Saturday, 22 October 2011
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Beards and Crime: Problems in the Amish Community
There are problems in Ohio with our Amish siblings.
10/08/2011 (source) - MECHANICSTOWN, OHIO - Myron and Arlene Miller were lying in bed about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday when their 15-year-old daughter woke them to say a pickup truck and trailer had just pulled into their driveway.
Four to six men got out of the truck and knocked on the door, asking for her father, the bishop for the Mechanicstown Amish church.
When Myron Miller walked to the door, a man grabbed him by his long, traditional beard - the sign that an Amish man is married, according to scripture - and forced him out the front door.
Miller was surrounded by the other men, who used scissors to cut out a chunk of his beard. They were unable to get more, the 45-year-old Miller said, because he struggled so hard. In mid-tussle, the leader of the group ordered everyone to flee.
The Millers said they were the fifth Amish family in the last several weeks to be terrorized by what the Millers believe is a group that once was Amish but is now believed to have formed a cult in nearby Bergholz, Jefferson County.
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(source) A Jefferson County deputy said authorities Saturday arrested 38-year-old Johnny Mullet, 26-year-old Lester Mullet, 53-year-old Levi Miller, and Lester Miller. Lester Miller's age was not immediately available nor were the charges against him.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Mullets and Levi Miller were charged with kidnapping and burglary.I'm interested to see if there is some form of public response from the bishop concerning his attackers. I'm also interested in this cult and what they are all about. This is pretty strange. If I were the bishop I'd wear that cut beard as a badge of honor. What are your thoughts on this?
Do the criminals deserve jail time? How ought the bishop to respond? How would you respond?
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Comments (6)
Yes, they deserve justice, especially if they are specifically targeting Amish... that should count as a hate crime, shouldn't it? Since they're targeting a specific group of people?
Of course, the answer is "to forgive". But the matter should still be dealt with by the court if the bishop chooses to press charges, imo.
The Amish have bishops?
From the side of the "law"- it is God's designed purpose for the government to suppress criminals and administer justice... so, of course they deserve the just appropriations that our laws should administer. I'm not really sure why that is being asked.
From the side of the "bishop"- he should forgive, and should probably try to begin some kind of outreach to the community to proclaim the gospel of Christ more thoroughly- if he continues to be persecuted for the name of Christ, then let it be for the name of Christ (if that makes sense).
I live neighbors with an Amish community. I have Christian friends among the established Amish and also among the shunned and excommunicated Amish.
As in all other Christian communities, sometimes religious disagreements occur. One of these is when and if religious pride has permeated the community and needs to be corrected.
In the larger community of U.S. citizens, we should and do take a position against expressing such disagreement by using unlawful personal violence against one another. Clearly in the example given, certain persons perpetrated personal violence against another person; and they should be prosecuted by law. But it should not -- must not -- become common for the general citizenry in the US -- whether or not they believe themselves appointed as spokesmen for Christ -- to make uninformed judgements which could affect the freedom of other citizens to practice their religion. When or if it does, America takes giant steps backwards from its ideal! And the Christian community as a whole suffers great embarrassment!
This is really funny.
I'm lived in an Amish area for almost 30 yrs and all these people want to do is to live at peace and follow their faith. As US citizens they have that right!
The Amish are forgiving and more then likely, the bishop will not press charges. And he will forgive them- no doubt about it. In such cases, it would better if the police themselves pressed charges to make sure that justice is served. But this is not possible within our courts and if it was - it could certainly open up yet another "can of worms" when abused.
I would personally, like to see the bishop press charges. This is a real hate crime, in the truest sense of the word. And it needs to be stopped! As sad as this crime is, there are much worse things these kinds of people do to the Amish. Their young females are usually the target and what they do to them is unspeakable!
They should consider deputizing at least one of the Amish leaders, so the can protect themselves within respect to their faith. It seriously needs stopped!