PMID 12113145. S2CID 201377433. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
- ^ Iseman, David (May 18, 1988). "Trumbull probes attack on woman, Amish buggy". The Vindicator. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
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- ^ Wisconsin v. Yoder, 182 N.W.2d 539 (Wis. 1971).
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- ^ "Rumble strips removed after the Amish say they're dangerous". WWMT television news. August 20, 2009. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
Dobberteen is one of a growing number of people in St. Joseph County who believes that the Amish shouldn't have a say in what happens with a state road. 'Some people are saying, "Well jeeze, you know the Amish people don't pay taxes for that, why are we filling them in" what do you think about that? We pay our taxes,' said Dobberteen. Roads are paid for largely with gas tax and vehicle registration fees, which the Amish have no reason to pay.
- ^ Kraybill, Donald. "Top Ten FAQ (about the Amish)". PBS/The American Experience. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
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On appeal, the Supreme Court noted that the exemption provided by 26 U.S.C. 1402(g) is available only to self-employed individuals and does not apply to employers or employees. As to the constitutional claim, the court held that since accommodating the Amish beliefs under the circumstances would unduly interfere with the fulfillment of the overriding governmental interest in assuring mandatory and continuous participation in and contribution to the Social Security system, the limitation on religious liberty involved here was justified. Consequently, in reversing the district court, the Supreme Court held that, unless Congress provides otherwise, the tax imposed on employers to support the Social Security system must be uniformly applicable to all.
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Bibliography
[edit]- Hamm, Thomas D. (2003). The Quakers in America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50893-3. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
- Hostetler, John (1993), Amish Society (4th ed.), Baltimore, Maryland; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-4442-3.
- Kraybill, Donald B (1994), Olshan, Marc A (ed.), The Amish Struggle with Modernity, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, p. 304.
- Kraybill, Donald B, The Anabaptist Escalator.
- ——— (2001) [2000], Anabaptist World USA, Herald Press, ISBN 978-0-8361-9163-9.
- ——— (2001), The Riddle of Amish Culture (revised ed.), JHU Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-6772-9.
- Nolt, Steven M. (1992), A History of the Amish, Intercourse: Good Books.
- "Swiss Amish", Amish America, Type pad, archived from the original on March 2, 2009, retrieved March 26, 2009.
Further reading
[edit]- Die Botschaft – Lancaster, PA – Newspaper for Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites; only Amish may place advertisements.
- The Diary – Gordonville, PA – Monthly newsmagazine by and for Old Order Amish.
- Beachy, Leroy (2011). Unser Leit ... The Story of the Amish. Millersburg, OH: Goodly Heritage Books. ISBN 0-9832397-0-3
- DeWalt, Mark W. (2006). Amish Education in the United States and Canada. Rowman and Littlefield Education.
- Garret, Ottie A and Ruth Irene Garret (1998). True Stories of the X-Amish: Banned, Excommunicated and Shunned, Horse Cave, KY: Neu Leben.
- Garret, Ruth Irene (1998). Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life, Thomas More.[ISBN missing]
- Gehman Richard. "Plainest of Pennsylvania's Plain People Amish Folk". National Geographic, August 1965, pp. 226–53.
- Good, Merle and Phyllis (1979). 20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.
- Hostetler, John A. ed. (1989). Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Igou, Brad (1999). The Amish in Their Own Words: Amish Writings from 25 Years of Family Life, Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.[ISBN missing]
- Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (2006). Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Johnson-Weiner, Karen M. (2017) New York Amish : Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State (Cornell UP, 2017).
- Keim, Albert (1976). Compulsory Education and the Amish: The Right Not to be Modern. Beacon Press.
- Kraybill, Donald B., Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, The Amish (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 500 pp.
- Kraybill, Donald B. "Amish." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 97–112. online Archived April 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
- Kraybill, Donald B. (2008). The Amish of Lancaster County. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.* Kraybill, Donald B. ed. (2003). The Amish and the State. Foreword by Martin E. Marty. 2nd ed.: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Kraybill, Donald B. (2014). Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Kraybill, Donald B. & Carl D. Bowman (2002). On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Kraybill, Donald B. & Steven M. Nolt (2004). Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt & David L. Weaver-Zercher (2006). Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy. New York: Jossey-Bass.[ISBN missing]
- Kraybill, Donald B., Steven M. Nolt & David L. Weaver-Zercher (2010). The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World. New York: Jossey-Bass.[ISBN missing]
- Luthy, David (1991). Amish Settlements That Failed, 1840–1960. LaGrange, IN: Pathway Publishers.[ISBN missing]
- Mackall, Joe: Plain Secrets: An Outsider among the Amish, Boston, Mass. 2007.
- Nolt, Steven M. and Thomas J. Myers (2007). Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Schachtman, Tom (2006). Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish. New York: North Point Press.[ISBN missing]
- Schlabach, Theron F. (1988). Peace, Faith, Nation: Mennonites and Amish in Nineteenth-Century America. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.[ISBN missing]
- Schmidt, Kimberly D., Diane Zimmerman Umble, & Steven D. Reschly, eds. (2002) Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Scott, Stephen (1988). The Amish Wedding and Other Special Occasions of the Old Order Communities. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.[ISBN missing]
- Smith, C Henry; Krahn, Cornelius (1981), Smith's Story of the Mennonites (revised & expanded ed.), Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press, pp. 249–356, ISBN 978-0-87303-069-4.
- Smith, Jeff (2016). Becoming Amish. Cedar, MI: Dance Hall Press[ISBN missing]
- Stevick, Richard A. (2007). Growing Up Amish: the Teenage Years. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Umble, Diane Zimmerman (2000). Holding the Line: the Telephone in Old Order Mennonite and Amish Life. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Umble, Diane Zimmerman & David L. Weaver-Zercher, eds. (2008). The Amish and the Media. Johns Hopkins University Press
- Weaver-Zercher, David L. (2001). The Amish in the American Imagination. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Yoder, Harvey (2007). The Happening: Nickel Mines School Tragedy. Berlin, OH: TGS International.
External links
[edit]- The Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies
- "Amish" in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- Select Affiliations in the Seven Plain Anabaptist Religious Traditions - Beachy AM
- "Amish America", a website dedicated to news and information about the Amish
- "Amish Studies" at Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College
- Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College
- "FAQs About the Amish", by resident experts at the Mennonite Information Center.
- "The Amish in Missouri" Archived November 14, 2020, at the Wayback Machine from the Missouri Folklore Society
- Amish
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- Anabaptism in Pennsylvania
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- German-American history
- History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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