Why is this a news story? Who cares what the amish are doing with cell phones. If they want to use them, so what.

Exactly. It's their business.

Having a church tell you what to do and how to be good is never a great idea. They'll tell you to not use a cell phone and not to do this or that but then there's a chance the leaders are sodomizing each other behind closed doors.

Why do you judge what you do not understand? Amish do not live the way they do because the church tells them too, they live their life the way they choose. Is it so hard for you to realize that some people may actually prefer to live a simple life without phones and electric? A bishop holds minimal power in the Amish community since they believe in the priesthood of all believers. They are simple the organizer for their group. Decisions are never made top down but everything is based on the consensus of the group. That is why an amish group in one part of the county may use cell phones and another group 10 miles away may not.

All of you non-native lancasterians out there probably have encountered this consensus decision making way of thinking at some point living here. It is very pervasive even throughout the english population in the county. For someone not used to it, it can seem very strange.

there is an english population here? pip pip bloody 'ell and all that rot?

carry on, mate.