Quaker vs. Amish Beliefs

Children of a Different Light: A Loving Exploration of Quaker and Amish Faith

In the rich and varied story of Christian faith, few threads are as commonly yet mistakenly intertwined as those of the Quakers and the Amish. We see a horse-drawn buggy clip-clopping down a country road or hear a call for peace in a world of war, and our minds might conjure a single, blended image of a people committed to a simpler, quieter way of life. They are our brothers and sisters in what are often called the “historic peace churches,” and their steadfast witness has long been a source of gentle conviction and quiet admiration for many.

Yet, to see them as one and the same is to miss the beautiful and powerful distinctiveness of their spiritual journeys. They are not identical twins, but perhaps spiritual cousins, born of a similar longing but into different families, in different lands, and a century apart. Their stories begin as two separate streams flowing from the high ground of the Protestant Reformation, both born from a deep thirst for a more authentic and pure expression of faith. One stream, the Anabaptist, carved a path through the heart of 16th-century Europe, seeking to restore the disciplined community of the early separate from the world. The other, the Quaker, emerged from the fires of the 17th-century English Civil War, seeking to restore the direct, inward experience of the living Christ in every human heart.

To truly honor their faith is to understand their unique paths. It is to walk with them, to listen to their stories, to understand their hearts, and to see how each, in their own way, seeks to follow the light of Christ. This journey is not one of judgment but of loving exploration, an invitation to better understand the diverse and wondrous ways our God calls His people to live and worship. Let us begin this journey together, with open hearts, seeking to understand these two faithful families of God.

A Quick Guide to Quaker and Amish Beliefs

Are Quakers and Amish the Same Spiritual Family?

At first glance, the similarities between Quakers and the Amish can seem compelling. Both are known as historic “peace churches,” sharing a powerful commitment to non-violence and a refusal to participate in military service.¹ Both traditions emphasize the importance of living a simple, humble life, and both value the strength of a close-knit community.¹ It is this shared commitment to peace and simplicity that forms a deep spiritual connection between them. But to understand their relationship, it is crucial to recognize that there is no “organic connection” between the two groups; they did not grow from the same branch of the Christian tree.⁴

The Amish story begins in the heart of continental Europe during the 16th century. They emerged from the Anabaptist movement, a part of the “Radical Reformation” that sought to take the reforms of figures like Martin Luther even further.⁴ A century later, and across the English Channel, the Religious Society of or Quakers, was born amidst the turmoil of the English Civil War in the mid-17th century.³ While both were “restorationist” movements, desiring to return to the purity of original Christianity, they began in different places, at different times, and from different theological starting points.⁴

Perhaps the most visible source of confusion—their plain style of dress—is actually a beautiful story of their paths crossing in the New World. When Amish families emigrated to the American colonies in the early 1700s, they did so at the invitation of William Penn and other Quakers, who offered them refuge and religious freedom in Pennsylvania.³ The Amish, arriving as German peasant farmers, saw their Quaker neighbors in their simple bonnets and broad-brimmed hats and adopted a similar style of plain dress.⁴ In a sense, the Amish dress the way Quakers

used to dress, a historical echo of a time when their paths converged in a shared pursuit of a life set apart.

This shared pursuit reveals a deeper truth about their relationship. They are best understood not by a common lineage, but by a shared spiritual hunger. Both groups were born from a powerful dissatisfaction with the state churches of their day, which they saw as cold, formal, and spiritually lifeless.³ This common yearning for a more vibrant, authentic faith led them to embrace similar values of peace, simplicity, and integrity, such as refusing to swear oaths.¹ Yet, the foundational spiritual discoveries that answered this hunger were profoundly different. The Anabaptists focused on restoring the

visible church as a pure community of adult believers, physically separate from the corrupting influences of the world.⁴ The Quakers, on the other hand, focused on restoring the

direct, inward experience of Christ’s presence, the “Inner Light,” which they believed was available to every single person, inside or outside the church walls.³ This fundamental difference—restoring the holy community versus restoring the inner encounter—was the fork in the road from which all their other distinctions would flow. It is what makes them spiritual cousins, united in their goal, but not spiritual siblings from the same theological household.

What Are the Spiritual Journeys That Birthed These Two Faiths?

Every faith tradition is, at its heart, a story of God meeting humanity in a particular time and place. For the Amish and the Quakers, these stories are intensely personal, born from the earnest seeking of their founders who longed for a deeper, more authentic relationship with God than the world around them seemed to offer.

The Anabaptist and Amish Story: A Community of Conviction

The Amish journey begins within the larger Anabaptist movement of the 16th century. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, many felt that reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin had not gone far enough. They had reformed theology but had left the structure of the church largely intact, still intertwined with the power of the state and still baptizing infants into a “Christian society”.⁴ The Anabaptists, whose name means “re-baptizers,” argued for a radical idea: the church should not be a state institution but a voluntary community of adult believers who had consciously chosen to follow Christ.¹ For this belief, they were fiercely persecuted.

Over a century later, in 1693, a Swiss Anabaptist elder named Jakob Ammann felt that even this community of believers had grown lax.³ He called for a spiritual revitalization, insisting on a stricter adherence to the practices he believed were central to a pure church. This included the practice of

Meidung, or shunning, where members who fell into sin and refused to repent were to be socially avoided to maintain the purity of the church.⁶ He also advocated for the practice of foot washing as part of the communion service, and he forbade conformity to worldly fashions like trimmed beards and stylish clothing.⁶ This call for stricter discipline led to a painful division, and Ammann’s followers became known as the Amish, a distinct branch of the Anabaptist family tree, forever marked by their founder’s passion for a disciplined and separate community.⁶

The Quaker Story: An Encounter with the Inner Light

A century after the Anabaptist movement began, a young Englishman named George Fox found himself in a state of deep spiritual despair. He wandered the English countryside during the chaos of the Civil War, seeking answers from priests and preachers, but found none who could “speak to his condition”.⁸ The formal, institutional religion of his day felt empty and powerless. In his anguish, Fox had a series of powerful spiritual experiences, or “openings,” that would become the foundation of the Quaker faith.⁸

The most central of these was the revelation that a university education at Oxford or Cambridge did not qualify a man to be a minister of Christ.¹³ Instead, Fox came to believe that Christ himself had come to teach His people directly, without the need for any human mediator.¹⁴ He called this direct, unmediated presence the “Inner Light” or “Christ within,” a measure of God’s spirit and truth available in every human heart.³ This was a revolutionary message. It meant that everyone—man or woman, rich or poor, educated or not—could have a direct and personal relationship with God.⁵ This belief in the Inner Light led Fox and his followers, who called themselves Friends of the Truth, to reject the entire structure of the established church: its paid clergy, its “steeple-houses,” its tithes, and its formal sacraments.¹⁴ It also led them to refuse to swear oaths or bow to social superiors, since they believed all people were equal in the sight of God.³

The spiritual journeys of these two groups were forged in the fires of persecution, and their different responses to that suffering would shape their destinies. The Anabaptists were hunted, tortured, and martyred by both Catholic and Protestant authorities, who saw their rejection of infant baptism as both heresy and sedition.¹¹ Their history is recorded in books like the

Martyrs Mirror, which details centuries of persecution.¹⁶ This brutal experience taught them that the world and its governments were fundamentally hostile to true faith. Their survival, they concluded, depended on withdrawal and separation. The Amish

Ordnung, their code of conduct, became a spiritual wall to protect the community from a dangerous world.

Quakers, too, were imprisoned, beaten, and even executed for their refusal to conform to the state church.³ But their persecution often came as a result of their public witness—preaching in marketplaces, interrupting church services, and refusing to pay tithes. Their response, therefore, was not to withdraw but to engage. Led by figures like William Penn, they argued passionately in the public and political square for religious freedom and liberty of conscience.³ Penn’s “Holy Experiment” in Pennsylvania was a direct attempt to create a government founded on these principles. Thus, the shared experience of suffering pushed the Amish deeper into a life of separation and the Quakers further into a life of social and political engagement, setting them on the divergent paths they walk to this day.

How Do They Understand Our Path to God and Salvation?

At the heart of any Christian faith is the question of salvation: how are we reconciled to God through Jesus Christ? While both the Amish and Quakers are deeply Christ-centered, their understanding of this journey of salvation has a different texture, a different emotional landscape, shaped by their core beliefs about God’s relationship with humanity.

The Amish walk a path of humble hope. Their theology has been described as being similar to Calvinism but without the doctrine of predestination.⁴ They have a powerful sense of God’s sovereignty and the seriousness of sin. The path to God is one of lifelong faithfulness, obedience, and submission—a concept they call

Gelassenheit, or yielding one’s own will to the will of God as expressed through the community and its rules, the Ordnung.²⁰ A key element of Amish faith is that they do not claim to have assurance of their salvation in this life. To do so would be seen as an act of pride. They live in hope of God’s grace, but they will not speak of a moment of being “saved” or of knowing for certain their eternal destiny.⁴ Testimonies from those who have left the Amish community often speak of this spiritual weight, describing a life of “fear and heavy conviction of sin” and the anguish of “not knowing the destiny of my soul”.²² Theirs is a faith of powerful humility, lived out in the hope of mercy on the final day.

The Quaker path, by contrast, is one of direct experience. From the beginning, Quakers have believed that a personal, transforming encounter with the living Christ is possible here and now.⁴ The Inner Light is not just a guide; it is the very presence of Christ that has the power to forgive sin and bring about a real change in a person’s life, leading to justification.²³ The goal of the Quaker spiritual life is not simply to hope for heaven, but to live a life “filled with God” today.²⁵ Early Quakers even believed it was possible to reach a state of “sinless perfection,” where one could be freed from the power of sin in this life through obedience to the Light.²⁴ While they acknowledge that one can turn away from the Light and lose this state of grace, the possibility of knowing and experiencing salvation in this life is a central and joyful part of their faith.²⁴

This theological difference creates two very different roles for the faith community. For the Amish, the journey of salvation is lived out almost entirely through the community. The church is the ark of safety, and adherence to its discipline is the primary way one walks faithfully with God.²¹ To be excommunicated and shunned is not just a social punishment; it is to be placed in a state of grave spiritual danger, cut off from the means of grace that the community provides.²⁰ The community, in a very real sense, holds the path to salvation.

For Quakers, the saving encounter is a direct and personal one between the individual soul and the Inner Light of Christ.⁵ No community or clergy is needed to mediate this grace. The role of the Quaker community, or “Meeting,” is not to provide salvation but to be a place where individuals can listen for the Light together, and where the spiritual leadings one receives can be tested and confirmed by the collective wisdom of the group.¹ The community nurtures the seed of faith, but the seed itself is planted directly by God in the soil of the individual heart. This leads to a different spiritual center of gravity. For an Amish person, the deepest fear may be exclusion from the community. For a Quaker, the deepest fear may be losing that personal, inward connection to the voice of God.

Where Do They Find God’s Truth: In Scripture or an Inner Light?

Both the Amish and the Quakers hold the Bible in high regard, seeing it as an inspired and essential record of God’s revelation. But they differ on where they locate the ultimate source of spiritual authority. This distinction is perhaps the most crucial for understanding the deep-seated differences in their faith and practice.

For the Amish, authority is clear and concrete: it resides in the written Word of God, the Bible.³ Their homes and lives are “heavily rooted in Scripture,” which they hold to be the infallible Word of God.³ Their entire social structure is an attempt to live out a literal interpretation of the New Testament. The

Ordnung, the unwritten but powerful set of rules that governs every aspect of their lives, is not seen as an addition to the Bible, but as the collective wisdom of the community on how to apply biblical principles—especially the command to be separate from the world—to the practical details of daily life.²¹ For the Amish, the Bible is the fixed and final revelation of God’s will, and the community’s task is to faithfully obey it.

For Quakers, the ultimate authority is the source of the scriptures themselves: the Holy Spirit, which they refer to as the “Inner Light” or the “living Word”.⁸ Early Quakers were masters of the Bible, often knowing it by heart, but they believed that the same Spirit that inspired the prophets and apostles to write the scriptures must be present to illuminate the text for the modern reader.¹³ As George Fox wrote, he saw the truths of the faith “in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his immediate Spirit and powers, as did the holy men of God, by whom the Holy Scriptures were written”.⁸ The Bible is a precious and essential guide, but it is a “subordinate source” to the direct, continuing revelation of the Spirit in the believer’s heart.²⁴ Over time, this belief in “continuing revelation” has led to a wide diversity of belief among modern Quakers, with some Meetings placing personal experience so far above scripture that they no longer identify as exclusively Christian.³

This difference in the source of authority has had powerful consequences for the survival and character of each group. The Amish model of truth can be seen as “fixed.” The Bible provides an unchanging foundation, and the Ordnung creates clear, strong, and visible boundaries around the community.²⁶ This creates what sociologists call a “high cost of exit.” To leave the Amish community is to abandon everything—family, language, culture, and the entire social and economic support system. The chasm between the Amish world and the modern world is immense, making it a terrifying leap for those who choose to leave.²⁷ This combination of clear boundaries and the high cost of leaving has allowed the Amish to achieve a remarkable level of cultural preservation and has led to a high retention rate and steady growth in their population.⁴

The Quaker model of truth, in contrast, is “fluid.” The belief in the Inner Light and continuing revelation means that truth is not seen as a static deposit of faith but as a living, unfolding reality.⁹ This has allowed Quakerism to be incredibly adaptive, responding to the leading of the Spirit on issues of social justice and changing with the times. But this fluidity also creates permeable boundaries and a “low cost of exit.” A person can adopt modern dress, technology, and education and still be a Quaker in good standing. Over the centuries, this has led most Quakers to blend almost seamlessly into the wider society.³ The result is a spiritual paradox. The Amish, with their fixed model of truth, have preserved their distinct community at the cost of engagement with the world. The Quakers, with their fluid model, have had an enormous influence on the world through their social witness, but at the cost of much of their own cultural distinctiveness and, in many Western countries, their numbers.²⁷ They represent two different answers to a challenge every faith community faces: how to remain faithful to the past while being open to the Spirit’s leading in the present.

Why Do Amish Separate from the World While Quakers Engage It?

One of the most striking and visible differences between the two groups is their posture toward the wider world. Driving through the countryside of Pennsylvania or Ohio, one sees the Amish living a life apart, a quiet testament to their desire for separation. In contrast, the history of the Quakers is a story of deep and often courageous engagement with the world’s most pressing social and political issues. These opposite approaches are not matters of temperament but are deeply rooted in their core theologies.

The Amish life is a lived sermon on the theme of separation. Their fundamental theological understanding is that they are called to be a distinct people, separate from a “fallen world”.⁴ They take literally the biblical injunction to “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:17).⁴ This belief is the guiding principle behind their

Ordnung and dictates their famous rejection of modern technologies. Owning a car, connecting to the public power grid, or having a television in the home are forbidden not because these things are inherently evil, but because they are seen as the primary conduits for the values, temptations, and distractions of the outside world.³ This commitment to separation also extends to civic life. The Amish do not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military, believing their citizenship is in the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of men.³

The Quakers, on the other hand, have followed the guidance of their founder William Penn to be “in the world, but not of it,” loving the world with “weaned affections”.⁴ Their core belief in the Inner Light—that there is “that of God in everyone”—compels them to look for and appeal to that divine spark in all people, not just those within their own community.³ This has historically propelled them into the heart of the world’s struggles for justice. Quakers were among the earliest and most vocal abolitionists, operating the Underground Railroad and petitioning governments to end the sin of slavery. They were pioneers in the movements for women’s rights, prison reform, and the humane treatment of the mentally ill. Today, they continue this legacy of engagement, actively working on issues of peace, poverty, environmental stewardship, and human rights through organizations like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).¹

The human cost and blessing of these two approaches are often revealed in personal stories. The pain of Amish separation is felt most acutely by those who choose to leave the community. They often face shunning, a heartbreaking practice where family and friends are required to cut off social contact.²⁷ One woman who left recalled the devastating realization that she was “only loved for the clothes I wore, and the religion I professed to believe in”.³⁹ This reveals how the strength of the communal bond can become a source of powerful suffering when it is broken. The power of Quaker engagement is seen in their tireless work for a better world, a witness that has earned them the Nobel Peace Prize and the respect of many.

These two different postures stem from two different understandings of what “the world” means. For the Amish, “the world” (die Welt in their German dialect) is largely a geographical and cultural concept. It is the entire non-Amish society that lies outside the boundaries of their community.³ The spiritual strategy, therefore, is a defensive one: to build a strong, disciplined community and maintain a clear separation from the corrupting influences outside. For Quakers, “the world” is more of an ethical and spiritual concept. It is a system of violence, greed, injustice, and materialism that can exist anywhere, both in society’s institutions and in the human heart.³⁵ The spiritual strategy, therefore, is an active one: to go out into the world and “speak truth to power,” working to transform those unjust systems and heal the brokenness they cause.³ One seeks to be a light by keeping itself pure from the world; the other seeks to be a light by shining into the world’s darkest corners.

How Does Their Worship Invite Us into God’s Presence?

The way a community worships is a window into its soul. It reveals what it believes about God, about humanity, and about how the two meet. For the Amish and the Quakers, their distinct forms of worship could not be more different, yet each is a sincere and powerful expression of their core faith.

To attend an Amish worship service is to step into a world of tradition and community. There are no church buildings; instead, the community gathers on a rotating basis in the homes of its members, often in a cleared-out barn or workshop.¹ The service is long, lasting for about three and a half hours, and is conducted almost entirely in High German, a language that connects them to their European roots.⁴ The congregation sits on simple, backless wooden benches. The service includes two sermons, delivered by the male-only ministry of bishops, ministers, and deacons, who are chosen by lot from among the congregation.³ Between the sermons, the community sings hymns from the

Ausbund, the oldest Protestant hymnbook still in use, which contains songs written by their Anabaptist ancestors while awaiting martyrdom.¹⁶ The tunes are slow, chanted melodies passed down through generations without musical notation or instrumental accompaniment. The Amish also practice two outward ordinances, or sacraments: adult baptism for those who choose to join the and communion, which is held twice a year and includes the humble act of foot washing.³

To attend a Quaker “Meeting for Worship,” by contrast, is to enter a world of stillness and silence. In the most traditional, “unprogrammed” form of Quaker worship, there is no pastor, no choir, no planned sermon, and no liturgy.¹ Friends gather in a simple, unadorned meeting house, often sitting in a circle or square, and settle into a collective, expectant silence.¹ This silence is not empty; it is a form of prayer, a space for each person to listen for the “still, small voice” of God, the leading of the Inner Light.⁴³ If an individual feels a message has been given to them by the Spirit to share with the group, they will stand and speak briefly. This is known as “vocal ministry,” and it can come from any person in the room—man or woman, young or old.¹ A meeting may include several such messages, or it may pass in complete silence. Quakers do not practice outward sacraments like baptism or communion. They believe that all of life is sacramental, that any moment can be a moment of communion with God, and that true baptism is an inward cleansing by the Spirit, not an outward rite with water.⁴

These two forms of worship are perfect reflections of each group’s understanding of spiritual authority. The Amish service reinforces the authority of the community, the tradition, and the scriptures. The German language, the ancient hymns, the sermons delivered by the ordained ministry—all of these elements work together to preserve and transmit a received faith from one generation to the next.³ The individual is there to receive the truth that the community holds. The Quaker meeting, in its radical simplicity, locates authority in a completely different place: in the direct, unmediated presence of the Spirit available to every single person.⁵ The silence is the method for accessing that authority. The lack of a human leader is a powerful statement that Christ alone is the head of the meeting. The Amish worship service is a beautiful act of preservation. The Quaker meeting is a courageous act of ongoing, expectant discovery.

How Do They See the Spiritual Gifts of Women?

Among all the distinctions between the Amish and Quaker ways of life, perhaps none is more clear and powerful than their view on the role and spiritual gifts of women. This difference is not a minor point of church policy; it flows directly from the theological headwaters of each tradition and reveals their most basic beliefs about how God speaks and works in the world.

The Amish community is structured along traditional, patriarchal lines, based on their interpretation of scripture. In the family, the wife is expected to be submissive to her husband.²¹ This structure is mirrored in the where all positions of leadership and authority are held by men. During the long Sunday service, women are expected to remain silent, except for when the congregation joins together in song.⁴ They cannot preach, teach, or hold any official role in the church’s governance. Their vital contributions are in the home and in the raising of children, creating the stable foundation upon which the community is built. This order is seen as biblically ordained and essential for maintaining the divinely-willed structure of the church and family.

The Quaker tradition, from its very inception, has been a radical testimony to the spiritual equality of men and women.⁴ This belief is an inescapable conclusion drawn from their central doctrine of the Inner Light. If God’s light, the spirit of Christ, is present in every person, then it cannot be limited by gender.⁵ George Fox’s message of direct access to God empowered women just as it did men. As a result, women have always been among the most powerful and influential leaders in the Quaker movement. In the 17th century, at a time when women were almost universally silenced in public life, Quaker women were traveling ministers, missionaries, writers, and organizers. Margaret Fell, who would later marry George Fox, was a brilliant organizer and theologian who was instrumental in shaping the early Society of Friends.¹⁴ This practice of equality continues today, with women serving in every role of leadership and ministry within Quaker meetings across the globe.³¹

The role of women in each faith serves as a clear litmus test for their core theology. The Amish position is a direct result of their ultimate authority being the written text of the Bible, interpreted through the lens of tradition. Specific passages in the Pauline epistles that call for female submission and silence in the church are understood to be binding commands for all time. The Quaker position is a direct result of their ultimate authority being the direct, felt experience of the Holy Spirit. Early Quakers experienced the Spirit moving and speaking powerfully through women. They could not deny this living reality, and so their experience led them to understand the scriptures in a new light, emphasizing passages like Galatians 3:28, which states that in Christ “there is neither male nor female.” For the Amish, the text shapes the experience. For the Quakers, the experience illuminates the text. In this one issue, the fundamental difference in their sources of spiritual authority is made plain for all to see.

What Does It Mean to Be a “Peace Church” in a World of Conflict?

In a world so often torn apart by violence and war, the steadfast commitment of the Amish and the Quakers to peace is a powerful and challenging witness. Both are known as “historic peace churches,” a shared identity that has its roots in the Anabaptist and Quaker movements of the 16th and 17th centuries.¹ Both groups base their pacifism on the teachings of Jesus, particularly his commands in the Sermon on the Mount to “resist not evil,” “turn the other cheek,” and “love your enemies”.⁴⁶ This shared conviction leads both Amish and Quakers to refuse military service and to seek the status of conscientious objectors in times of war.³ Yet, while they stand together on this common ground, the way they live out their commitment to peace takes different forms, reflecting their different relationships to the world.

The Amish practice a deep and consistent ethic of “non-resistance.” This is a more inward-looking and passive approach to peacemaking, rooted in their theology of separation. For the Amish, the call to peace is a call to live as citizens of the kingdom of God, which is not of this world. It means they will not use force or violence to defend themselves, their property, or their country.⁴⁹ If faced with persecution or conflict, their historical response has been to suffer patiently or to move away, rather than to fight back.⁵⁰ Their peace witness is not primarily about changing the world’s political systems, but about living a life of faithful obedience to Christ’s commands within their own community, regardless of what the world around them does.

The Quakers, in contrast, have what they call a “Peace Testimony.” Although It includes the same commitment to personal non-violence, it is a more active and outward-looking principle. The Peace Testimony is not just about refusing to participate in war; it is about working to “take away the occasion of all wars”.⁴⁰ Quakers believe that their faith calls them to be peacemakers in the world, to actively confront the systems and injustices—like poverty, racism, and nationalism—that lead to conflict.³ Their witness is not just a “barren negative witness, a mere proclamation of non-resistance,” but a “positive, vital, constructive message” that seeks to transform society through non-violent action, mediation, and advocacy for justice.⁵¹

The most powerful and heart-rending modern illustration of Amish non-resistance came in the face of an unimaginable tragedy. On October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and shot ten young girls, killing five of them before taking his own life.⁴⁷ As the world watched in horror, it braced for the expected cries of anger and calls for vengeance. But what came from the Amish community was something that stunned and humbled the world: an immediate and powerful act of forgiveness. Within hours of the shooting, members of the Amish community visited the family of the gunman to offer their condolences and forgiveness. They attended his funeral, and a fund established for the Amish victims shared its resources with the gunman’s widow and children.⁴⁷ This was not a political strategy or a public relations move. It was the simple, unhesitating expression of their deepest-held beliefs, a lived-out testament to their faith in Jesus’ command to love their enemies. In that moment of unspeakable pain, the quiet strength of Amish non-resistance shone as a powerful light, revealing it not as passive weakness, but as a spiritual force of incredible power.

What Do Their Hearts Tell Us About Life in Their Communities?

To truly understand a faith, we must listen not only to its doctrines and its history, but also to the voices of those who have lived it. The personal stories of individuals from both the Amish and Quaker traditions paint a rich and complex picture of life within these communities, a story woven with threads of both deep comfort and powerful pain.

The Amish Experience: The Embrace and the Enclosure

For many who have grown up Amish, the community provides a powerful sense of security, identity, and belonging. Testimonies from former members often speak fondly of the simple beauties of their childhood: the gentle rhythm of farm life, the deep bonds with parents and siblings, and the feeling of being part of a “large extended family of sorts”.²² There is a security in knowing who you are and where you belong, in a world where roles are clear and life is ordered by a shared faith. One person recalled the “gentle and innocent” quality of their early life, a world sheltered from the chaos and confusion of modern society.³⁹

But for others, this same communal embrace can feel like a suffocating enclosure. Many who have left the Amish speak of a life that felt “trapped, hopeless, and pointless”.²² They describe an environment governed by the “fear of man,” where the endless rules of the

Ordnung left them feeling that they could not be their true selves.²² For some, this pressure leads to depression, anger, and a desperate search for freedom.²² The practice of shunning, in particular, reveals the painful side of this intense community focus. Those who leave are often cut off from the people they love most, leading to the heartbreaking conclusion that their community’s love was conditional upon their conformity.³⁹ In the most tragic cases, the insular nature of the community and the high value placed on submission can create an environment where abuse can occur and be hidden, with victims feeling they have nowhere to turn.³⁸

The Quaker Experience: The Freedom and the Fragmentation

People are often drawn to the Quaker faith by its promise of spiritual freedom. Testimonies from new Quakers, especially those coming from more dogmatic religious backgrounds, speak of the powerful liberation they feel in a community with no creed, no hierarchy, and no list of rules.³¹ One former Catholic described the life-changing moment in her first Quaker meeting when someone said, “Remember you can’t do anything wrong,” freeing her from a lifetime of religious guilt.³¹ The Quaker testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, and Equality provide a moral compass without a rigid set of regulations, and the silent meeting offers a space for a direct and personal connection with God.³⁰

Yet, this very freedom can also lead to a sense of spiritual fragmentation. Because the ultimate authority is the individual’s Inner Light, Quaker communities can sometimes lack a shared theological center. Some Christ-centered Friends have expressed feeling marginalized in liberal meetings where a “non-theist or atheist hegemony” seems to have taken hold, and where the language of Christ and the Bible is sometimes viewed with suspicion.³¹ The very adaptability that has allowed Quakerism to speak prophetically to the world has also led to its assimilation. As Quakers have blended into the wider culture, some feel that the tradition has lost its unique spiritual identity and discipline, becoming more of a social club for like-minded individuals than a distinct religious community.²⁷

These personal stories reveal a fundamental tension at the heart of religious life. The Amish system, with its strong emphasis on the authority of the community and its traditions, provides a powerful sense of belonging and continuity, but sometimes at the cost of individual freedom and spiritual autonomy. The Quaker system, with its radical emphasis on the authority of the individual’s direct experience of God, provides powerful spiritual freedom, but sometimes at the cost of communal cohesion and a shared religious identity. They represent two different answers to the timeless question of how to balance the needs of the one and the many, and the heartfelt testimonies from both traditions show us the human blessings, and the human cost, of each path.

How Does the Catholic Church View Its Anabaptist and Quaker Brothers and Sisters?

The journey of the Catholic Church’s relationship with the Anabaptist and Quaker traditions is a long and complex one, moving from deep-seated hostility during the Reformation era to a modern spirit of ecumenical dialogue and a search for mutual understanding. To appreciate this journey, it is helpful to look at the Church’s relationship with each group separately.

The Catholic View on Anabaptists (Amish)

The relationship between the Catholic Church and the Anabaptist movement, from which the Amish emerged, began in conflict. During the 16th century, the Church viewed the Anabaptists as a dangerous and radical heresy. It was Catholic theologians who first used the term “Anabaptist” or “re-baptizer” as a label of condemnation, linking their practice of adult baptism to ancient heresies and making it a crime punishable by death.¹¹ Consequently, Anabaptists suffered brutal persecution at the hands of Catholic authorities. This painful history became a core part of Anabaptist identity, enshrined in their foundational texts like

The Ausbund hymnbook and the Martyrs Mirror, which are filled with stories of their ancestors’ suffering and with strong anti-Catholic sentiments.¹⁶

For centuries, the chasm seemed “unbridgeable”.⁵⁶ But in the spirit of ecumenism that has marked the last half-century, this relationship has begun to heal. Theologians and historians now recognize the deep roots of Anabaptist piety in late medieval Catholic spirituality, such as the influence of monasticism on their ideal of a disciplined, voluntary community.⁵⁶ The Vatican has engaged in official dialogue with the Mennonite World Conference (representing the larger Anabaptist family), leading to joint statements like “Called Together to be Peacemakers”.⁵⁶ In a message commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement in 2025, the Pope acknowledged the “painful wounds” of the past and expressed a desire for “fraternal relations” to deepen and grow.⁵⁷ While this marks a major shift, a gap remains. The Amish, due to their decentralized nature and commitment to separation, have largely been “overlooked in the ecumenical shuffle,” and centuries-old misconceptions about Catholicism can still persist within their communities.¹⁶

The Catholic View on Quakers

The early relationship between the Catholic Church and the Society of Friends was one of “reciprocated hostility”.⁵⁸ Early Quakers saw the Catholic Church as the epitome of the apostate, institutional Christianity they were rejecting, condemning its priestly hierarchy, its outward sacraments, and its history of violence.³¹ The Catholic Encyclopedia, in turn, historically described Quakerism as a radical sect founded on the subjective and unreliable “inner light,” which had discarded the essential structures and dogmas of the Christian faith.¹⁸

Despite this history of mutual condemnation, deeper theological analysis reveals surprising points of connection. Both Catholics and Quakers, in their own ways, find spiritual authority in a source beyond the Bible alone—for Quakers, it is the immediate leading of the Spirit; for Catholics, it is Sacred Tradition and the teaching authority of the Church.³² Even more significantly, both traditions share a view of salvation that stands apart from the mainstream Protestant doctrine of “faith alone.” Both Catholics and Quakers believe that justification is not merely a legal declaration but involves a real, internal transformation of the person through grace, leading to a life of holiness and good works—a strong emphasis on sanctification.⁵⁸

In recent years, this has opened the door for a spirit of mutual learning. Catholic writers who have engaged with Quakerism suggest that the Catholic Church could learn from the Quaker commitment to public peacemaking, their practice of lay-inclusive, consensus-based decision-making, and the spiritual depth of their silent, prophetic worship.⁴⁶ Conversely, they suggest that Quakers could benefit from the Catholic appreciation for tradition and the intellectual life, a richer understanding of worship as a communal and sacred event, and a wider emotional vocabulary that includes a space for grieving sin and receiving mercy.³²

An interesting paradox emerges from this comparison. The Anabaptist faith, with its practice of baptism and communion and its focus on a disciplined church community, has a structure that is more familiar and recognizable to Catholics.⁴ The primary barrier to unity is the painful memory of historical persecution and specific doctrinal disagreements. The Quaker faith, on the other hand, with its rejection of all sacraments and all church hierarchy, appears structurally alien to the Catholic worldview.¹⁸ Yet, at a deeper theological level, the shared emphasis on a transformed life and the role of the Spirit creates an unexpected and powerful common ground. This complexity shows that the path to Christian unity is a layered one, with different challenges and different points of connection existing at every layer of faith, practice, and history.

Conclusion

The journey to understand our Amish and Quaker spiritual cousins is one that leads us away from simple caricatures and into a deeper appreciation for the rich diversity of Christian witness. Though often mistaken for one another, they represent two distinct, powerful, and deeply faithful responses to the call of the Gospel. They are truly children of a different light, each following the illumination they have been given with integrity and courage.

The Amish way is a testament to the power of preservation. In a restless and ever-changing world, they have built a community dedicated to preserving a sacred inheritance. Through their discipline, their separation, and their submission to the collective wisdom of their tradition, they seek to be a city on a hill, a visible sign of the kingdom of God set apart from the world. Their life is a quiet, steady sermon on the virtues of humility, simplicity, and faithfulness to a received truth.

The Quaker way is a testament to the power of the present Spirit. From their beginning, they have been a people on the move, following the living, inward voice of Christ into active and often costly engagement with the world. Through their commitment to equality, their active peacemaking, and their trust in continuing revelation, they seek to be salt and light within the world, working to transform its broken systems and answer “that of God in everyone.” Their life is a dynamic, ongoing testimony to a God who is not confined to the pages of history but who continues to speak, lead, and work for justice today.

Both paths offer a powerful, counter-cultural challenge to the values of the modern world. Both call us to a life of deeper conviction and greater simplicity. And both, in their own unique ways, reflect a facet of God’s infinite character. By listening to their stories and honoring their differences, we do not diminish our own faith, but enrich it. We are reminded that the body of Christ is vast and varied, and that God’s light, in its boundless grace, shines in many forms, calling all of us, in our own time and place, to walk faithfully in the path He sets before us.