Recently a friend of mine took his family to see the Amish at Belleville, Pennsylvania. His son-in-law had never seen Amish and for those who have seen this group of people usually comment on how the Amish are like a living museum. They still use horse and buggy, they dress differently, and their homes lack electricity. Someone not familiar with the Amish would wonder why they live in this closed society and endure these cultural differences.

The origins of the Amish including the name can be traced to Jacob Amman. This man of Swiss decent from the late 17th century broke off from the Mennonite church over issues related to interpretations of the bible. Jacob held to strict interpretations of the bible and this new sect was considered reformists. Some people would consider the Amish of protestant faith and some Amish may consider themselves more Ana-baptists but truth be told there is no clear interpretation as to how they are defined within Christianity.

Within the Amish faith there are four sects; the Swantzengruber, Old Order, Andy Weaver, and New Order. These groups operate independently of each other and range from very conservative to a little more liberal in their ways. The Swantzengrubers are the most conservative, then the old order, followed by the Andy Weaver, and then the New Order. Most prevalent in America are the Old Order and New Order.

The Old Order Amish cling to traditions. Electricity and machines are not permitted on their farms. You can recognize married men because they must have beards, and ride in closed horse-drawn vehicles. Single men and and people who are courting ride in open carriages. These groups are very close knit and most of them bear less than 10 family names.

The Amish believe the bible to be the ultimate authority and still engage in ceremonially foot washing and maintain simple clothing. Most of the clothes of the Amish are black or dark in color,  their clothing contains no buttons just hook and eyes. They avoid all things new like radios, televisions, and plumbing. All of these things are meant to do away with the sin called pride. Even their churches are house churches because an actual structure would be a source of pride.

Some of the New Order Amish have plumbing in their homes, use machinery without rubber tires, and while they might not have a telephone, they will use a pay phone.

The Amish in Pennsylvania can be linked to William Penn's great experiment in 'Holy Tolerance'. William Penn was granted lands in 1681 which would eventually become Pennsylvania. He decided to invite people of different religions to come and settle here free of persecution and the response was well received by people of Quaker, Amish and other faiths. These people were often persecuted by taxation, slavery, or sometimes with their own life. Pennsylvania proved to be a welcomed relief and many took advantage.

There are nearly 140,000 Old order Amish in North America. For more information on where you can see an interact with Amish visit Jack's Blog on his trip to Belleville.