Amish Community Denied Rights Protected Under First Amendment - Town Forces Them Onto Grid

by Tim Brown, Freedom Outpost:

After five years of fighting in court, an Amish community finally got a ruling, but one that clearly violates their rights protected under the First Amendment.

A split Pennsylvania court ruled earlier this month that an Amish family, who had been using an outhouse for decades had to now hook up to the city’s sewage system at their own expense and that would also require an electric pump.

The family claims that it violates their religious rights to force them to use electricity.

American government always has the heaviest hand for those who truly pose no threat. https://t.co/p7FCTtXDmL

— Paul Hair (@PaulHair1) 9 January 2018

The York Daily Record has the story:

In an opinion issued Jan. 5, a divided Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court said the Yoder family, who are Old Order Amish and avoid use of electricity for religious reasons, should complete the mandatory connection “without further delay.”

The Yoder family argued that use of electricity violates its religious convictions. The family has used an outhouse — an “old-fashioned privy” — that did not require running water or electricity, according to the decision written by Judge Robert Simpson.

But Sugar Grove Township requires residents with properties that abut the sewer system to connect to it at the owners’ cost.

The early 2018 ruling addressed whether the Yoders could connect to the system without use of an electric pump. It followed a number of previous opinions on the case from county and state courts.

The court’s majority opinion cited previous cases finding  the family “used electricity when necessary, through telephones and riding in motor vehicles.”

The court ruled that using an electric pump was the “least intrusive means” of connecting to the sewer system.

Now, it is true that the family could utilize wind or solar to produce the energy needed for the pump, but the fact of the matter is that what they are doing is not bad for the land and doesn’t impose a danger to anyone.  On top of that, the city requires it to be at their expense.

While I’m not one that is against electricity, this family clearly wants to remain simple and primitive and self-sufficient and they aren’t harming a soul in the process.  They are dealing with human waste in a way that has dominated much of human existence, and it’s a biblical way, as well.

“…and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement.” -Deuteronomy 23:13

Of course, this was to eliminate disease that could spread and was a forerunner of septic tanks, which allows for human waste to settle underground and be eaten by bacteria.

No one is being harmed by the family using an outhouse.  However, the city is being enriched by forcing them onto the sewage line and will charge them monthly for its use, something they get for free without being connected to the city’s sewage system.

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