The Amish: Misunderstood And Secluded People

The Amish are often a misunderstood and secluded people. Because they live most of their lives out of the public eye, many questions tend to circulate around their culture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CeT32qxUK0 According to the historian Lynn Bridgers (American Religious Experience, a Concise History Lynn Bridgers 61-72), this particular group formed after the reformation in Europe under a man named Jacob Ammann. His teachings included pacifism, and never straying from the word of God. The Amish people seek peace with God, and accept atonement of Christ’s death on the cross for human sin. Because they are pacifists, they also aim to get along with others who are outside of their culture. While the Amish still maintain peaceful interactions

According to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at the Elizabethtown College, the Amish forbid the use of cars because they fear it will tempt some to drive away from the localization of their town. Instead, horse-drawn buggies are used so the Amish can get around easily while not venturing off too far into modern society. Electricity from public utility lines is also forbidden. Instead, the Amish use batteries, which are much more independent and rarely rely on the outside world. However, they do comply with the use of gas grills, camping and farming equipment, and shop tools (http://www2.etown.edu/amishstudies/Technology.asp). The Amish strive to simply ‘live off the land’ to the best of their abilities. The Amish also tend to be known as very private people. They forbid photographs to be taken of their people because it makes them uncomfortable to have outsiders gawking at their different lifestyle. The idea behind these restrictions is that technology has the potential to threaten church traditions. Not to mention, it tends to cause many distractions in our daily life.

This is the point when the teens are able to choose if they want to live a life devoted to the Amish church, or life in modern society. According to the author Tom Shachtman who wrote To be or not to be Amish, Rumspringa usually involves the Amish teens venturing off to the movies and using technology for the first time. Sometimes their experiences could entail partying, drugs, and sex. The idea is that the youth are able to see what the outside world is like, and can choose for themselves who they want to identify with. If the teen choosing the lifestyle of modern society, they are subjected to the rules of shunning because they have left the church and the congregation. However, not every Amish community practices Rumspringa. It all depends on how conservative