Posted on 01/12/2012 10:21:58 PM PST by george76
MAYFIELD, Ky. - A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky Thursday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles.
The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives.
...
"I totally understand your objection," the judge told Byler. "But you're in violation, and it's not up to me to change the law. It doesn't really matter what I think about any of this."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Polygamists have a much more logical case than does the gay marriage crowd.
Thanks
A gadget with rotating vanes which, at the throw of a lever either shows plain black or the standard orange triangle, might be copacetic with some Amish. It might be flipped to the “gaudy” position for Caesar’s roads, and flipped back to all-black for off-road use.
There were some stories about today speaking about dealing with gay marriage divorces as if they were different than “straight marriage” divorces. Just like liberals — all of their concerns must be somehow different from the “mainstream” — lest they get cross or something.
"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." (1 Peter 2:13-16)
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. ... Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: ... " (read Romans 13:1-6 for fuller details)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)
This regulation is not unreasonable when the Amish are sharing the highway designed for two tons of hurtling steel, not for their mode of transportation. If they want to obey God, let them submit to this reasonable regulation, act like Christians, pay their fines for blatant disobedience; and shut up, be law-abiding, be humble toward men and meek toward God; and follow the law set forth for a peaceable, just, and safe society. This is not requiring them to compromise any Bible-based principles, only some overstatements of conspicuousness in their traditions.
The judge is eminently correct; they are dead wrong in this.
Inconspicuous signs would sort of defeat the purpose.
Just for the record the government has no business forcing people to wear seat belts. Forcing manufactures to put them in cars is one thing. Forcing people to actually wear them is unconstitutional and a violation of the powers of the feds. In fact, mandating their placement in cars may also be a violation. I see nothing in the constitution that gives the feds the right to do that. States yes on forcing them to be in cars, but not feds. States don’t have the right to tell me to wear one however, even though they do it, it is unconstitutional. Just as unconstitutional as telling me I have to buy health insurance.
Are there laws anywhere requiring powering steering?
“In some cases the Amish have been around there far longer than the modern high speed roads and highways that paved over their horse and carriage dirt roads. On the other hand, it is not a Christian thing to put a non biblically mandated lifestyle statement ahead of the welfare of your neighbors. On a third hand (are we growing an octopus?) it seems too little study has been paid to scientifically viable alternatives to those gaudy orange triangles.”
Personally, I don’t give one sh*t about anyone’s particular time frame of religion or outlook on a supreme being. In my 62 years, I have grown so tired of people preaching their god is better than some other god or gods. I especially despise the Islam religion for their centuries old hatred of all other man-made religions, ironically including their own.
I’m an agnostic. Deal with it. You know, the world knows, and history knows nothing more than I do about a god behind this all. Other than some words written in some old books by ill-informed superstitious men who thought the world was flat and the Sun revolved around this rock, NO ONE has one ounce of proof that such a god exists.
Even if it did (which I do believe in divine design), I can’t imagine that the creator of the entire universe has some need to be worshiped. What a petty god that would be. What? He sits in golden clouds outside of our telescopes and awaits humans to beg to him? Sheesh. That is a high-school jock who needs the approval of his peers.
You can also include the astro-physicists. They can do their calculations through their entire lives, but they will never know what is behind the “big bang” theory.
Yeah, I know it’s now got a name - “singularity”. The biggest minds in the world can’t explain why and how that existed, but they had to give it a name just so their Harvard educations and doctorate thesis didn’t go to waste.
Personally, I don’t think what is behind our known universe is within our intellectual capabilities. I have believed all my life that once we reach mental self-awareness and die, that we become part of this magnificent universe, in a way we can’t understand. Read C.S. Lewis and the writer who wrote, “A Conversation With God”.
So let the Amish deal with local ordinances. I have to. So should they. Tough sh*t. Screw theirs’ and other religious beliefs. Let them live within laws for all. If the State deems them wrong, then change them. Just don’t let my wife hit a truck head on while trying to avoid some dumb ass in a horse-drawn carriage.
F*ck him and his stupid beard and silly beliefs. Same for Christians, Jews, Buddas, Hindus, (although I like their peace beliefs...not so much for Islamists). Too bad DHS, arrest me for saying that.
Rights stop where it endangers or infringes on other peoples’ rights. That is what Madison, Randolf, Rutledge, and others tried to say back in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. May be a State issue, but the principles are the same.
Nope. That was my first reaction.
***they shouldn’t let them drive their buggies until they comply. What they’re doing is dangerous***
LOL. Yeah, they’ve been doing it for 300 years, but now a committee has determined it’s ‘dangerous.’
***they shouldn’t let them drive their buggies until they comply. What they’re doing is dangerous***
LOL. Yeah, they’ve been doing it for 300 years, but now a committee has determined it’s ‘dangerous.’
“And yet allowances have been made in the past, at least, for things like native American Indian ceremonial hallucinogenic mushrooms.”
Apples and oranges. A big difference from some people out on a reservation doing poyote(sp) and someone traveling on a highway in a dark carriage with tons of steel bearing down on them.
Sheesh, let the citizens of the same roads see them, even if they have to have a reflective triangle. There rights to live their lives stop where it endangers other drivers.
Classy. Hey Navy Vet - shut up now, before your personal bigotry damages the reputation of far better vets than you.
Judge said it straight. It could be about 100 or 150 years ago worse than than it presently is I guess.
Jungspringers gots to get their brain around what’s worth fighting against.
The Rumspringers want to make a political statement: leave us alone.
My response, as ruler of the world in my mind, we’ll leave your corpse alone when Joe Redneck blasts down the road in their red-neck-truck and clops your asses off into your fields, and speeds away, eh?
Now if ANY of your Amish equipment comes into my vehicle passenger compartment - I or ANY passenger(s) suffer the slightest injury whatsoever - I, my passengers and a whole fleetload of lawyers will sue your ass 100’ directly into the ground.
Actually it wasn’t until the automobile became more of a force on the road that the horse and buggy became dangerous. The statement referring to what they are doing is dangerous does not refer to them driving the horse and buggy per se but more so not following the traffic laws that is set forth by the state government.
I grew up in Ohio with a much larger Amish population than PA or even KY. Driving the backroads we were constantly remindeded that Amish drove buggies and to watch out for them. nonetheless, you would hear about how some driver of a car plowed into the back of the buggy/carriage and killed the the occupants of the buggy. The driver of the car usually came out unscathed. This went on continously and still does. So yes, horse and buggies have become dangerous on roads that share them with cars. Usually the speed limit on these back roads exceed 45 MPH. So here you have a buggy maybe doing a speed of less than 10 mph and a car doing 45 mph and over. You do the math. The horse and buggy has become a hazard on the roads which makes them dangerous.
To give credit where credit is due, the local area usually puts up Horse and buggy yellow diamond signs alerting car drivers that this is an area heavily traveld by the Amish. It isn’t a committee that has determined thew horse and buggy has become dangerous in a modern era of cars. They became dangerous because they are slow and have become a road hazard to the drivers of cars and trucks. But just like entering a school xing, when entering in an area where there is heavy traffic of horse and buggies, its up to the driver to remain vigiliant and alert. Most of all to be ever cautious and slow down when coming upon and passing these carriages.
I don't remember reading those verses. In fact the opposite is true. However there was a church that misinterpreted and imprisoned Galileo for advocating heliocentricity and that may be where the misconception is.
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