Without the religious underpinning, what would be the point of depriving oneself of the efficiency of electrical power?
The primary reason they forsake modern conveniences is to avoid the temptations of what they term worldliness. They believe they should be in the world but not of the world.
When I lived in Philly I got to know some Amish and Mennonite folks and there’s no way I would ever sign up for living such an extremely limited life. Everything is harder and takes so much more time. Boring. And guess who does most of the day to day drudgery? Yup, it’s the women who have to do all the clothes washing with NO time saving conveniences. And farm clothes get really really dirty.
I’ve also watched a couple of seasons of Breaking Amish and it’s a very harsh lifestyle. One girl had horribly ill fitting dentures in her twenties because pulling teeth was the extent of Amish dental care in her family.
There are far more rational ways of living close to nature than joining an Amish group.
BTW: the majority of the horrible puppy farms responsible for so much overbreeding, cruelty and abuse are run by Amish. They view them as livestock rather than pets.
It’s not all sweet idyllic rainbows and unicorns out there. It’s a harsh life.
Also if you want an eye opener do a little research on the hidden aspect of what inbreeding among close relatives is doing in terms of birth defects. They are forbidden to marry non Amish and it’s a pretty limited gene pool in some communities. Since they don’t avail themselves of modern medical intervention and care, the kids are the ones who pay the price.