The Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther sparked the formation of
             radical "Anabaptists" branch of Christianity in the sixteenth century, many
             eventually fled religious pressures and persecution in their countries of
             resettled in the Americas, while others found relative safety in Russia.
             many of the Russian Anabaptists sought refuge in the United States by the
             Many of the later Anabaptist immigrants to America came from
             and Germany, and they retained most of their cultures of origin, such as
             dialects and cuisine. Many more communities or sects developed within the
             Mennonite Anabaptists, totaling more than one million, in the Americas,
             and in Europe, their land of origin.
             Mennonites took their name from a converted Dutch priest by the name
             Menno Simons (1496-1561) who provided Anabaptism with his leadership in
             Century Holland. The appellation "Anabaptist" refers to their practice of
             adult believers.(2) Subsequent philosophical differences led to the
             stricter, more orthodox Mennonites living in Switzerland and Alsace into
             "Amish", named for Jakob Ammann (1644-1725), in 1693.(3)
             1. About Mennonites (2001) Mennonite.net: Accessed at:
             2. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Bower, J.(1997) Oxford
             The first groups of Amish migrating from Switzerland settled in
             in the early 18th Century, and subsequently spread primarily to Ohio and
             while also establishing a presence in twenty other states by the end of the
             Century. The United States is home to more than two hundred distinct
             Mennonites, comprising approximately 150,000 people, the vast majority of
             still live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Kansas.
             The principle philosophical differences between the Mennonites and the
             Amish sects of Anabaptism concern the relative strictness of practice,
             the underlying Christian belief. Specifically, the Amish practice strict
             exclusivity, while the Men...