- Amish populations follow most laws and pay income and property taxes.
- However, there are some legal exceptions related to schooling, workplace regulations, and insurance requirements.
- Animal cruelty and traffic issues can also be a source of tension between the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors.
Pennsylvania was founded as a haven of freedom for religious minorities, and the state’s laws still reflect that.
In addition to Constitutional safeguards, Pennsylvania’s 2002 Religious Freedom Protection Act requires a “compelling justification” for any law that burdens the free exercise of religion.
However, the Amish are reluctant to use the legal system to their advantage. As pacifists, they view it as the use of force against another, and so prefer resolving conflicts by way of a peaceful negotiation, said Herman Bontrager, a Lancaster County resident and member of the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom.
“Pennsylvania has a long history with the Amish and they usually find a way to work it out,” Bontrager said. “The Amish contribute a great deal to the local society. There’s a mutual respect here.”
Still, some disputes between the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors resist easy resolution, resulting in legal fights and community tensions. Here’s a look at a few:
Amish targeted over environmental problems
Animal cruelty
Aside from environmental issues, concerns about puppy mills and other forms of animal cruelty create the biggest current source of tension between the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors, said Steven Nolt, a professor at Elizabethtown College and an expert on the Amish.
“Some of the stories turn out to be true, and the church doesn’t defend those people. Some of them turn out to be distasteful situations, but not illegal,” he said.
Horse euthanized after alleged beating by Amish man
Lancaster County is described as the puppy mill capital of the United States, in large part because of Amish populations that view dogs as livestock rather than pets, according to a December 2015 PennLive investigation. That doesn’t mean all of them are abused, but there have been cases of dogs with parasites, covered in waste or unable to walk because of years spent trapped in small cages.
In some cases of animal cruelty, however – like the Amish man in Ephrata who drew national ire last summer after allegedly beating an overburdened horse and causing its death – members of the Amish community are upset about what happened as well, Nolt said.
“His dad was about as happy as your dad would have been if you wrecked the family car,” he said.
Taxes
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that the Amish don’t pay taxes, Nolt said. In reality, they pay almost all taxes.
There is one exception: Amish who are self-employed or employed by other Amish are exempted by Federal law from paying into the Social Security and Medicare funds. Pennsylvania has a similar exemption for workers compensation.
The reasoning, Nolt said, is that the Amish view funds like Social Security and Medicare as forms of insurance, not taxes, and they believe insurance violates Biblical principles. They have their own form of aid for members of the Amish community in financial need.
Workplace safety
When the Lebanon Daily News investigated dangerous jobs last summer, we spoke with a local roofing contractor who asked not to be identified because of concerns about retaliation by regulators. He complained that it is difficult to comply with often unnecessary federal safety laws while competing with Amish contractors who don’t follow the rules.
Nolt said he’s heard similar complaints, but doesn’t believe they have much basis in fact. According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, the lone exception to workplace safety rules granted to the Amish involves the use of hard hats.
Because of the Amish-aid model, they also don’t have to buy commercial liability insurance, which may provide a bit of a competitive edge, Nolt said.
“There are some things that they are getting through their church that are much cheaper, but that’s just kind of a function of what their church is able to do for them,” he said.
Traffic
There were six crashes involving Amish buggies in Lebanon County from 2011 through 2015, according to PennDOT. They created a total of six injuries and no fatalities. There was at least one crash involving a buggy in 2016 that resulted in non-life-threatening injuries, according to Lebanon Daily News records.
There is some debate within Amish communities about whether they should provide lighting at night to alert oncoming cars, Nolt said. Most of the Amish buggies in south-central Pennsylvania have an orange triangle and battery-operated red lights. Around Dover, Del., many buggies have a white strobe light.
Schools
This issue that has historically generated the greatest tension between the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors came in the 1950s and 1960s over the Amish refusal to send their children to public schools, or to any school beyond eighth grade. That was ultimately resolved with a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling favoring the Amish.
There is less conflict over schooling now, and less conflict overall between the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors, likely because of society’s increasingly multicultural attitude, Nolt said.
