The Amish are an ethnoreligious group in the United States, located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The Amish church was founded in 1693 as a schism from Swiss anabaptist Protestantism, with Jakob Ammann gathering a following of people in both Switzerland and Alsace. During the 18th century, many Amish emigrated from the Palatinate region of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or the German-speaking parts of France or Belgium to the British colony of Pennsylvania in what is now the United States, as Pennsylvania was known for its religious freedom. Many settled in Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania, and they founded their own ethnic enclaves, in which the people spoke Pennsylvania Dutch and lived old-fashioned lifestyles. Amish people reject hochmut (pride, arrogance, and superiority) and value demut (humility) and gelassenheit (composure and calmness). The Amish reject modern technology for a variety of reasons: they believe that cameras can encourage personal vanity, that modern machines can decrease dependence on fellow community members for work, that status goods are sinful, and that electricity lines go against the Biblical commandment to not conform to the world. The Amish value rural life, pacifism, manual labor, and humility, and they do not buy commercial insurance, buy into Social Security, serve in the military, or use technology, preferring to adhere to a traditional lifestyle in a biblical manner. In 2016, there were 308,030 Old-Order Amish in the world.
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