Are Amish racists?

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Basically yes, they're like a tribe

Last edited by Feyokien on 14 Feb 2016, 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i live near an amish community. if you want a house built quickly and well around here, you hire the amish. they are also pacifists, who truly believe in turning the other cheek. that is admirable.

i wouldn't call them racist, from what i understand most of their culture is handed down. i've never really heard of or known anyone to just get up one day and decide they're amish, they don't exactly promote a popular product for the rest of mainstream society to join in on. and since their culture was predominately white, with that said, it just stayed that way.

maybe they could be racist, but it isn't by virtue of their religion, it's probably because they just aren't exposed to other cultures enough to really know how not to be racist.

I tried to join an Amish community many years ago, but was turned away. I hate the Amish! Someday, I will exact my revenge!

P.S. I've always found Amish women extremely sexy! Anybody else?

You are joking, aren't you?

Sheesh, you're the last person on this forum I figured would have to ask that question, Raptor!

Never can tell sometimes...

what reason did they give for your exclusion?

^ It seems he was joking. If I'd thought about it longer I would have realised it before I asked.

Dont know if this is in response to my post, or not, but I didnt say that "the Amish are an ethnic group". I said that their "ethnic make up" persists through time.

Wow, there is a lot of speculation on this thread! By people who don't know much about the Amish or Mennonites. Most of it unflattering, to say the least.

I grew up Mennonite, and around Amish people in my area. They are like everyone else in this:

that there are good ones, and there are bad ones. There are the "clean" Amish whose places look like they sweep their driveway every morning; there are the "dirty" Amish who go barefoot from April to October (even the men) and smell like baths may be few and far between. There are those who are kind and sweet and practice what they preach, who would never beat their wives or children; there are those who try to get away with whatever they can get away with, without being excommunicated from the church. They are human too, like everyone else.

TV shows about the Amish are full of crap. Entertaining, maybe, if you like that stuff (I don't) but not realistic.

The tutorial in a nutshell:

Originally, the Mennonites and Amish were followers of Menno Simons, who led a religious/political movement of "Anabaptists" in Europe. Their main disagreement with the state church was compulsory infant baptism (the Anabaptists believed that baptism should not be done till the person was of an age old enough to understand why he/she was being baptized), and compulsory military service (they took the scripture about "when someone smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the other" to mean that one should not resist an enemy--including the belief that one should not bear arms against one's fellow man even if the govt said so).

Here is a link with a bio of Menno Simons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menno_Simons

Jakob Amman was a Swiss Anabaptist who was one of the leaders during a division among the Swiss Anabaptists over the Dordrecht Confession of Faith that had been drawn up by the Dutch Mennonites. Amman wanted clarity on 1) shunning those who had been banned from the church, 2) whether liars should be excommunicated, and 3) whether people could be saved who did not follow God's Word.

Here is a link with more details of the division and some biographical info on Jakob Amman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Ammann

The division resulted in two separate groups of Anabaptists--the Mennonites and the Amish.

Obviously, this is a pretty shortened explanation but explains the origins of the two groups in a nutshell. Both the Mennonites and the Amish have more and less conservative groups that have originated in their churches. There is the Amish-Mennonite church, sometimes known as the Beachy Amish. The Amish and Mennonites are considered separate groups, but there is some overlap between the groups too, as they now work together at times; for example, in efforts such as disaster relief.

Are Amish/Mennonites racist? From my experience, I don't believe so. Yes, they are predominantly white. But they also reach out to people around the world. Africa in recent years had the fastest growing Mennonite church in the world. Check out the Mennonite Central Committee, a Mennonite Organization dedicated to helping those in need around the world, wherever the need may be. Mennonite Disaster Service is another organization.

MCC website
http://mcc.org/

MDS website
http://www.mds.mennonite.net/home/

There is also a population of Mennonites went to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great, at about the same time when Mennonites came to Pennsylvania at the invitation of William Penn. All these Mennonites were being persecuted in Europe and went to where they were offered a chance to live without persecution. The Russian Mennonites were later persecuted in Russia and went back to Germany. After WWII, a colony of Mennonites were given asylum in Paraguay, where they have a growing community to this day. The story of this is told in the book Up From the Rubble, by Peter and Elfrieda Dyck. And in a children's book Henry's Red Sea, by Barbara Smucker.

You can find both on amazon.
http://www.amazon.ca/Up-Rubble-Thousand ... 0836135598
http://www.amazon.ca/Henrys-Red-Sea-SMU ... 7s+red+sea

Mennonites in my area are known for helping those less fortunate than themselves. There is a local Mennonite lady who takes in foster care children whose needs are pretty daunting--the really tough ones who have extensive medical needs such as wheelchairs, feeding tubes, brain injuries, etc. She gives them a good home, clean clothes, plenty to eat, and lots of love. I have never seen a child with her who looked unloved and uncared for.

Hard work? Yes. Limited schooling? Yes. They have a religious exemption to allow their children to finish school early, typically 8th to 10th grade. but many of these kids get a GED or learn a trade to function in society. I don't know any Mennonite kids who are not industrious and taking care of themselves and/or their families. And I know quite a few Mennonites. They are not a drain on govt funds--in fact, most of them won't accept any kind of govt aid, even minimally such as WIC. They also typically don't use insurance companies, choosing instead to use Mennonite-founded organizations such as group sharing plans for medical expenses and/or losses from fires. Our plain Mennonite neighbors had their home partially burn down and the next day they and their church people were out cleaning up. The new roof was on the house in less than a week. It is a different way of life, counter-culture to be sure. They are not gods, nor are they villains. Just people who have chosen a different life style than most.

My husband and I left the Mennonite church, for various reasons. We are not on board with all the theology that is taught, and don't feel that we want to raise our children with those teachings.

The branch of the Mennonites I grew up with were the ones who dressed plainly but drove cars and had electricity in their homes. My parents have slowly become less plain over the years--now to see them, you would not guess that they are Mennonite. My mother has her hair cut and wears slacks; my dad wears regular work clothes that you would see on a typical blue collar middle aged guy. But the Mennonite community is alive and well and they would certainly consider themselves a part of it.

This is not an extensive education on the Amish and Mennonites but I hope it helps shed some light on them for those interested.

Any questions, let me know and i'll try to answer.

^ Very informative and enlightening.
Thanks

You are welcome! I had some time this morning while waiting on someone and saw this thread. After reading it, I wanted to add some information to the speculation and opinions. Mennonites and Amish are like everyone else--all different.

My father-in-law has a business driving "taxi" for local Old Order Mennonites in the area. (These are Mennonites who do not drive cars--the Old Order Mennonites--and they hire a driver for times they want to travel farther than is comfortable to ride in a horse and buggy.) We sometimes get phone calls from these folks looking for my father in law. Some of them know decent phone etiquette; some do not. They are not allowed to have a phone in their homes so they don't get a lot of practice. One of the funniest conversations I had:

Me, picking up phone: "Hello..."
Lady on the other end with heavy Dutch accent: "Doess enybody drife?" (Does anybody drive?)
Me: "What?"
Lady: "Doess enybuddy drife?" (that accent...)
Me (thinking "well, yeah, my husband and I both drive...but I don't think you are calling for me..."): "Ohhhh...do you mean you are calling for taxi service?"
Lady: "Yes, I neet a drifer." (need a driver)
I gave her the number for my father in law. She hung up without saying goodbye or thank you. I guess no one taught her that "Hello" and "Goodbye" are typical polite parts of phone conversations.

As I said, some have learned general rules of politeness to function in "English" society; others have painful deficits in areas of normal society that they do not navigate regularly. I try to be nice. Some are entertaining, to be sure.

No it was somewhat a response to the original post. It annoyed me in the same way as people saying "Muslims should just go back where they came from." I am like just because we think of Muslims as being Arab doesn't mean they have to be. I could become Muslim right now if I wanted to. In the same way a group of people living in a black neighborhood could decide to become Amish if they wanted to. I have never met someone who is black and Amish but they aren't mutually exclusive.

No argument with with any of that!

Amish who are black? Depends on the group of Amish you are referring to. There have been so many divisions in these churches, especially among the plainer churches, due to petty differences in "how plain will you be." I know when I was a girl, there was some contention among my cousin's church as to whether or not the women's head coverings (the white veiling that covers their hair) were to have strings or not. And then, how long are the strings? Do they tie in front? Or just a ribbon in back? The pettiest things. Amish and Mennonite churches have split over really small issues that turned into huge power struggles due to the fact that the ministers and bishops have the power to dictate a lot of the minutiae of life of their church members. Some are kind and understanding; some take this power thing pretty seriously and dictate things that really wouldn't need to be dictated, IMO. These kinds of things were why my parents left the plainer church when I was a child.

I have not seen a lot of black *Amish*, as in plain horse-and-buggy Amish, but there are a lot of black Mennonites and some black Beachy Amish. Partly due to the fact that these folks often adopt children and they do not see skin color as a problem. A child who needs a home, love, and care...is a child who needs a home, love, and care. Whether their skin is black, white, or any color in between. I have seen plain Mennonites with white skin, black skin, Asian ancestry, Native American ancestry...and probably some I do not think of.

Being Amish and/or Mennonite is a culture as well as a religion. Unless you have some inside experience or know someone who does, there is a lot more to it than what you see on the outside looking in. I did not realize how different the Mennonite culture I grew up in was, from the rest of my community (and I live in a fairly conservative, rural community) until I left it. My kids have a foot in each world. Because they have so many Mennonite relatives, they can fit in with the Mennonite kids if they spend an afternoon with our Mennonite cousins or friends. But they really haven't grown up "Mennonite Mennonite" like I did; they grew up as more "regular kids" and can navigate the societal norms much better than I did at their age.