A Sure Way to Grow a Religion; The Economics of Group Living

The Mennonites and the Amish are entirely different groups. I've heard the difference but do not claim to understand either. Within each group there are variations. We've all heard of many other groups with a religious or ideological bent who believed in what we generally call minimalist living including shared housing and meals. Most pass out of existence. But, the Mennonites and Amish continue to expand and start new colonies. They have moved into new countries. Expansion is necessitated by large numbers of children. This works because of the economics of the groups.

By sharing housing, machinery and transportation members lower their cost of living. I would guess their pay is about 1/3 that of lower middle-class income. This lowers the cost of whatever they produce and sell. Since they sell into secular markets, grain, furniture and other goods, are priced at secular production wages. These religious groups have robust profits. This is where do they get the money to buy more land and establish colonies in new countries. There really is no end to the growth of these groups if they can keep their costs of production so low they beat everyone else and make robust profits while doing so.   

I'm sure children working in the trades and on farms are a profit center as well in these groups. Large numbers of children help these religious enterprises make money. In economics, when there is a labor-intensive system of production children are call "producer goods." In the rest of society, even where religion is a central part of life, children are a huge expense. They compete with other things families need so are called "consumer goods." 

That children outside of these communal groups are consumer goods rather than producer goods is why religions like Catholicism are having trouble convincing their own members, let alone the broader society, to support abortion and birth control prohibitions. Back when these prohibitions were dreamt up society was more rural than it is today. Children were an economic asset. There was political support for lots of babies. Now we are a majority urban society where it is necessary to limit the number of children.

Of course, we all wonder why young people choose to stay in these groups and live such spartan lives. I read a first-person account written by a young woman who had left. She had various reasons for living but understood clearly why most of her contemporaries stay. The social and economic system allow one to live without worry, she explained. You will have housing, food and a job for the rest of your life. That explains the storied growth of these religious groups.