Actually, in community life and practice, the Amish are retaining the Distributist/Middle Ages Catholic mentality...property is owned and private, but Amish pitch in to help one another w/o Govt interfernce and take care of each other..they have a deep faith, but also, I cannot in any way endorse anabaptism....but their lives and focus are correct...just their theology is whacked...also, of course, the Church and distributists have never opposed all innovation and technology...
a good commentary was in the movie Harvest of Fire.the liberated FBI agent Sally(Lolita davidovich) was talking to Amish widow Sarah (Patty Duke) and asked her if she missed all the modern conviences.:
Annie Beiler: Getting from one place to another quickly does not add time to our lives. What is important is being truly present wherever we are.
Sally Russell: But don't you miss some of the gadgets, the technology?
Annie Beiler: For us it is a question of what we must forfeit to have them. If I accept the television, I must lose conversations with my children. If I accept the car, the airplane, must I also accept weapons of war? Where do you draw the line?