The Amish population.

Do you think of the Amish as leading an "endangered" lifestyle? Maybe it's that we associate them with being old-fashioned, so to speak, but I confess that when I have considered them -- whether when teaching my kids about the impact of Wisconsin v. Yoder or buying preserves from a farm stand -- it has been with a sort of wistfulness. Surely they won't be able to hold out forever against the encroachment of the wider world around them.

Not so: in fact the Amish are one of the fastest-growing religious groups in the country, according to an Ohio State University census:

The study, released July 27 at the annual meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, suggests a new community sprouting every three and a half weeks.

Nearly 250,000 Amish live in the U.S. and Canada, and the population is expected to exceed 1 million around 2050.

The growth may not be visible outside Amish country, but the rural settlements definitely see the boom.

"This place has grown," said Daniel Miller, 52, who has spent his life on an Amish settlement here. "It's because all of the kids."

...The Amish double their population about every 22 years, said Joseph Donnermeyer, the Ohio State professor who led the census project as part of the recent 2010 U.S. Religion Census.

Interesting, no?

 

Comments

[Barbara C.]

I have great respect for the Amish. They are probably the Protestant group that reminds me most of the Catholic Church. It's obviously not because of doctrine, but because they take the time to consider all of the consequences before embracing any thing "new", and they are not afraid to say "this idea/technology is not worth the consequences of using it".

I always wonder if we conservative religious folks are eventually going to win out in the social and political arena just based on numbers...since the biggest "breeders" these days tend to be the conservative religious like orthodox Catholics, evangelicals, Amish, orthodox Jews, Muslims.

[MelanieB]

Very interesting. It doesn't say what the average number of children for an Amish family is. The article is really rather vague on the subject of family size, isn't it? I'm guessing they eschew birth control as a modern technology. I wonder if they do natural family planning at all or are more providentialists.

[Jennifer Fitz]

Crossing western NC in July, we saw a lot of hex signs on the barns. I was puzzled, because I don't think of it as an Amish area. I didn't see any other signs of an Amish presence, so it might have been just the trendy thing around there.

[Ellen]

Erin-
I live in an area near a large Amish population, so I was not surprised at all to hear how fast they are growing.
Wegot to know an AMish family a bit a few years ago when my son was in the NICU. The grandpa was in the NICU lounge. Very friendly. HE said he had raised 12 children, and had something like 50 (maybe it was a lot more, can't quite remember)grandchildren. The grandchild that was in the NICU was child #8 in her family.
The Amish where we live do not use birth control, families of 8 or so children are common.