Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
what ??? why are the rapists / animal abusers not prosecuted by the police ?? the amish are not living in an independent territory, right ?? that is so wrong i can't even find words.
i don't know very much about them but they seem to be just as bad as any other extremist group from what i see, and worse than some.  |
The problem is that they are an entirely closed community. So, even if one of them is doing horrific things, no one else will testify against that person for fear of being kicked out of the community.
By their view, if you are not a member of the community, then you are going straight to hell. The laws of the "English" (which is what they call the rest of us) do not apply to them, only the laws of their god as they interpret them.
For example, they do not send their children to public schools, and they do a piss poor job of educating them. However, the law has never been able to force their children to get any kind of education because they are exempt as a religious organization.
As for prosecuting them for anything else ... the law can only prosecute people that they can prove a crime against. No witnesses ... very hard to do. And, often the Amish will simply hide anyone they feel needs to disappear for a bit. Can't find them, then you can't arrest them.
One girl was repeatedly raped and abused by her own brothers. The Amish stance was that they had reprimanded the "boys" and would punish the girl for speaking out against them. I think she was eventually shunned, and left the community. There are a number of safe houses for Amish youth to help them get out and make the transition into the real world.
There have been news stories about this sort of stuff I can remember from when I was really small .... right up to now. Nothing ever changes with them ... it is as it was and probably always will be with the Amish. As mentioned, I respect some of the artwork that comes out of their communities, but I don't respect their attitude with regard to women and animals.
The Mennonites, on the other and, seem to have their act together .... but then, I've known far more Mennonites than I have Amish. I used to see Amish people at the train station in San Diego all the time (usually traveling to Mexico for medical care of a questionable nature). It's bred into them not to interact with outsiders, so they tend to keep to themselves unless they are positively forced to ask for directions.
Oh well .... not my job to try to teach the Amish how to live a better life or care for their women or their animals. Maybe in another life ... but, not this one.