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Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Kate's like a lot of American teenagers. She likes country music. She lists her favorite TV shows as "One Tree Hill" and "Friday Night Lights." And she's on Facebook, with more than 200 Facebook "friends." And yet, Kate differs considerably from most other American teenagers on Facebook in one key respect: She is — or at least, by her mode of dress, appears to be — Amish. And she's part of what appears to be a growing — and, inside the Amish community, a worrisome — trend.

He walked out the door of his farm house and for two miles debated his decision to leave. Eighteen-year-old Mosie, born into an Amish family in upstate New York, one of 12 children, turned from his family and culture because he “knew there had to be more.” With only his clothes and $50, he walked along the country road until another former Amish picked him up in a car and brought him to Ohio where, last summer, our lives intersected.

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HARLINGEN — Emma Gingerich reached the age of 15 without ever having used a computer or talking on a telephone. She never studied history or geography; for her, the earth was still flat. The life she faced, she said, would be simple: a minimal education, which stopped at eighth grade, and little contact with those outside her immediate community. Her purpose in life, she said, would be to raise children and continue the static traditions that were passed down to her from previous generations in the Amish culture...

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HARLINGEN — Emma Gingerich reached the age of 15 without ever having used a computer or talking on a telephone. She never studied history or geography; for her, the earth was still flat. The life she faced, she said, would be simple: a minimal education, which stopped at eighth grade, and little contact with those outside her immediate community. Her purpose in life, she said, would be to raise children and continue the static traditions that were passed down to her from previous generations in the Amish culture.

Moses Gingerich doesn’t mind fielding the tough questions. Do you go to church now? (“No.”) Do you still believe in God? (“Yes.”) Do you think you’re going to hell? (“Probably.”) He gave the last answer on national television. He was feeling a little vulnerable when he said that, Gingerich admitted over a cup of coffee on a snowy January morning in Columbia...

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"Why I Left the Amish," shows a smiling second-grader with bright dark eyes. The story she tells, however, is anything but a simple tale of a happy childhood...

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As a young child I was taken to the neighbor minister to be "brauched" (powwowed) on. This was done for such things as sore throat, earache, canker sores etc. As a child growing up I had an extreme fascination and attraction to these types of things...

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You mentioned that you don’t read in the Bible about “ordnung.” Well, probably a lot of it is tradition, but history teaches us over and over that when people leave the church, their children, or maybe more often their grandchildren will not belong to any church...

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I was born into the Amish and lived most of my life in Michigan. When I was 15 my father passed away on December 22, 1997. Then on May 20, 2005 my brother passed away in a farm accident. I always thought the Amish church worried more about the rules than people. The night of my brother’s funeral proved that to me. The Bishops came and ex-communicated me, that night, because I knew my brother had a stereo and we had gone to visit my ex-Amish sister. The day after that, they announced it in church. I was eventually allowed back in but was constantly at odds with the leadership over various rules...

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Danny Stutzman, a 9-year-old son of an Amish family from Dalton OH. No cause of death was determined, due to the condition of the body. Many believe his father killed him. Eli Stutzman Jr. never was convicted of killing his son, only of illegally dumping the body. He was in prison for 18 months....

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I left an abusive Amish family and lived in Joe and Esther Keim’s apartment for a while before moving in with my now, ex-boyfriend. Based on my abusive childhood, I picked a guy who became verbally and emotionally abusive during my pregnancy. After we moved in together in 2008, he became physically abusive, always blaming me for his abuse. Before I took the Life Skills classes, I thought I needed to have a guy in my life to be happy. All my Amish girlfriends had boyfriends, so I was competing with them...

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The Amish are avid believers in the practice of shunning, which, in many cases, means expulsion from their Amish community for violating religious guidelines. It may sound harsh to non-Amish, but Dr. David Weaver-Zercher, professor of American religious history at Messiah College in Grantham, said shunning is seen by the Amish as a way to get someone's attention in hopes that the person will repent and return to the church...

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Staring blankly into space, the 41-year-old man's eyes begin to look bloodshot as they fill with tears. Fighting back his emotions, he looks toward the floor. "Be good to go back home some time," he says as he nods his head in agreement with himself. "But you can't go back." Matthew knew the decision he made so many years ago would have its consequences. He knew that leaving the Amish faith behind would change his life forever...

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We lived in New York until I was 13 years old when we moved to a Wisconsin settlement with only five families. My Dad bought an 80 acre farm. About a year later, I started work milking 80 cows for our neighbor. I began to listen to Christian radio and heard the gospel. Living an Amish life, I had never heard the true gospel. The only gospel I had heard was you have to do this, that and the other in order for you to go to Heaven. Well, the true gospel was very new to me. I tried to argue and prove the radio ministers wrong by reading the Bible. Can you guess my surprise when I found out what they were saying was true?

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After years of living in an Amish community, Anna Dee Olson said she had to leave or commit suicide to stop her depression. Although Olson dreamed of attending college, the sect didn't allow it. At age 24, she left the community in Wisconsin knowing she'd have no support. Her mother's beliefs also shadowed her departure - the year was 1992, and based on her mother's Biblical calculations, the world would end by 2000.

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How easy is it for an English girl to date a former Amish boy? When I was younger I was probably just like any other person that wasn’t around Amish people that much. If I’d see one out or happen to see a buggy I’d think it was really something. I look back and remember how my friends and I would be at flea markets and see the Amish boys.

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I grew up in the Amish and I was getting ready to be a church member and when I found out all their church rules and I felt like there is more to being a Christian than following the Amish church rules. So, finally I came to the point where I had to make a change in my life.

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This is a response to what you wrote about covenant breakers. Do you realize that you are no longer with the church you were raised in? Did your father and his father use the chainsaw or the tractor as some Amish churches are using? How are these people obeying what their parents taught them? Did I miss something? How is going from a windup watch to a battery watch any different than going from a buggy to a car? I know your forefathers didn't approve of those things, and yet many Amish feel ok to condemn us who convert to an (English) church because that is not what our parents taught us. Look deep into your hearts and ask yourselves, have you always done everything that your parents said to?

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I left the Amish in 2008, at age 17. I left with my friend. We stayed in a barn for the first night and the next morning my cousin Sam from Canada came and picked us up; he helped us get clothes and get us on the bus to go to Iowa.

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Most of you have promised to remain faithful to the church, and if you now leave the church and join another one you are covenant breakers, and this is just like leaving one wife and marrying another in God’s eyes.

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I still remember those sleepless nights wondering where Daddy was. We finally got the news they had found him. He was in detox then. Then he was in rehab from March until September.

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When I was 18 years old I left the Amish to have more fun and live my life however I wanted to. I always thought English have more fun and when I hung out with my English friends I always felt happier. In the Amish, I was at the age to get baptized and I didn't want to be baptized Amish so I left.

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I grew Amish. As I was joining the Amish church, I heard more and more of their church rules. Right away, I knew there was more to life than living by their rules and I didn't want to be a part of a man made rule like that.

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Amish in the news 2010

Dear Joe, I was shocked to find this website as I had no clue anything like this existed. I grew up Amish and found it extremely frustrating and left home when I was 18 and moved to Montana. I worked for an outfitter for 7 years and now I am in the University of Montana becoming a high-school teacher in English and History.

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I left the Amish, my hometown in KY, and my family in 2006. I had a really rough start. I couldn't find a job and I wasn't happy, than one day one of my friends gave me Joe and Esther Keim's phone number it took me about two weeks to gather enough courage to call them but I finally did.

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I left the Amish in 1968 and as you said, I did not want any part of any religion, not even a wedding or a funeral. I was very vulnerable; I got into drugs, parting, and that kind of life style. When I look back, I realize it was because I did not know how to live outside of the boundaries of the Amish community and "protection" I did not know how to manage money, how to have normal relationships with people, especially of the opposite sex.

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We were originally from Ohio and western PA, but left the Amish in 1990 and went thru the same things that you guys did. When I was growing up, I never agreed with the Amish rules and for the most part didn't obey them either. When I was 29, my wife and I left the Amish for a short period of time and had a lot of problems dealing with life in general.

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I was born and raised Amish. It seemed like my desires and dreams were different than most Amish girls my age. Matter of fact, I kept having thoughts of leaving the Amish and living in the English culture. At age 16, I was very shy and found it difficult to speak up and share my feelings. And it seemed that my family and friends took advantage of my shyness by constantly giving me advice on how to live my life.

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I grew up in Wayne County between Kidron and Apple Creek on a farm we farmed with horses and milked cows. Now I have to tell you, I did not like farming. I would try to get out of doing work all the time, and that caused a lot of problems between me and my Dad; we never did get along.

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