I for one think it high time that someone invented a horse-powered computer.
Coming soon to Radio Shack: the HorseApple 6000! (Abacus math coprocessor optional)
The Amish around here (I’m in the same general area where this took place) are a bit more liberal compared to their Pennsylvania counterparts. I’ve seen a few wearing rubber-soled shoes at various stores around town (I’m not sure if the issue with rubber-soled shoes has been lifted, but I remember at one point, rubber anything was a no-no…). There are a few who hitch rides to stores with Mennonites, so apparently, travel in cars is okay, they just can’t own them.
We see them quite often at Wal-Mart on Saturdays - nothing like pulling into the parking lot to see a horse and buggy tied to a choice parking spot 
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One of my co-workers also sees an older Amish man at a local bar many Friday nights…apparently, he shows up, flirts with all of the women, and then hitches a ride home with whomever will take him there.
E.
I buy gourds on line from an Amish Gourd Farm. I guess they can use computers. I assume they’re really Amish, but maybe someone’s trying to cash in on the quaintness of it all. Who knows?
Okay…here’s the deal on Amish Gourds! I should have read up on it a little before I posted.
In a nutshell, the woman who runs the site is helping out the gourd farmers.
Not all Amish have the same set of beliefs. There are Amish who own cars, who have electricity in their houses, who use computers, etc. In some ways, the various Amish sects span a range of “orthodoxy” just like various Jewish communities span a range.
At risk of sounding completely ignorant, what set them apart as “Amish” if not the reluctance to bring modern technology into their lives?
Sorry. I doubt this.
Mennonites do not remove themselves from the world in the same way, (which is why the Amish split off), but I have a very hard time accepting that there are actual Amish who (personally) own cars* or who have electrified houses.
It is also possible that some Amish may have availed themselves of computers at the library, so I will not claim this to be impossible.
- (I know of Amish who collectively own a tractor to run their threshing machines off the PTO, so a communal car driven by a hired Yankee is plausible, if not likely, but a personally owned and operated car seems pretty far out.)
Indeed, as this article about Ohio’s Holmes County (Chardon is in Geauga County) states:
The Amish who do business with their “English” neighbors must abide by health and safety laws. I grew up in the Cleveland area, and remember reading about Old Order farmers who had to install electricity in their barns if they were incubating eggs for public consumption. Similarly, Amish-run restaurants had to have electric power for refrigeration.
As for the spring break references, the children of the Amish are permitted to taste the temptations of the outside world during a time known as rumspringa. As the article states, this period of experimentation precedes baptism into the church. Not until you’re baptized do you truly become Amish.
Huh - I’m not in Geauga (I’m in Stark, so we’ve got the Amish in Massillon and surrounding areas), but that’s a nifty idea he’s got going.
I actually like it when the Amish are at the Wal-Mart that we go to for groceries - it seems like people behave better .
E.
I’ve heard that some Amish are having to make some further concessions. The dividing of the farms has reached the point where some sons can’t get enough land to make enough money to support a family, and modern-technique farmers can afford to outbid them on new farms because the MT farmers will get more profit from the land.
So some younger men are getting picked up by construction crews, driven off to work their shifts with cordless power tools, and then get driven back to their Amish-observant house.
In other words, some are “Amish,” while others are fully “Am.”
What distinguishes Amish is the particular religious sect of which they’re a member, not the specifics of the rules concerning technology that they live by. While I don’t know of any Amish groups that are very permissive, there are Mennonites groups which run the gamut from indistinguishable from any other Protestant group to indistinguishable from the Amish, and everything in between. Those differences don’t make any of them more or less Mennonite. What makes them Mennonite is their adherence to various religious principles, most notably believer’s baptism and pacifism. “Living simply” is another of these, but how it is understood varies dramatically.
So no, accepting modern technology in itself wouldn’t result in the Amish no longer being Amish.
Gotta keep the call girls in business. 
It’s why I always post in plain black typeface.
It’s an offshoot branch. We’re known as Children of the Corn.
The Amish in my part of the world seem to vary widely in the “what’s okay to do” department. There are some Amish who work construction in the area and drive a big Dodge Hemi truck. I often see several Amish women at our library who use the internet and print documents. Many Amish are actively involved with us “English” and make a fair buck off skilled trade and tourist crap.
My favorite sight is horse and buggy rigs going through the KFC and DQ drive-thrus. My town has hitching posts for horses and signs throughout reminding Amish (and, I suppose, whomever else is running around on their horse) that it is their responsibility to pick up horsey poop.
;j (subsitute for Amishicon)
It’s my understanding that there are indeed several different “types” of Amish–that is to say, depending on what sect you belong to, modern conveniences are either banned outright or allowed in varying degrees. I have heard of plenty of Amish bars that have not only electricity, but also phone lines–I do not remember the exact reason why the phone can be in the barn, but not the house.
I went to college for awhile in Iowa, which has not only Amish, but Mennonite, Hutterite and I dont’ recall the other group. They were nice people, on the whole.
I have a colleague who lives in PA (works in an ER) and she has to deal with the ignorance aspect of her local Amish. One of her stories is the young couple that came in to ER for an unrelated matter, but in the course of taking a history, she was asked by them if their Saran wrap condoms, tied in place with a rubber band would prevent babies… :eek:
It’s my understanding that there are indeed several different “types” of Amish–that is to say, depending on what sect you belong to, modern conveniences are either banned outright or allowed in varying degrees. I have heard of plenty of Amish bars that have not only electricity, but also phone lines–I do not remember the exact reason why the phone can be in the barn, but not the house.
I went to college for awhile in Iowa, which has not only Amish, but Mennonite, Hutterite and I dont’ recall the other group. They were nice people, on the whole.
I have a colleague who lives in PA (works in an ER) and she has to deal with the ignorance aspect of her local Amish. One of her stories is the young couple that came in to ER for an unrelated matter, but in the course of taking a history, she was asked by them if their Saran wrap condoms, tied in place with a rubber band would prevent babies… :eek:
The Amish in my part of the world seem to vary widely in the “what’s okay to do” department. There are some Amish who work construction in the area and drive a big Dodge Hemi truck. I often see several Amish women at our library who use the internet and print documents. Many Amish are actively involved with us “English” and make a fair buck off skilled trade and tourist crap.
My favorite sight is horse and buggy rigs going through the KFC and DQ drive-thrus. My town has hitching posts for horses and signs throughout reminding Amish (and, I suppose, whomever else is running around on their horse) that it is their responsibility to pick up horsey poop.
;j (subsitute for Amishicon)
I base this on my experience with my relatives. My father grew up Amish (in Sommerset County, PA and Garrett County, MD), and my grandparents remained Amish. We used to visit them regularly, and they had a car an electricity, as did some other Amish families in the area. No computer, but this was 1970s. I have other relatives, on the other hand, who still don’t have electricity and don’t use combustion engines (at least not for travel; not sure about tractors). The last extended family reunion I went to (this would be for descendents of my great-great grandparents) included one family that travelled for over an hour by horse-drawn cart.
Granted, most Amish don’t have electricity in their homes or own cars, though a number do. The key is not specific technology but rather the desire to limit the influence on the outside world on their lives, and this applies to all sorts of things, including fashion. The Amish (and Mennonites and Hutterites and other such groups) do adopt technology, but on a much slower schedule than the rest of us.
Just to provide a little backup for this post, here’s a site that has some history about the Beachy Amish split (over Sunday School and shunning). This is one group that permitted electricity and automobiles fairly early on.