The Amish are surprisingly wealthy, likely a profit center for neighbors & the government due to their refusal to use government services but still paying taxes, and are not (yet) disturbingly large proportions of the population.
They are also currently a case of selection bias: there are many countries where recognizable out-groups most certainly have fallen prey to unFriendly humans. (How many Jews are there now in Iran, or Syria, or Iraq? How are the Christians doing in those countries? Do the Copts in Egypt feel very optimistic about their future? Just to name some very recent examples...)
For that matter, when you think of the Amish and the other “Swiss Bretheren” religions, why do you think “Pennsylvania” rather than “Switzerland and neighboring countries”? A sect that had to cross oceans to find a state promising religious freedom is our best example of humans’ high tolerance for diversity?
Yes, that’s a good point, although now that I think about it I don’t actually know what happened to the ‘original’ Amish. The Wikipedia Swiss Brethren mentions a lot of persecution, but it also says they sort of survive as the Swiss Mennonite Conference; regardless, they clearly don’t number in the hundreds of thousands or millions like they do in America.
The Amish are surprisingly wealthy, likely a profit center for neighbors & the government due to their refusal to use government services but still paying taxes, and are not (yet) disturbingly large proportions of the population.
They are also currently a case of selection bias: there are many countries where recognizable out-groups most certainly have fallen prey to unFriendly humans. (How many Jews are there now in Iran, or Syria, or Iraq? How are the Christians doing in those countries? Do the Copts in Egypt feel very optimistic about their future? Just to name some very recent examples...)
For that matter, when you think of the Amish and the other “Swiss Bretheren” religions, why do you think “Pennsylvania” rather than “Switzerland and neighboring countries”? A sect that had to cross oceans to find a state promising religious freedom is our best example of humans’ high tolerance for diversity?
Yes, that’s a good point, although now that I think about it I don’t actually know what happened to the ‘original’ Amish. The Wikipedia Swiss Brethren mentions a lot of persecution, but it also says they sort of survive as the Swiss Mennonite Conference; regardless, they clearly don’t number in the hundreds of thousands or millions like they do in America.