| GREG-STRANGE.COM |
"If you haven't found something strange during the
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
PROVIDING SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTARY ON THE
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
My Way Or The Highway
"No one should have to choose between worshipping God in
the way that they see fit and living in Pennsylvania."----
Attorney Donna Doblick, representing the Swartzentruber
Amish in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
Well, not unless your way of worshipping God is
addleheaded and it causes you to ignore laws that are designed
to protect your physical safety as well as that of other citizens
at large. In that case, maybe one does need to look for another
place to live.
Honestly, when I woke up this morning I never suspected
I'd end up writing a column bashing the Amish, of all people. I
have absolutely nothing against them or their religion and I
feel a bit nasty for having done it, but sometimes you just have
to take on an unpleasant job. I think I'd better explain what I
mean.
As you may know, the Amish belong to an austere,
Protestant sect who shun modernity and teach separation from
the rest of the world. Their doctrine requires farming and
personal simplicity as a way of life. Amish men wear beards
and wide-brimmed hats and the women wear long, plain
dresses and bonnets. They till the soil with horses and they
don't use electricity, telephones or automobiles. Their main
mode of travel is by horse-drawn black buggies.
Fine. Whatever turns them on. But Pennsylvania has this
law requiring that orange reflective triangles be displayed on
the back of black buggies for safety reasons. That's because
slow-moving buggies can be a safety hazard when they are on
highways designed for fast-moving automobiles and it is
thought that the reflective triangles make them more visible
and therefore less likely to be plowed into by motorists.
Any rational individual understands that there is no
conceivable reason why God would have a problem with that,
but rationality is not the hallmark of a small branch of the
Amish known as the Swartzentruber Amish. They believe that
using the reflective orange triangles means placing faith in
symbols, which they further believe is an indignity to God.
Therefore, they refuse to comply with the law and this is what's
so rankling.
Somebody needs to tell the Swartzentruber Amish that the
state of Pennsylvania is not in league with the devil in asking
for compliance with this very reasonable law. Somebody also
needs to tell them that religious fanaticism is not an excuse for
placing the lives of not only themselves but others in potential
danger. And somebody needs to tell them that God gave people
brains for a reason and it doesn't make sense that He would
admire or prefer those who refuse to use them.
You may be wondering what kind of jerk would actually sit
down and write a column lambasting the Amish. Did I just
wake up on the wrong side of the bed with a burning desire to
berate a group of people who are known to be kind, gentle,
hard-working and morally righteous?
No, it's just that I have this thing about total, blatant
human irrationality, particularly when it is the direct result of
religious fanaticism and particularly during these times when
we are being forced to fight a war against a sizable band of very
violent, very crazy religious fanatics who would like nothing
more than to kill every man, woman and child within the
physical confines of the United States.
Now obviously, I am not equating the Swartzentruber Amish
with al-Qaeda in deeds, goals or personal morality, but they
unfortunately have one significant thing in common: utter
irrationality. For the Swartzentrubers to believe that God is
opposed to their placing reflective orange triangles on their
black buggies is every bit as irrational as believing that
slaughtering infidels gets you a trip to heaven where you spend
eternity diddling virgins.
Lawyers for the Swartzentruber Amish have requested that
Pennsylvania join eight other states in a compromise that
would allow them to forego the orange triangles and instead
outline the backs of their buggies with less obtrusive gray
reflective tape. Please. Do the Swartzentrubers really believe
that God, the supreme being and creator of the infinite
universe, sits on high in his heavens and makes moral
distinctions between orange triangles and gray tape? Excuse
my bluntness, but this is idiotic nonsense.
It really shouldn't be too much to ask of these childishly
irrational, but good and gentle, people to ratchet down their
fanaticism just a bit, reason this thing through and make this
one little compromise for the sake of physical safety. If it is,
though, then I'm behind the state of Pennsylvania all the way if
it wants to tell the preposterously obstinate Swartzies, "My way
or the highway."
"No one should have to choose between worshipping God in
the way that they see fit and living in Pennsylvania."----
Attorney Donna Doblick, representing the Swartzentruber
Amish in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
Well, not unless your way of worshipping God is
addleheaded and it causes you to ignore laws that are designed
to protect your physical safety as well as that of other citizens
at large. In that case, maybe one does need to look for another
place to live.
Honestly, when I woke up this morning I never suspected
I'd end up writing a column bashing the Amish, of all people. I
have absolutely nothing against them or their religion and I
feel a bit nasty for having done it, but sometimes you just have
to take on an unpleasant job. I think I'd better explain what I
mean.
As you may know, the Amish belong to an austere,
Protestant sect who shun modernity and teach separation from
the rest of the world. Their doctrine requires farming and
personal simplicity as a way of life. Amish men wear beards
and wide-brimmed hats and the women wear long, plain
dresses and bonnets. They till the soil with horses and they
don't use electricity, telephones or automobiles. Their main
mode of travel is by horse-drawn black buggies.
Fine. Whatever turns them on. But Pennsylvania has this
law requiring that orange reflective triangles be displayed on
the back of black buggies for safety reasons. That's because
slow-moving buggies can be a safety hazard when they are on
highways designed for fast-moving automobiles and it is
thought that the reflective triangles make them more visible
and therefore less likely to be plowed into by motorists.
Any rational individual understands that there is no
conceivable reason why God would have a problem with that,
but rationality is not the hallmark of a small branch of the
Amish known as the Swartzentruber Amish. They believe that
using the reflective orange triangles means placing faith in
symbols, which they further believe is an indignity to God.
Therefore, they refuse to comply with the law and this is what's
so rankling.
Somebody needs to tell the Swartzentruber Amish that the
state of Pennsylvania is not in league with the devil in asking
for compliance with this very reasonable law. Somebody also
needs to tell them that religious fanaticism is not an excuse for
placing the lives of not only themselves but others in potential
danger. And somebody needs to tell them that God gave people
brains for a reason and it doesn't make sense that He would
admire or prefer those who refuse to use them.
You may be wondering what kind of jerk would actually sit
down and write a column lambasting the Amish. Did I just
wake up on the wrong side of the bed with a burning desire to
berate a group of people who are known to be kind, gentle,
hard-working and morally righteous?
No, it's just that I have this thing about total, blatant
human irrationality, particularly when it is the direct result of
religious fanaticism and particularly during these times when
we are being forced to fight a war against a sizable band of very
violent, very crazy religious fanatics who would like nothing
more than to kill every man, woman and child within the
physical confines of the United States.
Now obviously, I am not equating the Swartzentruber Amish
with al-Qaeda in deeds, goals or personal morality, but they
unfortunately have one significant thing in common: utter
irrationality. For the Swartzentrubers to believe that God is
opposed to their placing reflective orange triangles on their
black buggies is every bit as irrational as believing that
slaughtering infidels gets you a trip to heaven where you spend
eternity diddling virgins.
Lawyers for the Swartzentruber Amish have requested that
Pennsylvania join eight other states in a compromise that
would allow them to forego the orange triangles and instead
outline the backs of their buggies with less obtrusive gray
reflective tape. Please. Do the Swartzentrubers really believe
that God, the supreme being and creator of the infinite
universe, sits on high in his heavens and makes moral
distinctions between orange triangles and gray tape? Excuse
my bluntness, but this is idiotic nonsense.
It really shouldn't be too much to ask of these childishly
irrational, but good and gentle, people to ratchet down their
fanaticism just a bit, reason this thing through and make this
one little compromise for the sake of physical safety. If it is,
though, then I'm behind the state of Pennsylvania all the way if
it wants to tell the preposterously obstinate Swartzies, "My way
or the highway."