An Amish Paradox

by Charles E. Hurst

  The Mount Hope Produce Auction draws customers from around the area and sellers from around the whole state. Photograph by Doyle Yoder.

  Technology and Pandora’s Box

  The movement into factory, construction, and manufacturing occupations has exposed Amish employees and entrepreneurs to a variety of new devices and experiences, not the least of which are modern technologies. For example, in 1999 a new woodshop opened every week in the Holmes County Settlement, initiating a demand for more phones, faxes, and computers. Amish efforts to maintain ethical and cultural boundaries between themselves and English society are perhaps most tested when it comes to technology. Because of sensitivity to maintaining the core of their culture, Amish enterprises have had to be judicious in their adoption of new technologies. On the one hand, Amish employers and workers tend to be eminently practical and need to make a living, while on the other hand, they also want to keep their humility and separateness intact. Keeping up with technology allows Amish businesses to compete more successfully. They feel the need to improve their edge especially because they are competing with foreign imports (for example, furniture from China), and of course new mechanical technologies are often more efficient than hand methods of doing things.

  Sometimes, however, the Amish fail to anticipate all the consequences associated with adopting technology. To many Amish, new technology is a little like the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box, in which Pandora was given a jewel-encrusted box as a wedding gift from Zeus and was told that as long as she did not open the box, her marriage would be successful and happy. But, being curious, Pandora could not resist. She opened the box and loosed all kinds of problems upon herself and others. The possibility of unwanted consequences is the reason groups like the Amish are so selective in their use of “modern” technology.

  Technology may be a gift in one sense, but undesirable effects may come with it. The cell phone is an example. Different cell phones have different options. All New Order churches in the Holmes County Settlement have banned the use of cell phones, except under unusual or emergency circumstances, because it may be possible to use them for text messaging, Internet access, and other things, in addition to simply calling someone. For most Amish, these extra functions create a Pandora’s Box situation, opening the door to concerns and problems they wish to avoid. If cell phones are accepted in general, how “are you going to keep that in line?” asked a New Order employer. “Cell phones are a touchy subject,” commented an Old Order business owner. Young people use them to get together, and then “things happen.” As in education, what is important in technology is its effects and how it is used. A related problem is that once a technology comes into general use and people become dependent on it, it is very difficult to ban the item. The cat is already out of the bag.

  As a group, the Amish filter out devices that do not meet prescribed criteria. Church leaders and members are involved in making those decisions, and it is possible to find variations not only between affiliations but between individual churches in the same affiliation as well. The potential adoption is clearly discussed and reasons are given for its acceptance or rejection. As one Amish woman said, if asked why church officials made the decision they did, “they could tell you exactly why they decided, what that would lead to, and why we don’t have it.”

  A first criterion is that the technology must not violate the Ordnung of the church. In addition, the Amish are careful to consider the technology’s long-term consequences for the coherence and constancy of community life. “If something has a greater potential for harm, we don’t own it.” Greater efficiency to be gained from a new technology is not a sufficient reason to accept it. Finally, technologies are more likely to be adopted if they make long-term economic sense. It is this set of criteria as an integrated group upon which decisions regarding acceptability of technology are made. For example, the continued use of horses rather than a tractor requires that farmers keep their farms relatively small (75–125 acres), allowing a family to work together side-by-side in maintaining the farm themselves. Horses also need less upkeep and maintenance than tractors and provide free natural fertilizer for the fields. Consequently, in the long run they are less costly, more practical, and indirectly encourage familial togetherness.

  There are distinct differences in the usage of technology within the Holmes County Settlement, but these distinctions often become quite complicated. Kraybill’s nuanced description of tractor use by the Amish is still largely accurate when applied to the Holmes County Settlement. The tractor is used by Andy Weaver, Old Order, and New Order farmers “in selective and controlled ways,” but the New Order is the most liberal in its use.48 Some New Order churches permit the use of tractors for short-distance road travel. When farming, New and some Old Order farmers can use tractors for hauling crops from the field, but they use horses for traction in the field. The only mechanized equipment used by Swartzentruber Amish in the field is a sprayer powered by a gas motor.

  The use of rubber tires and sliding doors on buggies and the use of air tires on equipment are permitted in the New Order, while the Old Order requires steel tires and prohibits sliding curtains on their buggies. The argument is a practical one for the New Order: steel wheels are louder and often rattle bolts loose, and they are more costly in the long run. But the situation can become “complicated,” as when some Old Order Amish who must move heavy loads in sawmills put foam in their tires. Old Order Amish can have air tires on their balers for better flotation and on their mowers, but not on their tractors.

  And even the distinction of steel versus rubber can become blurred. A new buggy for sale at a recent Holmes County benefit auction featured steel wheels with “new style rubber buffers” that lie just under the ribbon of steel that coats the outside of the tires. Even with the rubber buffers, these wheels would be permissible for Old Order Amish because steel covers the outer edge of the tires. The buggy had numerous other accessories (a hand-controlled windshield wiper, a battery-operated inside reading light, turn signal lights, hydraulic rear brakes, rear and front lights, two rear view mirrors, padded upholstered seats, and a clock). A Mennonite woman remarked that “all it needed is an engine.”

  The differences in technology use can be seen in the shop, too. All the Amish use diesel power. The Old Order and New Order Amish use electric tools powered by diesel generators and hydraulic and air tools. The Andy Weavers can use air tools and diesel-powered tools, but not hydraulic or electric tools. The Swartzentrubers use only hand tools and line shafts with belts run by diesel—no air, hydraulic or electric tools.

  Electricity-powered machines that increase efficiency and productivity for a business may be appropriately changed and redesigned so that their operation is consistent with church rules.49 One Old Order businessman noted that much of his equipment was effectively converted to use hydraulic power; as a result, his Amish employees could run the machines themselves and he did not have to hire English workers. Trying to remain competitive in a marketplace that is often international sometimes leads to conflict between church traditions and the need for increased productivity. Some new technologies can lower labor costs while also increasing production, but they may threaten the “by hand” method traditionally used by many Amish. So pressure is created to reinterpret or adapt a church’s Ordnung so that it permits certain technologies. Such alterations are most unlikely within the conservative Swartzentruber affiliation. A recent development has been the use of electricity from the public power grid by some New Order Christian Fellowship businesses.

  Starting on the left, a diesel is hooked up to a line shaft and then to hydraulics to run all the machines in the shop of a large business. The cylinder just left of center is a heat exchanger used to heat the shop. Photograph courtesy of Charles Hurst.

  Technology often sneaks in whether one wants it or not, and often out of necessity. For example, a group of New Order churches decided to accept a particular sewing machine, even though it operated using a computerized
program, because “there’s too much involved here to do without the computers.” Not to change can endanger livelihoods. New technology can also alter the interface between workers and machines as well as social relationships in the workplace. This is as true in the factory as it is in the farm field. The recent adoption of milking machines by the mainline Old Order Amish in Holmes County was seen as needed for the economic survival of their dairy farms. The Andy Weavers decided not to allow milking machines and have, as noted earlier, left dairy farming in larger numbers than Amish of the other orders. The result is that Andy Weaver Amish have had to seek out employment in factories and shops. Affiliations often react differently to the externally driven push for change, but the pressures to adopt newer technologies will never abate.

  Our survey results suggest that New Order Amish are much more likely than more conservative orders to own fax and copy machines. Intricate variations also exist with respect to computers; some New Order churches do not allow computers, but others do. Nine percent of the respondents in our survey who are employed said they use computers in their work. Andy Weaver Amish avoid computers, as do the Swartzentrubers. One New Order employer estimated that almost all Andy Weaver and Swartzentruber Amish would be uncomfortable working with a computer in their jobs, compared to about three-quarters of Old Order and one-quarter of New Order Amish.

  Complicating the matter is that the definition of “computer” is sometimes debatable. A New Order Christian Fellowship respondent described a “Classic Word Processor” that is used by some New and Old Order individuals because it is not a computer, according to its Old Order Mennonite developer. The ad for it states that the processor is “made specifically for the plain people—Nothing fancy. Just a work horse for your business.” Those who would worry about its being converted into a computer need not be concerned, because there is “unequalled safety: No modem, no internet connection, no outside programs, no sound, no games.”50

  These accounts of technology usage demonstrate again the ingenuity and inventiveness of Amish groups as they adapt to changing technological conditions. Technologies are often mixed bags; one part is desirable while another is not. Cell phones with multiple options and sewing machines with computer programs built into them are good examples.

  The “Classic Word Processor,” used by many Amish businesses, allows word processing, spreadsheet work, and drawing, without providing access to the Internet. Photograph courtesy of Charles Hurst.

  The preceding illustrations indicate why it is unwise to make sweeping statements about the Amish community’s relationship to technology. As mentioned in previous paragraphs, there are several layers through which technology decisions are funneled: At the broadest level, there is some technology that none of the Amish find acceptable (for example, owning automobiles). Then there are technologies that can be used for some purposes but not for others (for example, tractors), and there are technologies or machines that are defined differently by different Amish affiliations (for example, computers versus word processors). Perhaps most fundamentally, there are differences between affiliations in what technology is acceptable. The different affiliations also face different kinds and levels of pressures to adopt technologies, simply because of their varying distributions among economic niches and occupational categories.

  Within the Holmes County Settlement, for example, there is some concern for the discrepancies or inconsistencies about the rules for using technology in farming as compared to nonfarming occupations. Kraybill points out that because farming is embedded in Amish tradition, its technology is more subject to the restrictions of the Ordnung than is technology in the newer, nonfarm enterprises.51 One Amish employee mused, “If you’re a farmer, they expect you to use horses. They expect you to use the old fashioned stuff, and then here you have [a] lumber [yard] … and there they actually have a computer which I guess varies a little bit from church to church.” Moreover, within affiliations, individual churches may differ, since decisions are made on the church district level. Finally, even within single churches there are occasional differences between individuals in their use of technology. “I could tell you about two local Amish men,” commented a New Order woman, “who might as well have a car because they use their tractor like one.” As long as there are individuals, anomalies like this will crop up.

  All these variations make facile generalizations about technology and the Amish misleading if not flat-out inaccurate, especially for the Holmes County Settlement, because of the diversity of its Amish population. A New Order businessman who has lived in Holmes County all his life warns against such generalizing, pointing out that in some ways the New Order is more conservative than the Old Order, but in other ways it is not.

  As more Amish become increasingly involved in nonfarming enterprises, the demands placed upon them to adopt more technologies will probably intensify: “We adopt one thing and there are two more on the horizon. And it’s not going to get any simpler.” Nine out of ten Amish in our survey believe there are some technologies that are harmful to the stability and integrity of Amish culture regardless of how they are used. The Internet, TV, and computers were singled out most. Concerns about these focused on the impossibility of controlling their proper usage. As one respondent put it, “90% of the people do not have the discipline to use it [the Internet] in only healthy ways.” Another saw the computer as a “handy tool” for the devil.

  Wealth: Its Danger and Its Promise

  The Amish in the Holmes County Settlement have been ingenious and in many cases highly successful in facing the economic pressures attending the decline in availability and the increase in cost of farmland. An inevitable outcome of their success has been an increase in wealth, including the appearance of millionaires within their community. One analyst, who grew up in an Amish-Mennonite home near Holmes County, contends that “the Old Order Amish have become rich. In the eyes of more traditional Amish [for example, Swartzentrubers] they have collaborated with the root of all evil—the love of money.”52 Across the board, however, Amish affiliations are aware of the potential threat wealth poses to their lifestyles. But restrictions are generally not placed on the growth of wealth as long as it is obtained in honest business. “That’s not a problem,” commented an Old Order respondent.

  Possession of wealth in itself, then, is not necessarily an evil. A Swartzentruber bishop told us, “Abraham had money, and it didn’t do much harm.” An Old Order leader agreed that “prosperity is a blessing and comes from God.” But there is no doubt that wealth can be a temptation and a danger. Viewing wealth as ultimately belonging to God rather than to oneself can be “a very, very hard mentality to keep, especially if you work hard and long for your money.” But the alternative, seeing money as “mine to use it however I want,” is going to get one “in trouble,” argued a local Mennonite historian. Wealth is a “challenge,” but it “can be used right.”

  The danger arises when a person wants it too much or consumes it selfishly. Moderation and discipline are required: “It’s just like eating … we have to eat but if we don’t discipline ourselves we become gluttons. Gluttony is wrong. Eating is not.” Wealth can encourage its owner to rest on his or her laurels, and it makes it harder to maintain humility, which is stressed the most among the Swartzentrubers. And to seek wealth as an end in itself is to be led into worldly materialism. Wealth can also be a danger for those who do not have it because it can foster feelings of jealousy. “There’s always some jealousy for those who do well; it’s the same among the English,” observed a Swartzentruber man. “Jealousy is a big sickness.”

  Differences in wealth, of course, exist among the Holmes County Amish; there are millionaires in their midst and, as we have seen, families who are eligible for food stamps. The Swartzentruber church as a whole has the greatest proportion of families who are in or near poverty, in part “because of the limitations that they impose on themselves.” At the same time, they do not need as much money as the other Amish, because of thei
r ascetic lifestyle. One New Order member said he knew a Swartzen-truber family that was getting by on four thousand dollars per year. But too often, in the long run, a price is paid because such a low income leads to poorer nutrition and less preventive health care.

  Opinions differ regarding the extent to which wealth differences are noticeable within the Holmes County Settlement. Swartzentruber churches work hard to moderate such differences among their members and to lead lives that are models of extreme simplicity and lack of adornment. Whereas the Swartzentrubers place and enforce more formal restrictions on possession of wealth, the New and Old Order churches strongly admonish members that the possession of wealth should not affect lifestyle. “Incomes vary but it should not be that a person from the outside can walk into our homes and make a distinction between those who make $50,000 a year and those who make $250,000 a year.”

  Traditional values also lead to ways to minimize economic discrepancies. If someone is in need, through no fault of his or her own, or if a community needs to have something done, it is expected that those who have more will give more: “You expect to give more because you’ve been successful, you’re more lucky, you’re better at business, and you don’t resent it.” This is a way of leveling out the existing inequality. Despite rigorous attempts to avoid broadcasting one’s wealth, however, sometimes wealth is manifested in landscaping, fencing, large homes, standing orders for new buggies, eating out often, and trips for pleasure.