By Sean Walton
After harassing the Amish community for years regarding its water supply and disposal, the county health department posted signs on the Amish families’ homes earlier this year condemning them as “unfit for human habitation” and filed lawsuits against 14 Amish families in November.
If successful, the lawsuits would result in the demolition of the Amish families’ homes and would effectively banish an entire religious community from Lenawee County. The ACLU and Wright & Schulte filed answers to those lawsuits Wednesday in Lenawee County Circuit Court, which include counterclaims against the county for religious discrimination in violation of the federal and state constitutions and the federal Fair Housing Act.
“The county is persecuting this Amish community because of their deeply held religious beliefs that have safely guided their way of life for generations,” said Phil Mayor, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. “Lenawee County residents should be outraged that their local officials, using taxpayer money and in the county’s name, have condemned their Amish neighbors’ homes and are threatening to demolish their houses, and leave them homeless. They should contact their county commissioners and other local officials and implore them to end this vicious attack on the Amish religion.”
The Amish community in Lenawee County adheres to their “old order” religious way of life by hand-pumping water from wells, using outhouses instead of flush toilets, and not using electricity, cell phones, or automobiles. Despite the fact that the Amish community’s choice to live in traditional ways causes no harm to themselves or anyone else, the Lenawee County Health Department has condemned their homes and is now asking a court to authorize the demolition of their property, unless the Amish community abandons its religious beliefs.
“This is not a question of public health — it’s Lenawee County officials using religious discrimination as a tactic to run this Amish community out of their homes and destroy their way of life,” said Richard Schulte, attorney with Wright & Schulte, LLC. “This community’s commitment to live according to their religion harms no one.”
Sean Walton is a researcher and journalist for The Daily Sheeple, where this article first appeared. Send tips to sean.walton@thedailysheeple.com.
Image credit: Pixabay
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Hmmm
The very first Amendment to the Constitution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”.
It continues to amaze me that the applicable sections of the Constitution or Bill of Rights are almost NEVER provided the reader in any discussion, regardless of which side of the issue the author purports to reside……
The United States is a Constitutional Republic. In simple terms this means that our rules of law are defined and confined by that Constitution which includes the Bill of Rights. Nowhere in the Constitution is the right or power granted the Federal government to limit or restrict freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of Religion or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. And yet here in the 21st century they somehow get away with doing it every damn day.
No one should be surprised that “our” government is spending our tax dollars to take away our, once unalienable rights. Consider: No less than the President has just ordered via executive fiat that our Children while in school/College cannot criticize jews/zionists/or israel. Such action by the President is equally un-Constitutional, un-American and patently illegal as this trampling of religious freedom by the county in Michigan.
Oh wait, this just in: Apparently, government lawyers have just discovered a secret Amendment to the Constitution which dictates the Bill of Rights are really just a privilege after all to be granted or taken away at the whim of the Government. Phew! See, all this sewage about individual liberty and freedoms is all just a figment of your imagination!