Posted on 04/03/2010 7:27:21 AM PDT by Libloather
From time to time we receive letters from people who want our help in becoming Amish. Do people ever convert to the Amish faith? Yes, but it is relatively rare. I know of one young man who is about to join the Amish faith here in Lancaster, after giving up his car and other aspects of "worldly life." Some Amish wonder if he is really ready, but believe he is sincere.
Why do people wish to be Amish? As our way of life becomes more hectic, we may see a slower, simpler style of living as appealing. Some people leave their high pressure jobs in the urban jungle, move to the mountains, and conduct business via computer, phone, and fax, the very pieces of technology that were supposed to make our lives easier. The Amish lifestyle is seen as a return to nature, even though barely half of our local Amish are actually farmers.
Some readers who write us tell of broken homes, divorced parents, fathers who abandoned wife and child. They view the Amish community as a place were they would be secure and welcome. What many of these people see is just the surface, a seemingly idyllic life. But being Amish involves many challenges for the outsider.
First of all, the Pennsylvania German dialect is something that must be learned. Then come the challenges of leaving behind those necessities of life like television, stereo, electric appliances, automobile, and fashionable clothing. Finally, you might find the many "ordnung" or rules of the church to be formidable. The way of life cannot be adopted without the religion.
Thus, the Amish are reluctant and suspicious of most outsiders who say they want to be Amish. Rather than sitting down and talking about the religion, the sincere "seeker" is usually placed with a family and takes part in the daily routine, picking up what is required of him by the community and the church much in the same way a child would.
Some Amish have left the church to join more liberal churches that also welcome visitors and where English is the language of worship. Some of these people have set up "plain communities," maintaining a simple way of life without cars and electricity. Others, like the Mennonites, lead a more modern lifestyle, sometimes keeping a plain form of dress, sometimes not. There have even been converts to the "horse and buggy Mennonites." Indeed, most local Mennonite churches welcome visitors for Sunday worship, and the Mennonite Information Center on Route 30 was established to help answer visitors’ questions.
While we at Amish Country News are not of Amish or Mennonite background, we understand that some people are searching for answers to life’s questions. But the Amish share many of the problems most of us have, and they should not be seen as an ideal society or the solution to the world’s ills. Like any other culture, however, there may be important things we can learn from them.
http://www.amishnews.com/publishersmessages/wanttobeamish.htm
Why, those Amish, they didn’t even take the FEMA money when a tornado came through and destroyed their barns. How DARE they not depend upon the gov’t...aren’t they a minority?
Does this violate the 1st Amendment???? Is this case of Congress choosing one Religion over another??? Hello ACLU!!!!!
The Amish are good, solid, conservative people, however their extreme lifestyle is not Biblically mandated. As mentioned they do have the same problems and temptations we all have.
Conservatives would do well to look to the self reliance of the Amish as a means of limiting the power of government.
People whine and cry about the feds taking states rights but in most cases the states sell their rights in return for federal dollars.
Note the arrogance expressed in the writing of this exemption: the government decides which beliefs are worthy of religious exemption. A constitutional objection, or a heartfelt objection, isn’t on the “approved list” of reasons to opt out.
The Amish drive on roads financed with tax dollars, using steel-rimmed wheels that tear up asphalt. Having lived in Amish country, I find they are highly selective in their 'independence' from 'English' society.
If Independents vote Democrat again, if they choose to have their “brilliance” stroked by the media and Democrat Party operatives, then one can say hello to pure democracy for decades to come.
Ya know, comrade?
IMHO
Did they demand tax dollar paved roads, or did the state want them running there?
Do you have any basis for your implied contention that they should build a parallel dirt road system that doesn’t sound silly if examined even superficially?
I will agree with that.
Where do I sign up?
You will find in Amish country they are more humble and less materializtic. So you may object to metal on their wheels and paved roads in stead of dirt, but I'd rather have them as my neighbors than the carnal Christians we have in our neghborhood any day of the week.
What sickens me evenn more is how they advertise the 2010 Census. Get your fair share from the GOVERNMENT. It’s sickening. People are so government dependent it’s sickening. The Amish are NOT government dependent.
You miss the point. They don’t pay gas taxes to pay for road upkeep, but their vehicles cause far more road damage than cars with rubber tires. That is a very sore point in Amish country with those who actually pay to maintain the roads.
They don’t pay gas taxes, and their vehicles cause a disproportionate amount of damage to asphalt.
Some.
Do the Amish pay taxes?
Dan Reno, Nevada
Dear Dan:
Just like the rest of us, the Amish are not exempt from life's two certainties -- death and taxes. However, there is a reason behind the persistent myth that the Amish do not pay taxes.
The Amish live within self-sufficient communities and do not collect Social Security, unemployment, or welfare benefits. According to their religious beliefs, paying Social Security, an insurance premium for the elderly, is tantamount to not "taking care of their own." Amish people who are self-employed are not obliged to pay Social Security tax, but they do still pay all other taxes, including property, income, and sales tax. If an Amish person decides to work outside of the community, he or she must also pay Social Security tax like any other American.
In 1955, the IRS extended the Social Security Act of 1935 to include farm operators. At the time, some Amish people immediately complied with the tax, while others conscientiously objected to it. Many felt that it violated the separation of church and state, some did not want to accept monies for government programs, and still others believed that paying a commercial insurance for the elderly went against their trust in God to take care of them.
The IRS and the Amish played a convoluted shell game for close to a decade, until it all came to a head with the seizure of a struggling farmer's horses in 1961. The Amish elders stuck firmly by their principles, and the ensuing media and community outrage over the incident led the IRS to relent four years later. Tucked away in the 1965 Medicare Bill was a clause exempting the "Old Order Amish" and other religious groups that conscientiously objected to paying insurance premiums from Social Security tax. To be exempt, the group or sect must have been established prior to 1950 and maintain reasonable provisions for their elderly.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20030821.html
Yup, those 18 wheeler carriages and buggies are hell on the highways...and those horseshoes...don’t get me going on that!!! /s
With Obama’s cap and tax executive order raising the price of gasoline and electricity we soon all maybe living like the Amish.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.