33 Facts About The Amish Everyone Should Know

Building upon that idea of it being so difficult for the younger Amish to leave or even choose another life for themselves, they are supposedly given 24 hours in which to spend in modern-day culture. During this time, they are to decide whether they want to leave the Amish community, or stay in it. For 90% of Amish youth, it is really no choice, at all; if they leave, they will never be welcomed back, nor will they ever have communication with their families again. It is very harsh, and on top of that, they lack education, knowledge of modern society, job experience, money, or familial support. But some do choose the path of leaving. Of the ones that have, a few have been interviewed and seem happy with their choice, even though it was hard. One woman, Mary, got her driver’s license and was given a car by a friend, which she paid back with her $8.00 an hour job cleaning at a hospital. Still, for her, anything would be better than the Amish life she hated.

The Amish community is a clear patriarchy, and gender roles are never questioned. They take literal instructions from the Bible. For example: “The head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is man” (Corinthians 11:3); “Submit yourself unto your husband as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22); and “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission” (I Timothy 2:11). Girls are not given sex education, and many are the victims of rape and incest at the hands of their elders, including family members. The problem is so bad, in fact, that in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which is arguably the place in America with the highest population of Amish, communities outside of the Amish post information and hand out brochures for young women to let them know how to get help. Some young Amish women do not even know they are being abused, because that is all they have ever known or been taught.

Amish people may be simple farmers, but they release an alarming amount of fertilizer as runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. Collectively, they own 5,000 farms in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where the streams carry the fertilizer and manure to the bay. A professor at Elizabethtown College and a studier of the Amish, Donald Kraybill, says, “They are very resistant to government interference, and they object to government subsidies.” So they have not been very receptive to the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency, which has suggested improvements to individual farmers. But the farmers take it as an insult. They reject anything from the EPA, therefore continuing to help create “dead zones” in the bay, which are places where the oxygen levels are too low to support life. Their farming practices are rooted in the less environmentally safe ways of the past; cows are allowed to wade into streams and defecate in the water, the placement of the farming fields works against proper drainage, and manure is utilized when holding tanks are full. And according to an article on pennlive.com, “What matters is the work. A plain-sect farmer isn’t interested in much of anything unless it works for him – and his farm.” Sadly, it certainly seems that way.

Sadly, it is not just the puppy mills that are an issue. The Amish are known for being abusive toward many other animals, as well. We’ll start with the horses, whom the Amish view as farm equipment and not living creatures. Their buggy horses are often underweight, lame, or scarred from ill-fitting saddles. They are tethered and left standing all day long, expected to then trot home in the fading light. When they grow too old or tired, they are slaughtered. Moving on to cows, they have Holsteins that have udders so swollen, they drag on the ground between their legs. And back to the dogs, they kill healthy ones instead of paying to give them medical care when needed. And the list goes on. Some people say that the measure of a man is how he treats his animals, and by that standard, these people are among the smallest of men, especially when all else is considered.

If you want to hurt or piss off an Amish person, apparently all you need is a pair of scissors. It is a rule among the Amish that women do not cut their hair, and men do not cut their beards. So to cut another person’s hair is one of the most serious offenses you can commit. Even to cut one’s own hair or beard is punishable by shunning and shame. To cut the hair or beard of someone else is considered a hate crime and is severely punishable. Interestingly, mustaches are not allowed but beards are essentially required, since beards were commonplace in the Bible. However, men may shave or cut their beards until they are married, at which time they must stop. One example of a person committing a haircut/beard-cut crime in recent years is the case of Samuel Mullet (in the first of the mugshots above), who got 15 of his followers to attack other Amish communities in this way. They were found guilty of cutting the hair and beards of rivals in their community. Convicted of religious hate crimes and conspiracy, Mullet is serving 11 years in a federal prison in Texas, while the others received various lighter sentences, and many are back home already.