The Amish are a denomination of Anabaptists, found primarily in the United States and Canada, noted for their restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and electricity. The Amish are a tight-knit religious and ethnic group of overwhelmingly Swiss-German ancestry. They do not proselytise or generally accept converts. The Amish are divided into dozens of separate and conflicting fellowships. They do not vote, join the military, draw Social Security or accept any form of assistance from the government. They are nonresistant and rarely defend themselves physically or even in court; in wartime, they take conscientious objector status.

History

Like the Mennonites, the Amish are descendants of the Swiss Anabaptists (1525). The Swiss Anabaptists, called the "Swiss Brethren", had their origins with Felix Manz and Conrad Grebel. The name "Mennonite" was applied later and came from Menno Simons (circa 1496–1561), who was an Anabaptist leader in the Rhein Lowlands. Simons was a Dutch Roman Catholic priest who converted to Anabaptism in 1536 and was baptized by Obbe Philips after renouncing his Catholic faith and office. He was a leader in the Lowland Anabaptist communities, but his influence reached gradually into Switzerland.

The Amish movement takes its name from that of Jacob Amman (c. 1656 – c. 1730), a Swiss Mennonite. Amman felt that the Mennonites were drifting from close adherence to the teachings of Simons and the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith. Much of the laxity was in the area of shunning excluded members, also called the ban (or Meidung in Pennsylvania German). However, the Swiss Mennonites never did practice strict shunning as the Lowland Anabaptists did. The ban meant that believers would terminate contact with a non-conforming member of the Mennonite society. Amman insisted upon this practice, even to the point of a spouse's refusing to sleep or eat with the banned member until he/she repented of his/her behavior.

This strict literalism brought about a division of the Swiss Mennonites, who, because of unwelcoming conditions in Switzerland, were scattered throughout Alsace to the Palatinate. This division occurred in 1693, and led to the establishment of the Amish. Because the Amish are the result of a division with the Mennonites, some consider the Amish a conservative Mennonite group—and, indeed, some Amish would not disagree with this title. Some Amish began to migrate to the United States in the 18th century. Many would eventually settle in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; the first immigrants actually went to Berks County, but later moved, motivated partly by security issues, tied to the French and Indian War, and land issues. Other groups settled in or spread to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine, and even Canada.

Amish split in two

Most Amish communities that were established in North America did not ultimately retain their Amish identity. In fact, many more of the early communities eventually lost their Amish identity and gradually took on a Mennonite identity. The original major split that would result in the loss of identity occurred during the 1860s known as the Dienerversammlungen, during which decade were held conferences in Wayne County, Ohio, concerning how the Amish should deal with the pressures of modern society. The meetings themselves were a progressive idea, a notion that bishops should get together to discuss uniformity was unprecedented in the Amish church. By the first several meetings, the conservative bishops agreed to boycott the Dienerversammlungen. Thus, the more progressive Amish within a several decades Amish-Mennonite, and then later absorbed into the "Old" Mennonites (not to be confused with Old Order Mennonites). The much smaller faction became the Amish that are known today.

Lifestyle

Amish lifestyle is dictated by the Ordnung of the community. Ordnung differ 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 can be totally adequate because there are few generalities that are true for all Amish.

Modern technology

Many Amish, especially those of the Old Order, are renowned for their avoidance of modern technologies. The avoidance of items such as automobiles and electricity is largely misunderstood. The Amish do not view all technology as evil. Technologies can be petitioned for acceptance into the Amish lifestyle. In some communities, the

Electricity, for instance, is viewed as a connection to the "World", the "English", or "Yankees" (the outside world). The use of electricity also could lead to the use of household appliances that would complicate the Amish tradition of a simple life. However, in certain Amish groups, electricity can be used in very specific situations. In some groups, for example, it has to be produced without access to outside power lines. Twelve-volt batteries are acceptable to these groups. Electric generators can only be used for welding, recharging batteries, and powering milk stirrers. The reasoning behind the twelve-volt system is that it limits what an individual can do with the electricity and acts as a preventive measure against potential abuses. Most twelve-volt power sources can't generate enough current to power what is viewed as worldly, modern appliances such as televisions, light bulbs, and hair dryers. In certain situations, outdoor electrical appliances may be used: lawn mowers (riding and hand-pushed) and string trimmers, for example.

Amish communities often adopt compromise solutions involving technology which may seem strange to outsiders. For example, many communities will allow gas powered farm equipment such as tillers or mowers, but only if they are pushed by a human or pulled by a horse. The reasoning is that Amish farmers will not be tempted to purchase more land and outcompete other farmers in their community if they still have to move the equipment manually. Many Amish communities also accept the use of chemical pesticides and GM crops. Again, it is not technology itself, but rather its potential negative effects on the community, which the Amish wish to avoid.

Language

In addition to English, most Amish speak a distinctive High German dialect often called Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch, which the Amish themselves call Deitsch (German). The commonly-used term "Pennsylvania Dutch" comes from the original use of the word Deutsch, which referred to all people who spoke one of the many German dialects and has nothing to do with people from the Netherlands.

The so-called Swiss Amish speak an Alemannic German dialect that they call "Swiss". Finally, more progressive Beachy Amish, especially those who were born roughly after 1960, tend to speak predominantly in English at home.

Dress

Dress code for some groups includes prohibitions against buttons, allowing only hooks and eyes to keep clothing closed; other groups allow members to sew buttons onto clothing. In some groups, certain articles can have buttons and others cannot. (The reason for the restriction on buttons is their former association with the military.) The Amish are noted for the quality of their quilts and for their farming efficiency.

An Amish man will typically be clean-shaven as long as he is single. Upon getting married, he will grow a beard. In some communities, however, a man will grow a beard after he is baptized. Mustaches are generally not allowed because they are seen as symbols of the military, a custom with origins in the religious and political persecution in the 16th- and 17th-century European. Men of the nobility and upper classes, who often served as military officers, wore mustaches but not beards. The wearing of beards, however, is largely based on the same prohibition against shaving that leads Hasidic Jews to not shave their beards.

Other

The Amish and other Anabaptists do not believe that a child can be meaningfully baptized; this is, in fact, reflected in the name Anabaptist (which means "rebaptizer", as the Anabaptists would baptize adults). Amish children are expected to follow the will of their parents in all issues; but, when they come of age, they may lead a lifestyle of their own choice. In fact, in some communities, parents may turn their back as their children try out the "English" lifestyle of the outside world for a few years (the period of rumspringa, or running-around) so that they can make an "informed" choice to be baptized and join the church for life. Some choose not to join the church but to live the rest of their lives in the society at large. Some communities will actively shun those who decide to leave the church, even those going to a different Amish congregation with different interpretations of how things ought to be done. Still other communities practice hardly any shunning, keeping close family and social contact with those who leave the church. Some communities have split in the last century over how they apply the shunning, as in the case of the Holmes County and area Amish settlement.

Amish communities

The Amish as a whole feel the pressures of the modern world. Child labor laws, for example, are seriously threatening their long-established ways of life. Amish children are taught at an early age (by modern 21st century standards) to work hard. Amish parents will supervise the children in new tasks to ensure that they learn to do it effectively and safely. The modern child labor laws conflict with allowing the Amish parents to decide whether or not their children are competent in hazardous tasks.

Genetic Disorders

As almost all of the current Amish descend from the same few hundred founders in the 18th century, they have been plagued by heritable genetic disorders. Some of these disorders are quite rare, in some cases even unique, and some are very serious. These disorders affect the children and have led to a higher mortality rate among them. The majority of the Amish accept these as "Gottes Wille" (God's will) and reject any use of genetic tests prior to the marriage to prevent the appearance of these disorders and refuse genetic tests to the fetus to discover if a child has any genetic disorder.

However, there is sometimes genetic diversity from one community to another if the historical relationships between these communities are distant enough. Genetic diseases which are common in one community, will often be absent in another. For example, although within the Lancaster County Amish, there are only a few founding families, these founding families are quite distant to the founding families of the Perth County Amish community in Canada.

Many parents are using modern technology to care for their children. Treating these genetic problems is the mission of Dr. Morton Holmes' Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, which has developed effective treatment for such problems as maple syrup urine disease, which previously was fatal. The clinic has been enthusiastically embraced by most Amish and has largely ended a situation in which some parents felt it necessary to leave the community to care properly for their children, which normally would result in being shunned.

Insurance and Taxes

Like many Mennonites, many Amish do not use insurance, relying on their church and community for support. An example of such support is barn raising, in which the entire community gathers together to replace a barn, which has been destroyed by fire or some natural disaster, in a single day.

The Amish pay the same taxes that anyone else pays, but as a rule they do not buy insurance - including Social Security. In 1961, the IRS announced that since the Amish refuse Social Security benefits and have a religious objection to insurance, they need not pay taxes. In 1965, this policy was codified into law. Self-employed individuals in certain sects do not pay into, nor receive benefits from, Social Security, nor do their similarly-exempt employees. Amish employees of non-exempt employers are taxed, but do not apply for benefits. A provision of this law mandates that the sect provide for their elderly and disabled. The Amish are not the only ones exempt from Social Security. Ministers, certain church employees and Christian Science practitioners may qualify for exemption under a similar clause. Overall, the Amish pay more in taxes, especially real estate taxes, than it costs for the minimal government services they receive.

Population growth and distribution

The Amish reside in close-knit communities in 47 states of the United States as well as Ontario, Canada. The largest concentrations of Amish in the United States are in Holmes County, Ohio and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. By state, the largest Amish population is in Ohio, and the second largest in Pennsylvania. There were an estimated 228,000 Amish in the United States in all groups, and another 1500 in Ontario, Canada in 1990. Some Beachy Amish have relocated to Central America in an attempt to remove themselves from the influences of modern society, including a sizable settlement near San Ignacio, Belize.

Most Amish do not practice birth control, including barrier methods such as condoms, or even rhythm. With an average of seven children per family, it has been difficult to obtain sufficient farmland to provide for this growth. Consequently, there are constantly new Amish communities being formed, and the number of states with Amish communities has grown from 22 to at least 47 in the last fifteen years.

The strictest Amish groups are the Nebraska Amish, Troyer Amish and the Swartzendruber Amish groups. The language used in Old Order Amish homes and in many Beachy Amish homes is Pennsylvania German (or "Pennsylvania Dutch"). English is used with the outside world.

Amish that leave the old ways often remain near their community, and in general, there are levels of progression from strict Amish gradually to more liberal groups (usually Mennonite).

Education

In 1972, Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller of the Old Order Amish and Adin Yutzy of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church were fined $5 each for refusing to send their children, aged 14 and 15, to high school. The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court concurred, finding that the benefits of universal education do not justify violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court quoted sociology professor John A. Hostetler (1918-2001), who was born into an Amish family, wrote several books about the Amish, Hutterites, and Old Order Mennonites, and was then considered the foremost academic authorities on the Amish. (Currently, Donald Kraybill may hold that distinction.)

Other

People who are not well acquainted with Mormonism and the Amish sometimes confuse the two, despite the vast differences between them. These misconceptions can sometimes be perpetuated in the mass media. For example, the film Witness is centered on an Amish community. However, the Spanish and French versions of this film mistranslated "Amish" as "Mormon". Roseanne Barr has played on this misconception by referring to Mormons as "Nazi Amish".

The 2002 documentary Devil's Playground is another film about the Amish community, focusing on the Amish tradition of Rumspringa.

The Amish have, on occasion, encountered discrimination and hostility from their neighbors; in some places, this has taken the form of systematic harassment, particularly claipping, the act 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 (claip is apparently a derogatory term directed at the Amish in some localities; its origin is uncertain). A 1988, made-for-TV film, A Stoning In Fulham County, is based on a true story involving one such incident, in which a six-month-old Amish infant girl was struck in the head by a rock and died from her injuries. In 1997, a young Amish woman in Milverton, Ontario, Canada was struck in the face by a beer bottle believed to have been thrown from a passing car; she required thousands of dollars' worth of surgery to her face (which was paid for by an outpouring of donations from the public). It was later found that this was not a case of 'claipping', as the bottle had been thrown by another group of Amish youth in a passing buggy.

On July 28, 2004, UPN began airing Amish in the City, a reality television series which involved five Amish teenagers being installed in a house in the Hollywood Hills to experience "American" culture and to decide at the show's end whether to rejoin their own culture (a variant of the Amish tradition of Rumspringa). It was later revealed that these Amish youths were already living apart from their Amish parents prior to the show.

See also

• Pennsylvania Dutch
• Pennsylvania German language
• Beachy Amish
• Amish music
• Barn raising
• Donald Kraybill
• Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
• Old Order Amish
• New Order Amish
• Peace church
• Shunning
• Simple living
• Martyrs Mirror
• Witness, 1985 film
• Devil's Playground, 2002 film
• Rumspringa

Amish, Government and the Law

• - Legal Affairs article about how sexual abuse is handled in the Amish community

Amish Genetic Disorders

• - from 60 Minutes, CBS News
• During a lifetime of studying the Old Order Amish in central Pennsylvania, University of Miami professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences Janice Egeland, Ph.D., discovers the genetic clues behind the mystery of bipolar disorder and helps generations of families cope with the devastating disease.

Amish and Technology

• - Wired article about the Amish's selective and not technophobic use of technology

In Pennsylvania Dutch

• Amische

Amish Amische Amish Amiŝismo Amish Amish איימיש Amish アーミッシュ Amish Amisze Amish Amish 阿米什人