Amish Success in Freezing the 16th Century

The Amish were part of the early Anabaptist movement in Europe, which took place at the time of the Reformation. The Anabaptists believed that only adults who had confessed their faith should be baptized, and that they should remain separate from the larger society. Many of the early Anabaptists were put to death by both Catholics and Protestants, and many others fled to the mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany. This move sparked the Amish tradition of farming and holding their worship services in homes, instead of churches. In 1536, a young Catholic priest from Holland, Menno Simons, joined the Anabaptist groups, who were nicknamed Mennonites. In 1693, a Swiss bishop named Jacob Amman broke off from the Mennonite church. His followers were called the Amish. Although the two groups have split several times, the Amish and Mennonite churches still share the same beliefs concerning baptism, non-resistance, and the Bible. They differ in matters of dress, technology, language, form of worship, and interpretation of the Bible. The Amish and Mennonites both settled in Pennsylvania as part of William Penn's holy experiment of religious tolerance. The first sizeable group of Amish arrived in Lancaster County in the 1720s or 1730s. Since