
The Amish Effect - networked
http://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/the-amish-effect-unique-cultural-strengths-help-plain-sect-businesses/article_ba60c8e4-e6dc-11e5-9cc7-73775e680585.html
======
bluejekyll
This article is interesting, but it perpetuates a generally positive
impression of Amish life.

It's important to know that the Amish community is extremely conservative. In
general, it does not have the protections that most Americans have put in
place for their children (working conditions, etc.). Women in general are also
very poorly treated, and lack many of the rights that we as Americans believe
they should enjoy (like being equal to their male counterparts).

The response by the community to anyone who disagrees is expulsion.

[http://fourhourworkweek.com/2008/07/15/escaping-the-amish-
pa...](http://fourhourworkweek.com/2008/07/15/escaping-the-amish-part-1/)
[http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/3348](http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/3348)

~~~
jhonovich
I live in the area where this article covers, though not Amish nor related to
Amish.

First of all, no one is expelled for disagreeing. And Amish regularly leave
with no issues nor problems, making that decision before adult baptism. We
know lots of people who do that. They still happily and friendly live next to
and interact with Amish.

The problem (shunning) tends to come if Amish leave after baptism but I have
yet to hear anyone expelled for disagreeing on issues.

As for children working condition protection, what do you think Amish children
/ teenagers do? They primarily do lots of household chores, certainly more
than regular American kids but they do it with their parents and their
siblings. Amish are not focused on making lots of money and they tend to do
things at home so it's far unlike factory farms or third world factories one
might imagine.

As for woman being poorly treated, it's quite rare for anyone, man or woman,
to be poorly treated, attacked, demeaned, etc. among the Lancaster Amish from
what I have seen and heard. I think what you are getting at its restriction of
typical American freedoms. But the same goes for Amish men. Going out for
beers with your buddies, getting a girlfriend on the side, building a
corporate career, doing a YC tech startup, hanging out on a boat / yachet,
etc. are all no goes for men. It's certainly not for everyone.

I would encourage you to check it out, it's less than 3 hours away from NYC
and it's quite an experience. You might be surprised about how happy and
fulfilled the Amish in Lancaster are.

Net/net, the article perpetuates a generally positive impression of Amish life
because Amish in Lancaster generally have a positive / fulfilling life.

~~~
bluejekyll
I grew up near Lancaster, got my first drivers license there. I am
Pennsylvania Dutch, so am related to them. My parents now live in Chautauqua,
NY. I often go to the Amish to purchase leather, quilts, and food. I don't
think they are evil, and I don't think that people (women) are necessarily
unhappy in that community.

Lancaster is practically cosmopolitan compared to the Amish of Ohio and
Western NY. So they are less restrictive than Amish of other areas. In general
they have always been kind people in all of my interactions.

That being said, I do think that children have a false choice when they are
offered to go live in the outside community. They have an 8th grade education.
They might be able to get very manual labor jobs, but are most likely
incapable of getting a college degree, without a lot of support. And chores
are one thing, but when we talk about a lot of the other work on a farm we
aren't looking at just cleaning up your room. Focusing on children alone, I
think that community is one which does not even give their children an option
of existing in the real world, without a ton of struggle.

~~~
meric
>> but are most likely incapable of getting a college degree, without a lot of
support

You could say the same of trailer park kids.

I wouldn't expect Amish adults to know how to live in a non-Amish way, how do
you expect them to teach that to their children?

If they had all the things you expect people to have, they wouldn't be called
Amish, they'd be your neighbours.

You talk with judgement if Amish life is a _negative_ thing. It's how some
people live. Let's not dislodge them from it.

How would you like to be told your way of life is enabled by a government that
plunders resources overseas, in a nation that was built on the back of slavery
and robbing of natives? Not very nice, is it? It's how you live and you like
to live how you like to live. Same with the Amish.

~~~
devishard
>> but are most likely incapable of getting a college degree, without a lot of
support

> You could say the same of trailer park kids.

Yes, but you would have a hard time finding an article fetishizing the
idyllic, back-to-basics, cultural lifestyle of trailer parks. People generally
recognize those conditions are crappy.

> You talk with judgement if Amish life is a negative thing. It's how some
> people live. Let's not dislodge them from it.

It is a negative thing. Yes, I'm sure some Amish are happy, and that's fine
for them. But those who aren't, don't have a real choice to leave.

> How would you like to be told your way of life is enabled by a government
> that plunders resources overseas, in a nation that was built on the back of
> slavery and robbing of natives? Not very nice, is it? It's how you live and
> you like to live how you like to live.

I am working to change my government, and if I were capable I'd work to change
the Amish community. Injustice perpetrated by my government doesn't make
injustice perpetrated by the Amish community okay.

~~~
meric
>> I am working to change my government

That's fine for you. But other people trying to change your way of life, they
are called extremists.

Trying to change how other people live will only cause suffering. Look at the
millions of displaced in Iraq, Syria, Libya, where the West attempted regime
change because of injustice (as they claim).

Injustice perpetrated by the Amish community should be left up to members of
Amish community to change.

~~~
devishard
The Amish have a tradition called Rumspringa where teens are given a year of
freedom to do anything they want after which they can choose to come back and
be Amish or go their own way. Basically, a bunch of kids are sent off into the
world with no sex education and told to do whatever they want. Obviously a lot
of them come back pregnant or with STDs or drug habits. And with little
education and no resources outside the Amish, the choice isn't real; there's
no way for them to realistically choose to leave the Amish community. And if
somehow they do manage to get enough resources to leave, they can look forward
to being ostracized by their friends and family.

Saying that is bad doesn't mean I'm an extremist.

I'm not suggesting we go into Amish communities and overthrow their leaders.
I'm just saying I don't think we should fetishize or support their way of
life, which is harmful to many who live in it, and we should provide support
for people seeking to leave the Amish community.

------
andrewulrich
I had the opportunity to visit a few Amish farms in central Missouri last
fall. We enjoyed being able to buy farm fresh meat (some still twitching!),
eggs, and such, and from what I saw and what I've heard from others'
experiences, the Amish are honest, hardy, and hardworking. Their buggies
shared the road with their neighbors' cars, and I was surprised to see
obviously non-Amish homes in the area.

Also, I've seen Amish craftsmanship of barns and lofts and things on occasion,
and have been impressed, and clients I've talked to had nothing but good to
say about their carpentry work.

~~~
baddox
I grew up near Amish country in central Missouri. My parents still live there.
I have always been fascinated with the Amish: their way of life,
religious/social/cultural/legal beliefs, their form of community governance,
their historical relationship with the US government, and more.

------
tomohawk
After most furniture manufacturing moved overseas, it was impossible to find
reasonably priced quality furniture for a while. I found an Amish furniture
maker near Bird In Hand who filled that need for us.

The guy had no electricity, but did have a small PDA with a solar charger -
many years before that became common and PDAs morphed into phones. He ran his
whole business off of that, and what was in his head.

~~~
whiskeyzulu
My roofer (in Lancaster County, PA) is an Amish man who owns a cell phone. He
doesn't keep it with him, mind you, he just listens to his voice mail once an
evening and returns the calls made. The next day he and his partners get
driven around by a non-Amish to each job site of the day.

To use a stereotype in a positive fashion, he, like most Amish and
conservative Mennonites I've dealt with, takes a lot of pride in his work and
charges very little relative to other businesses.

~~~
noir_lord
Years ago I worked for a company that supplied medical supplies (bottles and
jars etc) to other companies, the company was owned by a religious group who
eschewed the use of technology much like the Amish, they ran the entire
company on paper using old style ledgers.

When they needed to send a fax they'd nip over to the (ironically) software
company/IT services company next door (a deal that was struck with the
judicious application of baked goods).

They where nice people to work for but it seemed very strange to running a
warehouse on paper in the late 90's.

~~~
toomanybeersies
Was that the Exclusive Brethren?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Brethren)

~~~
noir_lord
Could be, Plymouth rings a bell.

Awesome people, bit of a strange worldview but friendly to a young kid working
agency shifts.

------
wscott
The comments here have a number of various negative stereotypes of the Amish.
These are probably all based on factual events, but I doubt they are as
negative as we perceive.

Do a thought exercise and reverse roles. Imagine you live in a highly
conservative rural community and you wanted to make a negative documentary
about the modern american lifestyle. There would be no shortage of truthful
material to make us seem totally depraved.

Often I find my Amish neighbors are more accepting of us and our strange
lifestyle and we are of theirs.

~~~
DanBC
Whenever we see religious communities providing their own "courts" and
"punishment" of child abusers we see those children continuing to be abused
and the abusers continuing the abuse, often with different children.

This has happened across religions and across countries.

There have been significant problems with the Catholic church (because they're
so large) either ignoring the abuse coming from nuns, or thinking that telling
a priest to stop and moving him to a different town would help. That caused
_significant_ levels of harm to the survivors, and to the rest of society (in
paying the costs associated with completed and attempted suicide, with drug
and alcohol addiction, with mental health treatment, with reduced economic
activity).

It's not just Christianity though. The Beth Din courts used by some Jewish
people and the sharia courts used by some Muslim people have often told abuse
survivors not to go to the police to report abuse. That covers child sexual,
physical, and emotional abuse, but it also covers domestic abuse and domestic
violence.

Here's one UK tv programme about rabbis:
[http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/rabbi-urges-
alleged-...](http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/rabbi-urges-alleged-
child-abuse-victim-not-to-tell-police)

So, while we don't know if abuse is worse in these communities we do know that
the reaction to abuse is often totally inadequate.

As a general principle any organisation that has any contact with children
needs to have in place robust child safeguarding processes.

It's a bit disturbing to see how weak this concept is in the US (and how it's
sometimes really poorly done (eg lengthy interventions for people who allow
their children to walk home from school)).

For tech companies: What do you do if a 14 year old discloses on your service
that they're being abused at home? What if they say they're 11 and disclose
they're being abused at home? What if an adult discloses that they're abusing
their child? It might not be your role to report these to the relevant
authorities (do you even know who those are) but you might want to have a
single simple page on your website that describes your company's processes and
requirements for interacting with law enforcement. (Something like "We don't
cooperate with law enforcement under any circumstances. You'll need to take us
through court" or "if you're the correct law enforcement agency and send us
validly formed legal documents to example@example.com we can release this
{list} information".) Users of your site who see the disclosures can then
include your requirements in their reports to law enforcement.

------
baus
I grew up near an Amish community in Chautauqua County, NY. My parents had a
barn built by Amish.

I hadn't thought much about the Amish in many years until I spent significant
time in Chautauqua this year. I was surprised. Much of the land that had been
abandoned as worthless, has been bought by the Amish and made productive
again.

~~~
prometheus666
Does it look like it is portrayed in the media, or they modernized a bit?

~~~
baus
I don't know how it is portrayed in the media, but I will say it is a pretty
simple lifestyle in Chautauqua. It is not uncommon to see horse and buggy on
the back roads. Modern amenities are definitely limited. There are exceptions,
and I'm not sure how they are made, but overall it truly is a time warp.

------
chroma
> 11\. For many Americans, the term “Amish” has strong positive associations:
> honesty, simplicity, old-fashioned virtue.

I'm surprised by this. I associate "Amish" with inbred luddites who abuse
their children. I'm not saying "inbred" as a cheap insult. From the Wikipedia
article on the Amish:

> Since almost all Amish descend from about 200 18th-century founders, genetic
> disorders that come out due to inbreeding exist in more isolated districts
> (an example of the founder effect). Some of these disorders are quite 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 only marry within their communities. 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 disorders.

Also, the very last point:

> 12\. Amish employees in Amish businesses are exempt from mainstream
> companies’ Social Security, health insurance and pension mandates. Though
> that keeps costs down, the impact is often exaggerated, Amish business
> owners say.

Talk about burying the lede! I had no idea Amish businesses had such huge tax
breaks.

1\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish#Health](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish#Health)

~~~
larsiusprime
Three claims, let's evaluate:

"inbred" seems to have a factual basis, that's fair.

"luddite" in this context is an unnecessarily loaded term that suggests an
ignorance of history. (I.E., the luddites [1] were not simplistically anti-
technology, they were anti-"the crown suddenly taking away the common land and
giving it to rich capitalists to enrich themselves with industry while
displacing us as laborers, and then blaming us for being against progress",
ie, "Enclosure.') [2]

"abuse their children" requires proof. Is there evidence the amish abuse their
children at a rate higher than the rest of society, and/or other cultural
enclaves such as tight-nit immigrant groups?

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Rebels-Against-The-Future-
Industrial/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Rebels-Against-The-Future-
Industrial/dp/0201407183)
[2][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure)

~~~
chroma
"Luddite" is one of those words like "gay": it has a very different primary
meaning today than it used to. I'm aware of both meanings and I used "luddite"
in the common, modern sense of being anti-technology.

> Is there evidence the amish abuse their children at a rate higher than the
> rest of society…

Where to start? The Amish stance on corporal punishment of children is well-
known. "Spare the rod, spoil the child" (as Proverbs 13:24 is commonly
misquoted) applies. Hitting children is common in Amish households and
schools. Sources on this range from atheist neighbors[1], to friends of the
Amish[2], to books that praise the Amish[3]. And speaking of Amish schools:
They end at the 8th grade. People like to think that Amish teenagers have a
choice about leaving the community, but what choice do they have when their
prospects in modern life are so limited by their lack of education?

To frame it more concretely: If you had a neighbor who denied their children
cold drinks or air conditioning on hot days, who hit them for questioning
religion, and who took them out of high school so they could do work, is there
any doubt that you would call child protective services? It flabbergasts me
that the Amish get a pass here.

> …and/or other cultural enclaves such as tight-nit immigrant groups?

This is moving the goalposts. It doesn't matter whether other groups _also_
abuse their children. "But FLDS groups abuse their kids too!" is not an excuse
that our society tolerates. In fact, with the FLDS, we sent in SWAT teams and
arrested the church leaders. Sadly, the Amish seem to be grandfathered in.

The child abuse is the issue that gets the biggest rise out of me, but it's
just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other ways in which the Amish
needlessly inflict suffering on each other. Due to their piety, Amish
positions on topics such as birth control, homosexuality, and the rights of
women shouldn't surprise you.

1\.
[http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/09/wha...](http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/09/what-
amish-life-is-really-like-by-an-eyewitness/)

2\. [http://amishamerica.com/how-do-amish-discipline-
children/](http://amishamerica.com/how-do-amish-discipline-children/)

3\. _Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore_ p. 111, section
titled "Disobedient Children"

~~~
jhonovich
"The Amish stance on corporal punishment of children is well-known"

I live in the Amish community referenced in this article and I have never seen
nor heard of any corporal punishment nor child abuse. Indeed, I have never
heard any Amish person even yell, scold or argue with anyone. Because of that,
I am pretty sure such issues are rare in this area.

"People like to think that Amish teenagers have a choice about leaving the
community, but what choice do they have when their prospects in modern life
are so limited by their lack of education?"

Most Americans, Amish or not, do not become software developers, bankers,
accountants, etc. Lots of Amish leave. For example, two doors down from my
house there is an elderly Amish couple. All of their children are non-Amish
but still support, visit, help, interact with their parents. Not surprisingly,
most ex-Amish do not pursue fields requiring advanced education but tend to do
very well in more blue core businesses where their work ethic, integrity and
significant youth experience working at home can be turned into a solid
career.

~~~
icebraining
_I live in the Amish community referenced in this article and I have never
seen nor heard of any corporal punishment nor child abuse. Indeed, I have
never heard any Amish person even yell, scold or argue with anyone. Because of
that, I am pretty sure such issues are rare in this area._

Are you part of the community, or just live in the area? Because if the
latter, it's hardly surprising; socially conservative people rarely handle
their family matters in public.

~~~
jhonovich
Our neighbors are Amish and Mennonite. We know and interact with many of them
including people who left being Amish. And even the ones who left and have
issues with the Amish, I have never heard or seen any incidents of child
abuse.

Do you have some evidence of systematic Amish child abuse beyond your
stereotype of "socially conservative people rarely handle their family matters
in public"?

Child abuse exists in the world, among tech founders, politicians, Amish,
atheists, etc. I am simply saying, based on direct interaction and knowledge
that it is most certainly uncommon in Lancaster Amish.

~~~
icebraining
The person you originally replied to did cite some evidence of Amish child
abuse beyond the stereotype.

~~~
jhonovich
The evidence provided was

\- an anecdote from a "very rural part of Ohio" where the Amish "lived in
grinding poverty". I have no experience with Ohio Amish so I cannot comment
but what they describe is nothing like Lancaster Amish (the article referenced
here and my comments on). \- an entry from Amish America talks about
spankings, which is a practice statistics show most American parents do
[https://www.google.com/search?q=percentage+americans+spank+c...](https://www.google.com/search?q=percentage+americans+spank+child&oq=percentage+americans+spank+child)
From what I have seen of the Amish, I think it is significantly less than the
average American.

If you think it is child abuse to not let your children go to high school or
to deprive them of the 'real' world, that is a different story.

------
graeme
The Amish population is increasing rapidly:
[https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-
popul...](https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-
profile-2015/)

Kevin Kelly has written about the Amish: [http://kk.org/thetechnium/amish-
hackers-a/](http://kk.org/thetechnium/amish-hackers-a/)

------
freekh
I suppose this is slightly OT, but wrt to the Amish apprenticeship , I have
started teaching my 15yo nephew programming and, as of late, I have been
thinking about ways to get him to do a couple of months of apprenticeship with
me. Right now, I can tell he's struggling even with pretty basic notions. I
think it is partially due to him not being proficient enough in english (he
speaks and writes norwegian, french and spanish fluently tho so I don't blame
him), so googling around and finding answers seems hard for him. I dont live
in the same country as him so I don't really know where it stops clicking for
him (and he doesn't have a lot of 'screen time' to do research because of his
parents, which is a good thing I suppose, but not for teaching him
programming). Also he's more of an entrepreneur type than a hacker type so his
patience gets in the way for him to deep dive: he just wants to see his
project happen, he doesn't really care how (I suppose that's normal for a 15yo
though). Therefore, getting him to read a book, or doing some structured
course is not going to fly (I think). Also I am pretty strict trying to teach
him the "'real'" ''"basics"'': in JavaScripts example functions, scoping,
events, the DOM, - not just how to glue together stuff. He's the one that
asked me to help him out though, and he also said he wanted to really
understand it (which is why I am trying to be strict) so there's innate
motivation driving him. He asked me how to do a autocomplete (a list that pops
up under an input box), so that's what we're building. (Tips are welcome by
the way :)

To get back on the topic: writing this got me thinking that, maybe in a 100
years from now, the Amish will be the turn-to lisp/fortran/c/cobol?
consultants :)

EDIT: typos

------
nikanj
What a weird paradox [http://imgur.com/fYi3aj9](http://imgur.com/fYi3aj9)

------
frozenport
There is nothing wrong with a high failure rate, especially if you eventually
succeed. On the other hand many Amish businesses don't scale, or provide
littler inactivation - and certainly not technological innovation. The real
Gleason is that they prefer self-employment.

------
eatonphil
It's something else to see your little hometown newspaper on the front of HN.

------
wallflower
Don't forget about Rumspringa.

> A popular view exists by which the period is institutionalized as a rite of
> passage, and the usual behavioral restrictions are relaxed, so that Amish
> youth can acquire some experience and knowledge of the non-Amish world.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa)

"Devil's Playground"
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293088/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293088/)

~~~
MichaelGG
Which just serves to show them how bad the world is and give them a false
sense of decision. Taking a sheltered kid and having them go wild is hardly a
way to get a good view of things. And if they do get a good view and decide to
enjoy the world, then everyone they know shuns them. It's quite deceptive.

------
elcapitan
Interesting. It's a good thing that the United States are home to communities
that seem to others to be out-of-time. Modern culture seems to be so quickly
mingling all concepts that it's refreshing to see people who are mostly
untouched by that and live just what they think makes them happy without the
constant competition to be more "modern" all the time.

Their business seems to be less fragile towards outside influence and
fashionable ideas which turn out to be nonsense half a year later. Ironically,
they seem to benefit from the growing demand for niche and regional products
outside their world.

Having said that, hope that Amish doesn't become the new Hipster lifestyle for
the next 1-2 years now :D

------
mchahn
> offers online ordering on a modern, well-designed website.

Excuse my ignorance, but doesn't this violate the ban on modern technology?

~~~
larsiusprime
No problem, this is a common misconception with the Amish. The Amish are not
categorically anti-technology. They didn't randomly put a stake in the ground
and say "no new tech after 1743!" or whatever.

Instead, they evaluate every single piece of technology before deciding to use
it, to see if it will disrupt their culture and way of life. For instance,
many Amish communities decided the utility of telephones was a good thing when
they were first invented. Then they found that they encouraged gossip and
other things they saw as culturally negative. So many Amish communities
instituted a communal phone booth in the center of the village -- if you need
the utility of a phone call, you have it, but without the personal temptation
that comes with a personal phone.

Also there are many variants of the Amish, especially if you include the
broader Anabaptist and Mennonite communities, each with their own rules.

For instance did you know some Amish communities allowed personal automobile
ownership? They are not around any more because personal automobiles made it
very easy for them to disburse and their communities died.

You could say that the Amish culture that survives to this day in a
recognizably Amish form has been shaped by natural selection of a sort -- a
test of whether the techs they choose perpetuate their community, or lead to
assimilation.

(I don't have the specific citations for all this on me at the moment, but
it's from what I've read in many articles and books about the Amish I've read
over the years)

~~~
spacehome
> disburse

disperse

------
JoeDaDude
I'm not sure if this commercial is insulting or flattering to the Amish, but
it is funny:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fkXt__lck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fkXt__lck)

------
mdip
I had a nice chat with a friend who provides services for the Amish community
in northern Indiana. I didn't know much about the Amish community outside of
"they're the ones who don't drive cars" and the Amish turkeys my mom purchased
for Thanksgiving (US).

I learned a few things that surprised me enough that I ended up Googling for
proof:

\- Some Amish communities allow electricity (limited, off-grid)[1]. What is
allowed and isn't allowed can vary quite a bit, but only the teenagers can own
cars[2].

\- Amish throw the craziest parties; drugs, booze, you-name-it[2]. See
"Devil's Playground (2002)", much of it shot in the community that my friend
served.

\- If your view of "eating healthy" rejects conventional pesticides, Amish !=
Organic. My friend, who previous ran an organic farm, said that the community
she worked with was _obsessed_ with yields and used an appalling amount of
chemical pesticides and fertilizers[3]. In that community, there were no
organic farms (though they exist). Every conventional practice that didn't
break community rules was used, including with meat products, resulting in the
worst of centuries old farming practices mixed with modern chemistry. GMOs are
also allowed if that's something that concerns you.[4]

\- Amish share some practices with Christianity, such as sex before marriage
being forbidden, but some Amish communities encourage "Bed Courtship" (Bed
Date or "Bundling"), where as part of courtship, two people share a bed
("Bundling" because they're bundled separately so they can become closer by
... _talking_ ). If my conservative parents had caught me sharing a bed with
someone I was dating ... I don't even know what they would have done.[5]

My favorite part was the description of Amish kitchen cupboards: Filled to the
teeth with Velveeta and gelatin[6] and they use it everywhere.

[1] [http://www.discoverlancaster.com/towns-and-heritage/amish-
co...](http://www.discoverlancaster.com/towns-and-heritage/amish-
country/amishandtechnology.asp)

[2] And many own really nice ones ... during Rumspringa. My friend's children
were not allowed to hang out with Amish teenagers.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa)

[3] [http://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-
pesticides/](http://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-pesticides/)
[http://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/amish-mennonite-farmers-
poll...](http://modernfarmer.com/2014/11/amish-mennonite-farmers-polluting-
lancaster-county/)

[4] [http://www.biofortified.org/2013/10/amish-
gmos/](http://www.biofortified.org/2013/10/amish-gmos/)

[5] Here's an article explaining "why" it's allowed: [http://www.sacred-
texts.com/ame/amish/am07.htm](http://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/amish/am07.htm)

[6] I had heard of the gelatin thing, but not about Velveeta. Hearing
descriptions about some of the meals made me ill. The attraction to Velveeta
is shelf-stability. [http://www.amishreader.com/2015/03/12/the-truth-about-
authen...](http://www.amishreader.com/2015/03/12/the-truth-about-authentic-
homemade-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/)

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
> Amish share some practices with Christianity

Not surprising since they are Christians.

