Rachel E. Stein

Crashes involving motor vehicles and buggies are often catastrophic for the drivers and passengers of the buggies. Recent safety recommendations focus on making buggies more visible; however, this strategy may not address the primary causes of buggy and motor vehicle crashes. To understand what safety recommendations might be most effective, we must understand the scope and nature of these crashes. We used The Diary, a monthly Amish periodical, to gather information on crashes between motor vehicles and buggies from 2015 through 2022. Crashes are reported by Amish scribes from across the United States and Canada. We recorded the victim demographics, the result of the crash for the victims, the cause of the crash, and the point of impact. Over one quarter of the crashes resulted in a serious injury or death. Crashes due to motor vehicle driver error are the most common, and these crashes are likely to be rear-end impacts. When Amish buggy drivers are at fault, broadside hits are most common. Implementing signage or flashing lights in areas with high buggy traffic can make motor vehicle drivers more aware. Infrastructure changes such as widening of roads could allow horses, buggies, and motor vehicles to travel together more safely. Moreover, automobile technological changes provide a potential safeguard against rear-end buggy crashes through safety features that automatically warn drivers of obstructions in front of their vehicles.

Reasons for vaccine hesitancy, refusal, and acceptance within the Amish and Old Order Mennonite populations reflect the views of the larger society, often citing risks or protective factors as motivating behavior. We use the open-ended comments from a survey of Amish and Old Order Mennonite parents in the Holmes County, Ohio, settlement to explore views on vaccination decisions. We find the Amish and Mennonite respondents talk about vaccine risks and benefits through a moral worldview lens of faith, family, and community. We note the values of the Amish and Old Order Mennonites do not motivate behavior uniformly across all respondents. The findings have important implications for how health care workers provide information and care to people in the Amish community.

Many Amish people engage in manual labor tasks at work, on the farm, and at home. As such, the daily risk for injury is high. The primary mode of transportation, horses and buggies, also creates opportunities for accidents and injuries. Much of the research on injuries among the Amish focuses on hospital reports, capturing only the most severe injuries. Research is also limited by a focus on injuries to children. Many safety programs are tailored toward people living in large Amish settlements, as more people can be reached. We use accident reports submitted to The Diary, a monthly newspaper, to determine the type and prevalence of accidents in small Amish communities. Accidents related to falls, manual labor, and buggy and/or vehicle crashes are the most prevalent forms of injury across age groups. Most accidents do not involve serious injuries and are likely to escape the purview of mainstream medicine. The prevalence of accidents at the house or on the property involving young children suggests that culturally appropriate prevention measures tailored to daily activities would be helpful to lower the incidence of injury.

America’s strict Anabaptist communities (such as the Amish) remain a curiosity in the 21st century. Their commitments to modesty and technological simplicity mark them countercultural, drawing curious onlookers. This chapter considers how members of these strict Anabaptist communities use, reject, and adapt certain technologies to conform with cultural expectations. By regulating technological practice, these communities establish “cultural fences” (Kraybill 2004; Kraybill, Johnson-Weiner, and Nolt 2013). This chapter examines how Amish (and members of other Plain Anabaptist communities) embrace or reject technology. We argue that these dynamics follow the principles of negotiated order (Strauss 1978; Maines 1982). Drawing on Donald Kraybill’s (2001) suggestion that the Amish “negotiate with modernity,” we show how adopting, rejecting, and adapting technology establish symbolic boundaries of Amish identity.

Public health officials promoted COVID-19 vaccines to limit burdens placed on the U.S. healthcare system and end the pandemic. People in some closed religious communities refused to vaccinate and likely acquired temporary immunity through infection. This paper compares the death rates in Amish, Old Order Mennonites, and conservative Mennonite groups to a rate estimated for the U.S. population. Approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population was immunized against COVID-19, while few in the Amish/Mennonite community were. We find divergent patterns. Once vaccines became available, excess deaths declined in the general population and remained elevated among Amish and Mennonites. Vaccination campaigns must consider and value the cultural beliefs of closed religious communities to be effective.

Research indicates demographic trends within the Amish community remain stable over time, even as Amish populations proliferate. However, most of the research on demographic trends fails to examine variation across affiliations. We use data from Ohio Amish Directory, Holmes County and Vicinity, 2010 to construct age-sex population pyramids for three different affiliations. Population pyramids render the growth, decline, and stability of populations visible. Andy Weaver (or Dan) and Old Order churches present expanding pyramids implying rapid growth, while New Order churches render a stationary pyramid indicating slower growth. Sociologists of religion consistently find that strict churches, cultivating separation from the outside world, tend to grow faster than those that foster accommodation with the outside world. We argue that the data presented in this article suggests a similar dynamic at work in Plain Anabaptist communities.

Recent scholarship finds linkages between religiosity and vaccination practices but neglects the role of religious, social structural influences. The relationship between religious beliefs and immunization in the context of closed religious communities remains understudied. We use a survey of Amish and Old Order Mennonite parents to explore relationships between religious belief, group closure, perceived vaccine effectiveness, and vaccine uptake. The results indicate higher group and individual closure levels are positively related to having unvaccinated children and vaccine hesitancy. Perceptions of vaccine effectiveness partially explain these associations. Healthcare providers should consider constructing culturally competent programs to reach closed communities.