Swiss-German Mennonite leader Jacob Amman believes the…

Swiss-German Mennonite leader Jacob Amman believes the Mennonites are drifting away from the teachings of Simons and the 1632 Mennonite Dordrecht Confession of Faith, particularly the practice of shunning excluded members (known as the ban or Meidung).

However, the Swiss Mennonites (who, because of unwelcoming conditions in Switzerland, are by now scattered throughout Alsace and the Palatinate) have never practiced strict shunning as the Lowland Anabaptists do.

Amman insists upon this practice, even to the point of expecting a spouse to refuse to sleep or eat with the banned member until he or she repents of his or her behavior.

This strict literalism brings about a division in the Swiss Mennonite movement in 1693 and leads to the establishment of the Amish. (Because the Amish are the result of a division with the Mennonites, some consider the Amish a conservative Mennonite group.)