Perils of modern world encroach upon Amish

Christian Century, July 15, 1998

Pennsylvania's Amish and Alberta's Hutterites, related Anabaptist groups usually seen by outsiders as largely immune to contemporary society's ills, have been rocked by legal problems generally unheard of in those communities. Two Amish men have been charged with distributing cocaine within their community, while 12 Hutterite men and boys have been charged with a series of sex offenses over a number of years.

About 20,000 Old Order Amish, a strict Anabaptist sect whose members shun most worldly ways, dress in "plain" garb and require adult baptism, live in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, where they rarely make the news. Recently, however, Abner Stoltzfus, 24, and Abner King Stoltzfus, 23 (who are not related), were charged along with eight members of a Pagans motorcycle gang with selling cocaine. Police said the Amish men purchased the drugs from the bikers and then resold them to other Amish youths.

The arrests shed light on a little-known Amish practice called "rumschpringen," or "running around." It involves allowing Amish teenagers and young adults to spend several years being exposed to the world's temptations such as driving cars and drinking--and apparently the Amish must now contend with America's drug problem. If and when the young people decide to become baptized and rejoin the church, they revert to the group's strict ways.

In Alberta, ten men and two boys have been charged with 34 sex offenses ranging from incest to fondling the genitals of young girls. Four of the group, ranging in age from 17 to 22, have already pleaded guilty to fondling young girls and were placed on probation and ordered to perform community service. Provincial Court Judge Gordon Clozza urged the Hutterite community, which numbers about 20,000 in Alberta and elsewhere in western Canada, plus another 40,000 in the U.S., to establish a sex-education program for its young people. "They are terribly embarrassed and ashamed," said Hugh Sommerville, a lawyer advising the Hutterites, who practice a form of communal living.