The Mennonites affected by the measles outbreak in West Texas are part of a broader, loosely connected group of churches globally. They hold diverse beliefs and have varied leadership structures. Their relationship with health officials and other public authorities can sometimes be strained or distant.
Who are the Mennonites?
Mennonites belong to the larger Anabaptist family of churches, which originated in 1525 as the radical side of the Protestant Reformation in Central Europe. Other Anabaptist groups today include the Amish, Brethren, and Hutterites. Anabaptists believed in principles such as non-violence, unconditional forgiveness, adult baptism, church discipline, and refusing to bear arms or swear oaths.
Early Anabaptists faced persecution and martyrdom under both Catholic and Protestant rulers in Europe. This history still influences some groups today, contributing to their distrust of government authorities, including public health officials.
Mennonites, named after early leader Menno Simons, have a wide range of practices today.
Some Mennonites have largely integrated into mainstream culture, focusing on promoting peace and social justice in the wider community. Others maintain traditions similar to the Amish, with close-knit, separate communities characterized by limited technology, nonviolence, male leadership, and traditional clothing, including head coverings for women. Others fall somewhere in between these practices.
There are over 2 million baptized believers in Anabaptist-related churches across 86 countries, according to the Mennonite World Conference.
What are Old Colony Mennonites in Texas?
The outbreak has particularly impacted Gaines County and some surrounding areas.
While it’s not immediately clear which Mennonite community is affected, the Gaines County area includes a community with a unique history.
Many other North American Amish and Mennonites trace their ancestry to direct immigration from Western Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, according to Steven Nolt, a professor of history and Anabaptist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.
In contrast, the Seminole area is home to a community of Old Colony Mennonites, who have a more complex migration history, Nolt said.
Old Colony Mennonites initially migrated to the Russian Empire, then to Canada, and later to Mexico, to escape government pressures to assimilate, according to Nolt. As economic conditions worsened in Mexico, some moved to areas like Gaines County and other communities in Texas and nearby states in the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout this time, they have preserved their Low German dialect and other cultural characteristics.
Gaines County also has one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with almost 14% skipping a required dose in the last school year.
What are Mennonite views on vaccines?
“Historically and theologically, there has been no religious teaching against immunization in Mennonite circles,” Nolt said via email. “There’s no religious prohibition, no body of religious writing on it at all. That said, more culturally conservative Mennonite (and Amish) groups have tended to be under-immunized or partially-immunized.”
He explained that this is partly because they don’t interact with healthcare systems as regularly as more assimilated groups. Many traditional Anabaptist groups did accept vaccinations promoted in the mid-20th century, such as for tetanus and smallpox, but they have become more skeptical of newly introduced vaccines in recent years, Nolt said.
The Old Colony groups who arrived in the late 20th century also “missed the whole mid-century immunization push, as they weren’t in the U.S. at that time.”
What are state laws on student exemptions from vaccines?
All 50 states and the District of Columbia require students to be vaccinated to attend school, according to the . Many states base their requirements on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All states allow exemptions for medical reasons, and most allow exemptions for religious or personal reasons, or both. Only five states—California, Connecticut, Maine, New York, and West Virginia—have not allowed non-medical exemptions, according to the conference, but West Virginia is currently considering allowing religious or philosophical exemptions this year.
allows exemptions for “reasons of conscience, including a religious belief.”
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates declined in 2023, and the percentage of children with exemptions rose to a record high, according to federal data released in 2024.
