After the last arrest of five Amish men who were cited for not abiding by state laws for having orange triangles on their buggies in Pennsylvania, a local Amish group upholds their own church laws in Ohio. A 74-year old man was assaulted as three sons of breakaway Amish group cuts his beard because he didn’t obey the new rules of the church.
COMMENTARY | Knowing enough men who are not Amish, messing with their beards would be as big of a sin as it is to go to the extremes the three sons did with the man they assaulted while cutting his beard. What would they have done if the 74-year old man would have had a heart attack and died during the cutting of his beard due to their religious beliefs?
How would the church handle the death? Would it be considered an accidental death? Would it be considered murder?
Since the beard-cutting didn’t happen to one of their own township members, did the three sons act in accordance with their father’s orders or did the sons act on their own? The opposing Amish group felt strong enough about what the three men did to have them arrested by authorities who are not Amish.
Could both counts of where the Amish males in Pennsylvania and Ohio are standing for what they believe in the name of religion become more mainstream for Amish living across the U.S.? Having visited Yoder, Kansas, a local Amish community, on more than one occasion, it is possible these two different communities may be the exception to the rule.
The times visiting this very polite town in Kansas, the Amish living their have always been polite and courteous to visitors who do not live in their community. Those who make their way through this small community know of the horse drawn carriages and respect the area when they come across the community in their means of transportation by yielding the right away as much as they can without either group breaking any driving laws.
Not only that, anyone who has made their way through this area in Kansas also knows they have met a married Amish man due to his beard. There is one thing anyone who has had contact with this peaceful group knows: A man’s beard is his own.