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| Farmland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of the Manheim Historical Society. |
In the United
States of America, full of ethnic and religious diversity, there is a sectarian
subculture that stands to be one of the most unique but in many ways disappears
into itself when one is not outside of its front door. The Amish, a peaceful and fundamentalist
religious group, go about their lives in attempted isolation from the modern
world. Their heritage dates back to the
Protestant Reformation as a sect of Anabaptists in Switzerland. One of the defining characteristics of the Anabaptists
is the belief in the need for adult baptism to attain salvation, even if a person
is baptized as a baby, as done traditionally in Catholicism. The Anabaptists had another subdivision, the
Mennonites, who attempted to separate themselves from the luxuries of the
modern world. However, in the 17th
century, a community leader named Jakob Ammann split from his Swiss Mennonite
community by attempting to reform what he saw as a “weakening of Mennonite
resolve”. Jakob Ammann and his followers
needed to separate from the rest of the Mennonites, led by Elder Hans Reist,
since they wanted to alter the community’s practices and add a second annual
communion service and to practice shunning. This new Amish community would have done well
out on their own, except that religious persecution began to sweep through Switzerland
and the German Palatinate and they were forced to emigrate. They settled in other areas of Europe, but later
many began to travel to America, seeking religious refuge. They were not concerned much with record
keeping, so finding an exact date of their arrival in America is hard. However, there is documentation of a ship
from Europe which arrived in Philadelphia in 1737 with a large number of Amish. They originally settled in Pennsylvania, but
by the 19th century they had spread west into parts of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Ontario, Canada.
Here
the fundamentalist communities of the Amish grew and flourished. There are five main attributes of the Amish
community: 1) separation from the world; 2) voluntary acceptance of high social
obligations; 3) maintenance of a disciplined church community; 4)
excommunication and shunning; and 5) harmony with nature and the soil. The top of the list is by far the most
distinguishing aspect. Amish have many
of the characteristics ascribed to “enclave” fundamentalists, as described in the
book Strong Religion, including but
not limited to: their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, their sharp
boundaries between them and the outside world, and their strict behavioral
requirements. The authors of Strong Religion break
down their definitions even more with sub-types of fundamentalists and the Amish
fall into the category of “world renouncers”: those exiting from modern society. The Amish further fit into this category in
that they do not seek to convert outsiders, but are content to keep to
themselves and keep their community pure.
The
Amish’s separation from the world is based on instructions from Scripture, but
we can see a slightly different view of these instructions than what we
typically see in other fundamentalist groups.
The Amish do not point to specific Bible verses as explicit commands to
separate from the world, but instead they look to the overall message of the
Bible in verses such as Romans 12:2, II Corinthians 6:14, and others collectively
as a general description of a command from God which covers all areas of life
to abstain from worldliness. They practice
this isolation through all areas of life, including plain dress, the use of
horse and buggies instead of motor vehicles, and in not entering into business
with non-Amish. They live in close-knit,
farming communities and in general have mostly avoided modern conveniences such
as electricity. In the communities that
allow indoor plumbing, the water is gravity fed from barrels filled by windmills. They abstain from the world through rules,
such as the prohibition of using make-up and entering military services.
The
Amish have developed an unwritten, yet extremely powerful and authoritative
code of behavior called the Ordnung.
This code contains all the regulations of life. When an adult is baptized into the community,
he or she is accepting before the congregation that he or she willingly agrees
to and will adhere to the Ordnung. It is
innate in the community and it does not need to be written down and is to be
respected as having almost the same authority as that of the Bible itself. It is part of the Amish composition, a
natural part of all aspects of their community.
The Ordnung springs from the Amish charter: the unwritten tradition of
beliefs and values. Many of the
prohibitions the Amish practice are not solely practiced because the actions or
items themselves would be considered evil, but because they are symbol of rebelling
against the Ordnung.
Challenges
Despite
their strong attributes of a cohesive fundamentalist group, they are not
without their factions. Over the course
of time, the Amish have experienced divisions over issues of what change and
modernity the community should allow. In
1862, Diener-Versammlung, a national gathering of Amish ministers, brought an
official split among the Amish that still exists today. The term “Old Order Amish” began to be used
for the Amish who strove to stay very traditional, changing little with the
modern times. “Amish Mennonites” were
those who allowed for some change and acceptance of modernity. In 1927, the “Beachy Amish” in Somerset
County started to allow the community to use automobiles and electricity. By the 1970's, the “New Order Amish” in Ohio
and Pennsylvania were allowing the use of telephones and tractor-drive farm
equipment but still did not use automobiles.
In the 21st century, the Old Order Amish exist in 250
settlements in 25 states and have a population of about 200,000. Other reports estimate their numbers to only
be 145,000 but both are a significant increase from the estimated 5,000 at the
beginning of the 20th century.
In
addition to the factions within, they must face larger challenges from outside
their communities. One of these issues
began early America’s history. Religious
freedom is simple in theory, but has stumbled in its attempts at practical
application at various times in history.
The Land of Opportunity, tempting people in who were fleeing from
religious persecution, failed the ideals of religious freedom in its very first
act of freedom fighting in the Revolutionary War, when some Amish were
imprisoned for acts of treason when they refused to fight. In today's relatively careful sense of
religious freedom, it is cruelly ironic.
In
modern times, military service is not as big of issue, but there is an even larger,
more explosive one that has threatened the Amish: education. To fully understand this issue, one must look
at the differences between the Amish’s view of education and that of a typical
non-Amish view of education. United
States law requires children to attend school until at least 16 years old, with
a strong push to at least complete high school.
The stigma of not completing high school almost overwhelming in the
United States. Education is also seen as
a chance to review of all areas of knowledge and to prepare an individual to go
on and do almost anything. This view of
education is vastly different from the Amish.
Most Amish children are either homeschooled or attend one-room school
houses in which the teachers are hired for their ability to teach the children the
values and responsibilities of the community and not for the teacher’s own academic
qualifications. Academic education is
seen as a tool which allows an individual to take care of his or her family and
to benefit the community. Education of the young is considered paramount in Amish
society. Education is a family matter,
often with even extended family members taking part. Additionally, the value of humility is so
strong within the Amish community that they believe higher education can lead
to pride. Pride is a sin in and of
itself, but it can also lead to rebellion against the Ordnung. The Amish see worldly wisdom as folly to the
Lord.
From
comparing and contrasting these two views of education, one can immediately see
a conflict of basic educational principles within America. On each side, education is valued but for
different purposes and administered with different rules. One of the major points of contention is that
the Amish do not believe in the requirement for children to stay in school
until 16. In addition to their
responsibilities on the farms often times drawing them away, the Amish do not
wish for their children to be torn between two worlds – the liberal, secular
one and the conservative, Amish one.
The first recorded confrontation in the educational arena occurred in
1914 in Ohio and since then the courts have, almost without exception, ruled
against the Amish. Over the years, the
Amish were often fined and arrested for their lack of educational
conformity. In 1972, in one particular
case against three Amish fathers in Wisconsin, it was testified that in
addition to their Constitutional rights being violated, the children would
“experience a useless anguish of living in two worlds” (Johnson 980). Through this case the U.S. Supreme Court
finally ruled that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prevented the Amish from
being fined or arrested for taking their children out of schools. This ruling gave the Amish one of their
greatest successes in surviving the modern world.
But
this accomplishment almost did not occur as most Amish do not choose to pursue
litigation. This case had to be defended
by The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom, which was founded by a
Lutheran pastor. It is a part of Amish
culture to avoid public confrontations and this makes defending their rights
difficult.
In
addition to legal battles and their resistance to technology, the Amish also
face personal, individual challenges.
One such challenge is receiving, or more accurately, accepting mental
healthcare. As in every society, the
Amish have their share of mental troubles, but their culture makes taking steps
towards mental health difficult. Therapy
can be hindered by multiple issues including language. Among the Amish, Dutch (an American dialect
of German) is typically spoken and English is only taught once children enter school. This language barrier, which includes slang
and idioms, can cause a disruption in the progress of therapy. Additionally, as mentioned above, the Amish
are wary of too much education and their sense of humility and responsibility often
makes it hard accept certain aspects of therapy.
Single
adult women within the Amish community experience particular difficulties and for
them, the outside, modern world can seem even more tempting. The Amish community revolves around family
life and single women can have a difficult time finding a comfortable place to
fit in. The secular world offers a place
where single women are seen as being admirably independent and they have
opportunities, no matter what their age, to have fulfilling careers and to find
love. This is usually not the case in an
Amish community.
John
Cross, in his article “Change in America’s Dairyland”, brings attention to the
children of dairy farmers, another group which modernity can especially call to. The challenge of taking care of a dairy herd
and processing the milk is extremely difficult and causes some children to balk
at the idea of following in their parents’ footsteps. Dairy farming itself faces challenges itself
because without the use of refrigeration there is limited ability to sell Amish
milk and it is often times processed into cheese for safe keeping.
As
a whole, the Amish face a broader, more disturbing difficulty: hate
crimes. For the Amish this is a very
real threat. Three hundred years ago
they needed to abandon their homes due to persecution by executive order, but
now they face similar heartaches from the general population.
Success
& Survival
It
could be said that the biggest success of this small fundamentalist group is its
survival. There are few physical or
economical rewards in their community, but it does offer peaceful living,
stability, and honor to their community.
There is much to compete against in this Land of Plenty, with luxuries
and technology constantly on the rise. Many
of the Amish’s living conditions are the same as a couple hundred years ago,
but now they can look out and see a much more comfortable way of living flaunted
all around them. Technology has seeped
into our society so thoroughly that we use it even when we do not consciously
intend to. The only way to avoid it is
by complete separation, which the Amish have done and have not only survived
but have grown. Their numbers are
increasing. One would think that this
group would be seen as being antiquated and archaic by the younger generations,
yet, as one researcher points out, “Over the past three decades, the number of
Amish settlements has tripled”. (Cross,
“Expanding Role”) From the Anabaptist’s
16th century persecution in Europe to the modern day hate crimes in
America, the Amish have come a long way in distance, in time, and in the
overcoming of tremendous difficulties.
Yet still they thrive. Where
fringe cults and small outcroppings of religions fail, they have
succeeded. In a country completely absorbed
in, obsessed with, and dependent on technology, they have built for themselves
a quiet life which runs smoothly on non-motorized wheels. The United States is also a country in which
generations tend to want to out-do and revolutionize the previous generation,
in the name of progress and social evolution.
Yet the Amish cherish the previous generations and respect the codes set
up by them as natural extensions of the will of God. What has been done for centuries is quite all
right with them.
While
it is hard to foresee the future, it would appear that the challenges they face
today will continue to be challenges in the future. Some things may get easier as new challenges
crop up. They face the future in a
country with a government which continually attempts to increase religious
freedom; however, has a tendency grow restrictions people in other ways. It is reasonable to suspect the Internal
Revenue Service, the Census Bureau, Department of Agriculture, and Homeland
Security are some of the departments in the government which may pose even more
challenges to the Amish. The role of the
government in a person’s everyday life is increasing more and more in this
country and the government is a very worldly thing, a thing definitely not on
the same path of God the Amish are seeking.
It is hard to imagine
any one group lasting forever in this ever-changing world, but it is also hard
to imagine a people such as the Amish, so steadfast with such endurance, ever
giving up either.
REFERENCES
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London: The University
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Journal of Psychotherapy. 59.4 (2005): 371+. Web.
10 Nov. 2011
Cross, John A. “Change in
America’s Dairyland.” The Geographical Review. 91.4 (2001): 702+
Web. 15 Nov. 2011
Cross, John A. “The Expanding Role
of the Amish in America’s Dairy Industry.”
American
Geographical
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