Amish Renegades Are Accused in Bizarre Attacks on Their Peers

[groovedaddy]

BERGHOLZ, Ohio — Myron Miller and his wife, Arlene, had been asleep for an hour when their 15-year-old daughter woke them and said that people were knocking at the door.

Mr. Miller, 45, a stocky construction worker and an Amish bishop in the peaceful farmlands of eastern Ohio, found five or six men waiting. Some grabbed him and wrestled him outside as others hacked at his long black beard with scissors, clipping off six inches. As Mr. Miller kept struggling, his wife screamed at the children to call 911, and the attackers fled.

For an Amish man, it was an unthinkable personal violation, and all the more bewildering because those accused in the attack are other Amish.

“We don’t necessarily fight, but it’s just instinct to defend yourself,” Mr. Miller recalled.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/us/hair-cutting-attacks-stir-fear-in-amish-ohio.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[DetlefK]

1. That happens when religion turns extremist.

I read another article about this: The other Amish regard Mullet's congregation as a brain-washing cult.

[peace13]

2. Something weird about an Amish person yelling , 'Call 911.'

Last I heard they didn't have phones.

[kestrel91316]

3. They don't have phones IN THEIR OWN HOMES. But some groups have them

in their workplace, and cell phones among the youth not yet members is not unknown, and they often have a community phone booth nearby for emergency use.

They are not primitives. They utilize technology very cautiously and are very selective in which they adopt and which they reject. It's a well-thought out process involving consideration of group/family ties/cultural traditions and group consensus.

[David Sky]

4. Yeah, its sort of like belly buttons on pictures of Adam and Eve!!!!

Like WHAT??

Actually, in today's world, I'm not surprised that Amish have given in to the conveniences of modern medicine, ambulances, and police protections.

[DCKit]

5. Where I grew up in PA, the phone was in a box at the end of the driveway.

Not at all the farms/homes, but quite a few.

[JaneQPublic]

6. Here in Southern Maryland, they have phone booths nearby...

...in the middle of Amish farm country, you'll see a phone booth alongside the road.

And members of the Mennonite community ("Amish Lite") are allowed to have phones... even cell phones.