Do they accept outsiders into their faith? I was posting over in the “should I become a muslim” thread, and it occured to me that if I WAS going to join a religion, that would be a pretty cool one. No stress of modern life. Healthy outdoor work, food that you know how it was grown and prepared, etc.
What would it take?
It happens, but it’s rare. Here’s an interview with an Amish man from Lancaster County that asks the question of why more people don’t convert to the Amish faith, and also why the Amish aren’t more aggressive in trying to get converts:
http://amishamerica.typepad.com/amish_america/joining_the_amish/
First cut answer: Of course. They don’t encourage conversion, but they do welcome it when it occurs.
But turning Amish is not merely adopting a parallel of their lifestyle. It’s entering into a community that explicitly eschews most modern conveniences because they cannot be built or repaired by the average Amish man. There is a coherent philosophy behind what they do and why, one that can on the one hand accept a Medevac helicopeter flying a critically-injured person to a hospital and on the other eschewing most electrical equipment. It is a commitment to self-reliance and simplicity, hard work and “life in the slow lane,” on the one hand, but on the other there is a very strong sense of community among the Amish. You are obliged to pitch in and help your neighbor whenever he may need it – and he, to do likewise for you. So you need to convince the Amish community of your understanding and commitment to Amish ways, and have them accept you as a part of themselves.
Something is certainly going on. According to this recent news article:
That’s mighty fast!
As a child I read a very interesting series of children’s books about Amish people (I believe it was the “Ellie’s people” series.) One of the books concerned a man who fell in love with an Amish girl and went through the process of converting.
What I got from it was that most conversions would probably be the result of a marriage. From what I understand, family is the end-all-and-be-all of Amish life. To join the church without a family in it would be almost unsustainable. How are you supposed to have a farm alone? You just wouldn’t be able to fit into the social world at all. And since people get married pretty young, you’d have a much harder time finding someone to marry as an older adult. Maybe you could do it if you were already married and both wanted to convert, but you’d still be missing the extended family that is such an important part of Amish people’s life.
I believe there is a year long trial period, with intense religious instruction. Remember the Amish are first and foremost religious. And their religious services are not fun. It’s an all-day thing on wooden benches. And they expect you to actually want to be there for the religious content, not just be willing to sit through it. How many would-be converts convert because they truly become convinced that the Amish have figured out spirituality?
Anyway, the impression I got is that they are welcoming to converts, but also find it kind of amusing and usually doubt that the convert can make it.
They bred by the heaps and gobs.
I could see my Brother-in-law joining them. He’s deeply religious. For the last 20 years he, as a UPS driver, has delivered to a bunch of them in Adams county Ohio and has gotten to know them very well. Well enough that some of them have gone bow hunting for elk with him. He has talked about going to work for one family that has contracts with Wal-mart after he retires.
It is still quite funny that Amish hunters allegedly use compound bows, a modern, synthetic creation younger than the atom bomb, completely and utterly impossible to make or even mend on a luddite farm. At the same time, thousands of non-Amish people embrace the home-made wooden bow and arrows, and hunt successfully with them. Not like the knowledge was lost or anything.
I had heard that this was one of the unspoken advantages of “rumspinga” (when Amish youth are sent out into the world to be tempted, before, hopefully, returning to the Amish community).
There is an unspoken hope that they will find a boyfriend/girlfriend who will agree to return with them, and become Amish, hence increasing the Amish gene-pool.
I think you can “become” Amish just by practicing a simpler way of life. It’s really just a life style, I don’t think you HAVE to be in an Amish community.
I’m reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and the author has friends that are Amish. She explained it thusly:
It isn’t that they are against modern conveniences, it is that they carefully evaluate new technology to determine if it will help them or hurt them in the long run. Her Amish friends had a dairy, they used a milking machine. Evidently, the benefits of the machine outweighed the negative attributes. A compound bow still requires you to hunt, probably pretty similarly to regular bow hunting. Maybe the animal can suffer less, maybe you are a bit of a better shot, but you still have to take the time to hunt.
If everyone analyzed what went into their bodies, homes and brains as closely, we would be in much better stead.
The Amish are not anti-technology. What they are is pro-community. They look at various technological ideas and make a decision as the whether or not it will strengthen community ties and, in most cases, they decide the answer is no. So they choose community over technology.