Monday, 21 May 2012
-
Smoke Detectors are Against My Religion
That is what Amish are saying about smoke detectors. They claim it would be against their religious beliefs to have smoke detectors in their homes.
A reporter talked to Mose Miller at his doorstep with his nine children looking on. It was cold: -15C (5F). Most of the kids were in bare feet. Their clothes were roughly sewed together - like Victorian patchwork puppets.
Mose Miller said "I use this,” he said pointing at his nose, “or him,” and his finger pointed upwards. “I don’t need a devil on the wall to tell me if my house is burning.”
When he was ask what would happen if a fire happened during the night and he didn't wake up and he and his children burned to death he replied "If God does not wake us, well, that must be part of his plan."
In other words, if something happens to my kids because of my own negligence, it must be part of God’s will. The Jehovah's Witness say the same thing with not allowing blood transfusions. Christian Scientists have the same thoughts and don't take their children to hospitals because god will fix what he wants fixed and it is all god's will.
Smoke alarms aren't the devil entering your home. Smoke alarms aren't horrible -- letting your family die in a fire that you could have escaped if you had a smoke alarm is.
Do smoke alarms violate Amish religious freedom? How far can people take things like this? I mean, really, when people don't want to do something, they yell it is against their religion. Try yelling that taxes are against your religion. How far do you think you would get with that one? How many innocent children have to die in fires that they could have escaped if they had a smoke alarm?
What are your thoughts on the Amish stance against smoke detectors? Is it their right to live out their religious beliefs as they see fit, or does it cross the line when it could risk the lives of their children? How do we view other faiths when we feel their beliefs are harmful to innocent people?
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to revelife's Revelife Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in revelife's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
About the Author
-
- From: Kristenmomof3@xanga
- Name: Kris
- Location:
- About Me: It's not about surviving. It should be about love. When you know love...that's what makes this life worth it. When you live with it everyday. Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare. When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can't express it. — Carrie Ryan
-
True Lifetime
Stats: This Week All Time Posts: 0 27 Views: 0 39754 Comments: 0 1445 View all posts by Kristenmomof3@xanga
Comments (49)
My thoughts?- I think it's fucking stupid.
Live and let live.
It's their business. Leave them alone. Mind your own business.
There was a time when smoke detectors did not exist and everyone got along just fine.Nosy people required that DDT be discontinued and millions and millions of African women and children died needlessly.
So let's go after the Amish because they don't submit to the same type of mindless tyranny.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - "There was a time when smoke detectors did not exist and everyone got along just fine. " hahahahaha, I wished people like you lived pre-enlightenment for just a year
I think it's stupid and an error in assuming what God's plan is, but it's also their own error, their own stupidity, and they should be given the freedom to make whatever stupid, erroneous decisions they want. It's stupid to live in a ramshackle concrete home on a fault line. It's stupid to live in a trailer on the coast or in a tornado zone. But people are free to stupidly endanger their lives if they want to live that way. Who are we to stop them?
This post seems more suited for Revelifeish.
If we have the power to force Amish to use smoke detectors, then we have the power to force teachers to preach creationism.
Extremism speaks for itself, in this case as in many others. But if we abandon religious freedom as a legal principle, then the extremists that are already members of our government will have no controls on their behavior (I was going to say run amok, but they do anyway). Bad plan.
well, it seems to me, that the precedent has already been established for this. Many years ago, there was a case that I believe went to SCOTUS, about a Caribbean religion that allowed the smoking of marijuna during services. SCOTUS ruled that the adults had a 1st amendment right to smoke the stuff during religious services, but the children did not.
Courts have also ruled that children can have medical procedures against the parental religious objections. So it seems to me, based on these instances, that Amish homes that have children, can be forced to install smoke detectors in the houses, until as such time as the children are grown.
Now, precedent aside, I do not believe the state should do such a thing. However, if a house without a detector should burn down and people died, the adults should be charged with negligent homicide, if it can be proven that if a detector had been installed, anyone who died in the fire, would have been able to survive.
Personally we have smoke alarms and they are a good thing, I believe all good things come from God.
However about the Amish well it's a tough one, I think they should have them but it is against their beliefs - so be it then, they don't want them then fine, each to their own and I hate being told what to believe or not so I would not dare do it to anyone else.
I was horrified when a Jehovah's Witness let their child die rather than except a blood transfusion, I would have let my child have it, anything the medical profession could have done instead of just prayer, prayer and the medical profession went hand in hand so no I don't approve of the latter but that's just my humble opinion.
Blessings in Him to you and yours ~Helen
The Amish aren't just trying to get out of something by claiming it's their religion. They really believe the limits they set on use of technology are important to maintain faithfulness. They have a better record of taking care of their own than the population at large. Leave them alone.
I think of the famous Martin Niemoller statement and think, "First they came after the Amish . . ." The Amish have been subject to FDA armed raids on their farms and other attacks. We may have different views on things, but it is important to stand up for their religious freedom of the Amish. They keep getting attacked although they have harmed nobody.
@wsamuel@xanga - "They keep getting attacked although they have harmed nobody.' is what you said. Did you know that child physical and sexual abuse is rampant in the amish and mennonite community?
DO you actually know anything about those communities or do you just think that they are all these nice sweet people? I do know.
Children are abused often and nothing is done about it. It is not the sweet place you think it is.
The biggest negatives?
-The rape, incest and other sexual abuse that run rampant in the community
-Rudimentary education
-Physical and verbal abuse in the name of discipline
-Women (and children) have no rights
-Religion–and all its associated fear and brainwashing–as a means of control (and an extremely effective means at that)
-Animal abuse
The Amish take the Bible verse “spare the rod and spoil the child” in a
literal sense. Parents routinely beat their children with anything from
fly swatters, to leather straps (the most typical weapon), to whips, to pieces of wood.
The Amish are not without fault, and they, just as the American church at large, are in need of revival and repentance.
As to the smoke detectors, that is a disputable matter. The Amish think it is wrong to have them (as well as other technology), and others think it is acceptable. Both do it out of faith. God alone knows who is right and who is wrong and will let them know in the end.
It is therefore not for us to say they are wrong or right. It is not for us to try to force them to change. If we do, we sin.
Why is this an issue?
People survived without smoke detectors in there homes.
Let them be. It is there choice. It is an assumptive harm, not a guaranteed.
I'm of the mindset "God helps those that help themselves". But you can't force someone to help themselves. Just sucks for the children.
Smoke alarms with low batteries are the devil. Or when someone burns food.
Live and let live. It's their life, and their choice. If we start telling them they have to go against their religious beliefs and install smoke alarms, where does it end?
It's their business is if they don't want smoke detectors, but, let's leave the religious aspect out of it. Just like the Witnesses and some of their kooky behaviors, claiming it comes from the Bible, when, it came from the person who started the religion.
I don't understand how it's against their religion. Yeah, they can't use electricity. But smoke detectors are ran by battery. The Amish use battery-operated fridges in their homes so I really don't understand. I guess it all depends on the families, I suppose.
There are people who have refused to pay taxes.. In fact, there's a group here not far from where I live. Law enforcement decided it was much safer not to pursue arrests, though, because they anticipate lots of resistance... With guns... And we don't really have a whole lot of policemen to spare for it.
Just because they're children doesn't mean they are innocent. However, that is besides the point. I think that the Amish can do whatever they want as long as they are not directly harming others. If the children follow their parents beliefs, then they have accepted the risk of living in a home without smoke detectors. If the children disagree, of course, there is always child protective services and they can leave and go to the authorities at any given moment. No one is forcing these children to live under a roof that they feel might be threatening their lives.
I think it's pretty dangerous if the government has the authority to tell people what they have to own. What if I decide I can't afford smoke detectors? I do not like the idea of the government telling us how to live. I think it's silly that the Amish think technology is evil, but that's their right. The government exists to protect our freedoms, not to rule our lives.
There are many people who aren't religious who don't have smoke detectors. It's no one else's business whether someone has one or not. Smoke detectors are an obvious violation of the Amish religion though, so they should not be forced to have them in their homes.
I think I'd be more worried about Sharia law worming its way into our lives than whether Amish are making smoke detector manufacturers richer.
BBC News - Growing use of Sharia by UK Muslims
U.S. News - Federal court deals blow to anti-Shariah efforts
@bluejacky@xanga - I'm sorry, but what exactly are you worried about? Muslims obeying sharia law, or non-Muslims being forced to obey sharia law? Because the second option is already illegal, and the first is none of your business.
Its a sad day when the gov. considers legislating smoke detector use- what... are they going to have battery police to make sure they are working too? Do you really want to waste you tax money on that?
Do ya really want to be that Communistic? Oh wait that last comment was not "Politically Correct!" Strike that lol.Who cares? I like the Amish people, they make delicious pies. If they want to trust God to keep them safe from fires, then let them.