Tri-Cities religion (Moses Lake, Basin City: Mennonites, taxes, live in)

[neal93]

Am considering a move to the Tri-Cities and have a question about a religion I've seen when visiting the area. I've seen a few Muslim people but have also seen some people (Women) dressed in long dresses and a hair bonnet. They are white (not that it matters) and appear maybe to be Fundamentalist Mormons or Amish or something along those lines. No issue, just curious...

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by neal93

Am considering a move to the Tri-Cities and have a question about a religion I've seen when visiting the area. I've seen a few Muslim people but have also seen some people (Women) dressed in long dresses and a hair bonnet. They are white (not that it matters) and appear maybe to be Fundamentalist Mormons or Amish or something along those lines. No issue, just curious...

They are either Hutterites or Old German Baptists, which have communities up toward Basin City and Moses Lake. They are quite unrelated to the LDS, but are part of the overall movement called Anabaptist, out of which Mennonites and Amish also sprang. They generally live in communities together, but neither Hutterian or OGB Brethren have any problem with using modern equipment. They dress conservatively but distinctly. By and large, you will find them more honest than average, harder-working than average and better businesspeople than average in my experience (which includes growing up around Amishmen and Mennonites back in Kansas, even being distantly related to some Mennonites).

The OGB at least don't vote (but do pay taxes) and most Anabaptists will not perform military service. Lest you think that makes them cowards or unwilling to sacrifice, during WWII a number of them served as smoke jumpers. A bunch even volunteered for a controlled starvation experiment lasting a year, where they were systematically starved to near-skeletons in order to experiment on how best to restore dietary health in the postwar era. They just have strong beliefs about what they should do and what they should not, and unlike a lot of people, they'll face jail rather than violate those beliefs. I respect this a lot.

I wouldn't try to have conversations with the women; they seem not to want to talk to outsiders except where necessary, and I respect their space. The men, at least the OGB Brethren I know, superficially resemble conservative Mennonites with the hats and beards but no mustaches. I completely approve of the Anabaptist movement, because they're one of the few batches of Christians you can bet will never come banging on my door to preach at me, or 'witness to' me, or 'talk about the afterlife', or any of the various euphemisms missionaries use for 'imply that my beliefs must surely be inferior to theirs,' right on my own doorstep, without ever even having the brains to realize how fundamentally insulting that is or stop and think about how I really ought to respond to it.

[Alohikea]

I just say I'm Catholic (which I am) to the Mormons who come to my door-actually i think they don't come anymore since I said I was Catholic. Good to know.

[j_k_k]

I had a plaque made for my door:

POSITIVELY
NO MISSIONARIES
NO SOLICITORS

Then if I get any despite that, I can open with: "What, is it against your religious beliefs to obtain literacy?"