Posts by Saloma Furlong
How a Former Amish Woman Helped Win a Court Case
In a controversial case in southeastern Minnesota, four Amish men sued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Fillmore County, claiming that the installation of septic systems for disposing of their gray water was against their religious beliefs. According to a report from 2017 in the Courthouse News Service: MPCA [Minnesota Pollution Control Agency] spokesperson Cathy…
Read MoreUpdate on the Case of Jeriah Mast
In my last blog post, I posed this question on the case of Jeriah Mast: Will he be prosecuted in the full extent of the law, or will the people around him aid in him taking a slick detour around the laws most people need to abide by? The latest development suggests that the latter…
Read MoreIn the Case of Jeriah Mast
If the Amish and Mennonite communities are not willing to protect their weakest and most vulnerable members, then they deserve to be dismantled and become a thing of the past. ~ Paul Yoder Yet another story has surfaced of sexual abuse related to Amish Mennonites. I first read it in Christian News. I commend Heather…
Read MoreArticle About Amish Life in Argentinian Newspaper, La Nacion
Several weeks ago, just before I attended the Amish Conference in Elizabethtown, I was approached by a reporter named Domitila Dellacha who writes for an Argentinian newspaper, La Nacion. Ms. Dellacha was writing an article about Amish culture that was published today. Unfortunately for many people in the U.S., the article was published in Spanish. It…
Read MoreFrom the Inside Out: Reflections of Amish Traditions and Patterns, Part 2
Continued from Amish Conference 2019: Health and Well-Being in Amish Society… Perpetrators who are found out within an Amish community normally make a public confession and the church members are required to “forgive and forget,” which wipes the slate clean, as if the incident had never occurred. This opens up the possibility for the…
Read MoreAmish Conference 2019: Health and Well-Being in Amish Society
It has been ever so long since I’ve written here, and ever so much has happened in the Amish world as well as my own. The two came together this past weekend when I attended the conference at Elizabethtown College called Health and Well-Being in Amish Society. You can see the full schedule of speakers…
Read MoreCreating Art from Chaos
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning. ~ Maya Angelou It’s been ever so long since I promised that I would offer my rug creations for sale on my website. Finally, I have created a new page called Saloma’s Amish Rugs,…
Read MoreWhy Couldn’t It Have Been Something Useful?
In my childhood home, there needed to be a utilitarian reason for everything I did. When I walked two, three, or five miles on a Sunday morning, it was a means of transportation to a church service. Then on Sunday afternoons it was necessary to walk the same distance to return home. On weekdays I’d…
Read MoreAmish Genetics
Many people have asked me what I see as the challenges for cultural survival of the Amish. Most people first think about technology creeping into their culture as being a major threat. While that is undoubtedly one of the challenges they face, I believe their concentrated gene pool poses a greater threat to their cultural…
Read MoreNew Amish Settlements in Prince Edward Island and Manitoba, Canada
The Amish tend to migrate to new areas when their “mother” settlements become overcrowded (the Amish definition of this is different from what most consider overcrowded). Normally “scouts” (men from the mother community) go looking for suitable farmland in new places. Eventually they will settle down in an area, and hope other Amish will follow.…
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