National Committee For Amish Religious Freedom example essay topic

Kraybill, Donald. The Amish and the State. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. The Amish and the State is wrote with the intent to identify the cultural values and social organizations of the Amish order along with how the traditional values of the Amish counteracted with the modernity of the state. This book covers the most prominent aspects of the Amish order dating all the way back to their very existence during the Radical Reformation in the sixteenth century.

It entitles one to see and feel the persecution the Amish order has faced since 1525. Donald Kraybill believes that the Amish order, even though some individuals view their religious practices as being extremely impractical, is a major attribute toward the freedom we as citizens now hold in our possession in following our religious pathways and that their very existence today is a miraculous achievement. Even though the conflicts between the Amish and the state have placed burdens on both sides, in the long run we as a people have gained religious freedom from all of the suffering the Amish has faced. For example, in 1938 an Amish leader wrote a letter to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black asking "is there any clause whereby we can live a Christian faith and still be law abiding people?" (3). Starting with the persecutions that took place while negotiating with Caesar on to the Amish view of the state and outsiders, along with the roles they have played with respect to the Amish order. The conflicts the Amish held with the government over military services and conscription, schooling and education, social security and taxes, slow-moving vehicles, health care, and land use are displayed to help aid in the understanding of the tries and tribulations the Amish faced.

Also, this book portrays the functions of the so-called government like organizations that act in favor for the Amish. These groups are known as the National Amish Steering Committee and the National Committee for Amish. Starting with what was known as the Radical Reformation in the sixteenth century, a number of groups picked up on Martin Luther's ideas and went different ways with them. These groups were known as Anabaptists.

The Amish faith is a descendant of the Anabaptist beliefs. During this Reformation and continuing throughout the present date, the Amish have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. In the sixteenth century they were executed, drowned, and even left to starve to death in jail. "The first martyr was drowned in 1527 and over the next few decades, thousands of Anabaptists burned at the stake, drowned in rivers, starved in prisons, or lost their heads to the executioner's sword" (5). In the twentieth century they still continue to be persecuted even though it is not as harsh, they spend large amounts of time in jail and even suffer abundant quantities of fines for following the religious pathway of Christ. The Amish order continues to strive for their religious rights although their struggle with the state and government does not get any easier.

The torture that the Amish persevered through and continue to battle against is an example of how Kraybill proves that they helped pave the pathway toward our religious independence. The Amish faith is to be considered as living a life of self-surrender. According to Kraybill this attribute is the core of the Amish religion. The cornerstone to the values in the Amish faith is Gelassenheit. "The German word means submission = yielding to a higher authority. It entails self-surrender, resignation to God's will, yielding to others, self-denial, contentment, and a quiet spirit" (12).

Being able to display wholesomeness and respect toward the individuals which are trying to bring about an end of your complete form of life is an influential aspect which enabled the Amish to aid in the uprising of the First Amendment clause. They continued to fight for their religious rights in away that does not intrude on their belief of living a life of resignation. The Amish order's fight for survival is accomplished in this book without over stepping the fringes of the religion, they accomplished their very existence without the intentions of revenge toward others and purely from inner strength in God. The Amish order views the state as a necessary evil that is an instrument of God. They believed that the primary function of the state is to suppress sin not their religiosity. Also, the Amish live a life of separation from outsiders, although they view the state much differently than they do the citizens that reside it the state.

This lies entwined in the basis of Gelassenheit that Kraybill offers the yielded ness toward a higher authority. "Unlike citizens who cultivate a sense of civic obligation and responsibility and who also clamor to protect their rights, Amish relationships with the state parallel those of subjects to a king. The posture of subjection flows from biblical injunctions to respect and pray for rulers ordained by God" (14). On the other hand, their beliefs hold nothing like toward neighbors residing in that state. In fact, they raise their children to be Amish not to be part of the American society. But can you blame them, when all they have been given from outsiders is ridicule and all the state has shown them is persecution for their love of Christ.

"The cardinal value of Amish society is separation from the world. Galvanized by European persecution and sanctioned by scripture" (11). Longing to live their life of self-denial and sticking to their firm religious beliefs the Amish began breaking ground for the freedom to exercise their religious heritage. Kraybill portrays through this aspect that the Amish, no matter what was thrown in their path, remained intact to the bigger picture through all the heartache and dissection placed on them from the outside world that the reward lay ahead when practicing their faith became free from persecution. Over the decades, the Amish have battled with the state and government over a number of issues dealing with their lifestyle under God and how they are perceived as disobeying the law when complying to these beliefs. The Amish while striving for religious freedom has put a numerous amount of effort forth pleading for complement of the authority.

"We pray you to allow us to live inoffensively and quietly. Let us, unhindered, live to our calling. We respect your right; respect our mode. We ask nothing of you, but that which the word of God entitles us" (14).

The disputes between the Amish and the state have covered a large range of items, which the Amish finds sacred. The more prominent ones that were discussed and that I am going to touch basis on briefly are military service, education and schooling, and social security and taxes. "The Amish are widely known for their pacifist convictions and their objection to military service, principles that rest on the most fundamental Amish understandings of religious faith" (43). Their ability to accept the harsh penalties and not surrender to God brought about a compromise between the state and the Amish which would abridge to both their requirements. The state sent the conscientious objectors that were drafted to Civilian Public Service camps instead of war sites. These camps were instilled as an alternative to military services for people who did not believe in confrontation.

There the Amishmen could kind of abide to their religious faith and still be a benefit to their country. Even though the Amish were complying with the government and state the American wars created serious problems within the Amish communities. During the Civil war, Amishmen could avoid the draft by paying a three hundred-dollar commutation fee. On March 16, 1918 a Bill releasing soldiers that were needed for agriculture was passed by congress. This was known as the Farm Furlough Bill. As you can see Kraybill shows the positive and negative sides to both the Amish and the state's tries and tribulations, along with the compromises each one had to make in order to co-exist with each other on some middle ground.

As you can see even though the government is not in tune with the Amish faith, it came to realize that something had to be done in order to seize all of this persecution and irrationality towards religious life leading individuals. Over the years the Amish have had to compromise their belief in living the life of Christ and modify in some tenses to fit within the boundaries set by the state, and yet they still must live a life of separation from the rest while obeying laws. For example, "the Amish believe that they must obey the law and pay their taxes, except when doing so violates their religious beliefs. They do pay income tax, sales tax, real estate tax, school tax, and personal property tax without objection" (127). Social security is a tax that the Amish refused to pay because it would infringe on a core aspect of their religious affiliation, which stated that they live in a community based around self-efficiency, and independent from the social aspects and "worldliness" of others. In September 0 f 1961, the IRS proposed a compromise to the Amish that they saw as fit.

"The Amish would pay the taxes required by law, and at retirement the Amish would receive back the taxes they had paid, with interest, in monthly increments" (133). The Amish would not agree to this because they considered this agreement to amount to forced participation in a public insurance scheme that went against their religious beliefs. In 1965, the Amish received exemption for their self-employed followers but finally in 1988, the social security tax exemption covered Amish employers. Another aspect entwined into the conflicts between the Amish and the state that led to setting standards within religious freedom were over schooling and education.

"The first record school conflict between the Amish and the state occurred in 1914 in Geauga County, Ohio. Three Amish fathers were fined when they refused to send their children to high school" (87). Kraybill explains that the Amish had already won the exemption from the U.S. Supreme Court over sending their children to high school past the eighth grade. But time and time again the Amish were being persecuted and having their children taken away for following what they considered to be the way of Christ. The Amish community even instituted their own schooling program for the Amish children after the eighth grade.

In the U.S. Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the court found the Amish learning facilities unequal in standards of that of a contemporary high school. Also, another court case that holds great precedence to what the Amish have been fighting for all their life, religious freedom. This case was called Commonwealth vs. Boiler (1951). Here the court ruled that religious liberty included the absolute right to believe but only a limited right to act. Kraybill here portrays that once again the Amish were being pushed around and judged, but also once again they did not give in to the secular world, they chose rather to suffer severe penalties than to go against the will of God. In 1971 and 1972, there is a prominent case that I feel Kraybill uses to represent that the perseverance of the Amish pays off in their fight for religious freedom.

The case was State vs. Yoder. This outcome of this case was an astonishing victory for the Amish and other religious affiliations after the first verdict was over turned. In 1971, the court ruled in favor of the state, but in 1972 the court's previous decision was over turned. The court ruled that "Wisconsin's compulsory education law infringed on the right of the Amish to the free exercise of religion, constituting a heavy burden by compelling them to perform acts repugnant to their religion-that is, exposing Amish children to a worldly education at a time in their adolescents that is critical to their religious and cultural development" (271).

Finally, the Amish get a firm ground to stand on after many had been torn away. The Amish had believed that it was not all right to defend themselves due to their beliefs. They believed in living a life of resignation but two committees were developed throughout these trying times. The first committee was known as the National Amish Steering Committee. This organization was formed when difficulties aroused over military service and conscientious objectors. "The National Steering Committee functions as a loose, informal federation of Amish representatives who coordinate the Amish response to a variety of church-state issues" (67).

This committee was an effective advocate for the Amish, but they had to approach this organization's tactics with caution due to their religious beliefs. Kraybill incorporates how the Amish developed this organization and maintained to walk a clearly defined line between what was considered a secular organization, and what they considered to be a religious organization functioning with the intent to preserve their religious lifestyle. The second committee that acts in the aid for the Amish is the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom. Sympathetic outsiders who believed in the impractical religiosity of the Amish faith formed this committee. This is another gesture where Kraybill provides insight that the Amish faith brought about a clear pathway toward religious importance and the strive to accomplish religious freedom.

The chairman of the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom was a Lutheran pastor named William C. Lindholm. This organization led aid in the church-state conflicts over schooling and education because the Amish did not believe in defending themselves or going to court. "The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom was to preserve the religious freedom of the Old Order Amish" (109). The outcome this committee had for the very existence of the Amish order was astounding. This committee came together and did what the Amish never saw fit to do, defend themselves. This turned out to be a large part of what helped the Amish to earn all the rights it now hold within their rights of the First Amendment.

Donald B. Kraybill found it to be insightful to look into the Amish history of their continued strives for existence over its three hundred-year life span. He shows how a traditional religious minority interacts with the modern state, and the conflicts that come about. He also explores the stance of whether something can preserve itself through these changes, or if it becomes eroded and begins to become part of the change. The Amish prove not to become part of the change, even though they suffered greatly for that decision, their inner courage and faith in God helped them to persevere. Kraybill assesses the Amish contributions to preserving religious liberty in the United States. Throughout the pages preceding this I have tried to give the most adequate examples and explanations to how I have interpreted this book, and what I found to be the main purpose of it.

I feel that Donald Kraybill is showing us that the Amish, although some individuals ridicule their religious beliefs, is a major attribute to the religious freedom we as citizen have today. Also, he portrays their strength to take the ridicule and persecution, and not lose sight of their goal. Their goal was to be able to practice their religious beliefs without being penalized for everything they believed of, and accomplish this without going against their very beliefs. The Amish maintained honesty and loyalty toward the life God had chosen for them, which in turn led to their freedom to live and proceed with their everyday lifestyle.