The Amish and Tourism: Understanding the Dangers


by A.H.



Many mainstream Americans recognize horse-drawn buggies, plain dress, and peaceful farms as staples of Amish life, but few understand the faith behind these cultural icons. Amish people do not adhere to a strict lifestyle just for the sake of being different; they believe Christ's teachings require them to live apart from the world. In their view, Romans 12:2, which instructs Christians not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, is one of the Bible's most important scriptures (Hartman, Central Motifs, 2). Their belief that being a part of God's Kingdom precludes participation in the corrupt "Kingdom of this World" greatly influences their response to the tourism their quaint lifestyle attracts. In the Amish view, all tourism feeds off of the "worldly" values and therefore is corrupt, but their disapproval grows with their own involvement. They dislike being made the main attraction because the tourism industry often treats them as curiosities and commodities, and they grow especially concerned when they become willing participants because they are supporting a corrupt activity, tying themselves to the "world" and possibly elevating their customs above their faith.

Conflict between the Amish faith and tourism lies in the essence of both: the Amish faith rejects a life aimed at pleasure seeking and tourism thrives on it. The Amish do not approve of self-indulgence because they believe it is a manifestation of the fallen nature of humans and thus "worldly" and sinful (Hartman, Central Motifs, 1). This view of self-indulgence appears clearly in the Amish magazine article "In the World but Not of It" when the author writes, "The selfish nature of man wants to be entertained, catered to, and filled with activity to keep him from thinking about the serious side of life" (8). The Amish believe life aimed at pleasure is wrong because it prevents Christians from putting God's Kingdom first in their lives. Meanwhile, the tourism industry tells people they should seek pleasure, that rest and relaxation and sensual satisfaction not only are not bad but are in fact good. Donald Kraybill discusses this conflict between these disparate views in his book The Riddle of Amish Culture. He writes "[T]ourism, in general, symbolizes worldly pleasure in the Amish mind. Tourists kill time, seek entertainment, and waste money - all of which contradict basic Amish virtues" (292). Thus, the Amish tend to object to much of the tourism industry's agenda even when it doesn't involve them as attractions.

However, the Amish have more reason to object to tourism when it turns their culture into the main draw, one reason being they do not like to be treated as mere objects of curiosity instead of real people just going about their everyday life. In the aforementioned magazine article, the author likens public attraction to Amish to the public attraction to an early 20th century zoo exhibit featuring a pygmy: the lure of both is their oddity. "It is natural for the fallen man to seek enjoyment in the sensational, the odd, and the exciting," he writes (8-9). The tourism industry seems to believe this claim. Many Web sites using the Amish as tourist-bait point out the peculiarity of the Amish people. One such site reads:

So you want to visit Amish country, so that you can learn about the Amish and Old Order Mennonites? We don't blame you! The Amish (and Old Order Mennonites) are a fascinating group of people who have preserved a totally unique lifestyle for centuries, and many people have enjoyed visiting Amish Country and learning about this special way of life (www.visitlancaster.com).
Another refers to the Amish as "intriguing people" (www.amishacres.com). Both treat the Amish as some sort of sideshow worthy of a visitor's curious peep. This view reduces Amish people's dignity as human beings and leads tourists to believe they have a right to step into an Amish home or interrupt an Amish person's day without invitation or welcome (Hartman lecture, Sept.5). Thus, by treating the Amish as mere oddities, the tourism industry forces them to cope with pushy, unwanted visitors in their communities.

Moreover, the tourism industry has transformed the Amish, their culture and their faith into commodities, it not only points to Amish society as something worth experiencing but also packages the Amish life in order to make sales. As discussed in Kraybill, the industry takes Amish cultural and religious symbols, such as the bonnet, buggy, and beard, and converts them into commercial items. About this practice, Kraybill writes, "Insensitive entrepreneurs who snatch sacred symbols and convert them into profitable products exploit the Amish soul (292). One Amishwoman agrees, saying:
We are serving as a tool to lure tourists to Lancaster County. Personally, I do not feel any resentment against tourists, but these tourist places are what's working against us. We are not living our peculiar way to attract attention. We merely want to live pure, Christian lives according to our religion and church standards and want to be left alone, like any human beings. We are opposed to having our souls marketed by having our sacred beliefs and traditions stolen from us and then distributed to the tourists, and sometimes having them mocked. (Kraybill, 292).
Both Kraybill and this Amishwoman criticize the tourism industry for taking the Amish's religious beliefs and putting them up for sale, but the Amish author of the "In the World" article points out the true threat to Amish culture appears not when outsiders misuse the Amish religion but when the Amish themselves willingly join in on the exploitation.

Going back to the Amish objection to pleasure-seeking and self-indulgence reveals one reason why the article's author would voice concern over the Amish purposefully allowing themselves to serve as tourist attractions. The Amish associate tourism with worldly pleasure; consequently, they do not want to encourage it. This rationale leads the article's author to write:
It is sobering to think that we as non-conformed people do not only need to preach about keeping the world out of our hearts and the church, we also need to be careful that the culture that results from that teaching does not serve as a diversion and a pasttime for the unregenerate society around us (8).
In other words, he is saying it's not enough for the Amish to abstain from the carnal excitement tourism offers if they then turn around and support the practice in others. Thus, he writes disapprovingly of the Amish becoming "ready accomplices and willing helpers in the tourist trade by giving buggy and wagon rides or in some other way entertaining a curiosity-seeking audience." He switches gears long enough to make clear the difference between amusing idle tourists and providing truth for those in need but concludes, "While we should never turn away an honest seeker, the tourist industry is hardly a fitting harvest field to be working in" (9). One reason it is not fitting is it is based on corrupt principles the Amish would tacitly be supporting.

Another reason the Amish see for avoiding participation in the tourism industry is the way it unites them with the outside world. While discussing the wrongfulness of promoting tourism in others, the aformentioned article's author wrote, "But when we join hands with an organized, structured tourism venture where the object is money and public appeal, then we need not only wonder what the world has come to, but where we as Plain People are heading [emphasis added]"(9). Here, the author has protrayed the Amish as uniting themselves with "worldly" people in a "worldly" enterprise when they work together with the tourism industry. He and other Amish condemn such an alliance because they believe they, as God's children, should live separate from the "Kingdom of the World" (Hartman, Central Motifs, 1-2); thus, even if the Amish approved of tourism, they would discourage a relationship with the tourism industry because it could blur the line between "us" and "them." Kraybill makes this point when he writes:
The once-despised heretics who sought separation from an evil world were now selling their own souls on the public market. With their own compliance, Amish images and symbols had become cultural commodities. Prosperity and worldly acclaim now threatened to erode the boundaries of separation that persecution had so clearly defined centuries ago (294).
Hence, besides now wanting to promote a sinful activity in others, the Amish also disapprove of involvement with the tourism industry because it improperly ties them to "the world."

Finally, the Amish take a dim view of involving themselves with the tourism industry because tourism places a greater emphasis on their customs than on the faith behind their customs; this focus on the outside rather than on the inside obscures the real reason for their nonconformed lifestyle. The "In This World" author stresses that the Amish should view their traditions as accidents of their beliefs, not the essence. He writes:
Our resistance to the culture of the world is not an effort to establish some counter- culture, to gain a following, or even to keep a following. It is the result of being followers - followers of the Christ and His teachings (11).
In other words, conforming to the Amish lifestyle should not be done to draw attention to that lifestyle but to glorify God. Kraybill overlooks this vital point when he claims tourism may strengthen Amish culture by creating expectations for it. He writes:
Knowing that tourists come to see a people driving horses and living without electricity reinforces expectations for such behavior...Such external expectations likely fortify rather than weaken actual Amish practice. To discard the buggy, for instance, would not only break Amish tradition, but it would also shatter the expectations of the outside world (293).
Although Kraybill's claim that the tourism industry may support the practice of Amish customs by creating expectations is rational, it does not address the problem that tourism tends to transform those customs into an end in themselves and puts them rather than the Amish faith on display.

This change of focus leads to pehaps the greatest danger tourism poses to the Amish community. If the Amish allow their traditions to take precedence over their faith, they risk losing the substance of their beliefs and becoming mere shells of their former Christianity; they may not change on the outside, but inside, they will be empty. The "In This World" author warns of this possibilty when he writes:
It would be sad if we would not stand out as plain people - sad if we would not be noticed. But it would be just as sad if, when we are noticed, people would probe beneath the surface...and find only emptiness, a lifestyle without Life, a pretense and not Truth. Indeed, if we humans claim the glory that belongs to God, they will see a way of life but not the way to Life (11).
For the Amish, maintaining their customs in the face of tourism is not enough; they want to maintain a pure motivation for continuing those customs, a motivation aimed only at pleasing God. If they allow themselves to get too caught up in the mere practice of their religion here on earth, they will forget the Amish belief that the true purpose of this is life is not this life but preparation for eternal life with God (Hartman, Central Motifs, 1). And in their view, forgetting that would remove all lasting meaning from their lives.