Religious Liberty: Amish Schooling

In the United States and throughout the world, religion has always been a subject of debate, contention, as well as the driving source of progress, revolutions, and wars. Religious liberty is one of the most important and significant characteristics of the foundation of the United States. It is the job of the United States government to uphold principles of religious liberty. In many cases, this job is very clear on its duties; however, these duties are occasionally called into question. In this essay we will look at an example of how religious liberty has previously been challenged in court. 

The Amish religion is a community of people that are extremely conservative in all aspects of life. Their religion calls members to leave worldliness behind by wearing modest, often handmade, clothes, not watch television, and not drive cars. Jonas Yoder, an Amish man, had two daughters who were enrolled in public school. His daughters would not participate in their gym class because of conflicts with their religious beliefs. The issue was that they had to wear short, tight uniforms for the gym class and then had to shower afterward. Jonas Yoder fought with the school over the issue and eventually was able to get the school to allow his daughters to wear homemade uniforms for class as well as shower in a separate dressing room. This debate sparked the promotion of a few exemption bills that would solve the issue. These bills were denied, causing a big rise in the numbers of Amish children attending Amish schools. “Between 1965 and 1970, the number of Amish schools around the country more than doubled. From 150 to 303” (Linder Yoder v Wisconsin: The Amish Challenge Compulsory Education Laws). This caused issues for the public schools because the loss in the amount of students would make it so that they would lose $20,000 of funding. Because this would cause loss for the school, School Superintendent Kenneth Glewen went to the district attorney to see if he could charge the parents of the students who were not attending school with a violation of Wisconsin’s compulsory education law. Jonas Yoder was sent mail threatening prosecution if the students did not comply with the state’s education laws. Yoder believed this to be a violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Two other fathers, Wallace Miller and Adin Yutzy, faced the same situation as Jonas Yoder because they too would not enroll their children in public or private schools after the completion of eighth grade. The fathers were found guilty, and a trial and circuit court upheld the convictions. However, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, found that the application of the law in this case violated the First Amendment’s free exercise of religion clause (Mawdsley Wisconsin v. Yoder). “On May 15,1972, ruled (7–0) that Wisconsin’s compulsory school attendance law was unconstitutional as applied to the Amish (primarily members of the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church), because it violated their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion” (Mawdsley Wisconsin v. Yoder). Those that argued against the Amish fathers were mostly those that believed the Amish were harming their children’s futures by not having them attend school. They believed that if the Amish children were to ever leave their religion and pursue a career outside the community, then they would have very little to depend on if they did not have any education past eighth grade. Others argued against giving an exception for the Amish because the Amish religion did not specifically oppose their children going to public school.

The Court used a three-part test to decide the case. It asked whether the religious beliefs in question were sincerely held, whether state law did in fact seriously burden those beliefs, and then it looked at the balance of the state’s interests against the free exercise interests. For the state to win, it would have to be decided that the law would need to take priority over religious freedom for the good of society, and that there must be no other way for state interests to be met other than to overrule religious interest (Wisconsin v. Yoder – Significance). Many cases after the Yoder v. Wisconsin case have used the three-part test to determine the balance between religious freedom and legal obligations. The test was famously used in the Sherbert v. Verner case, and is often called the Sherbert/Yoder test. This has likely affected the perception that the Amish community has on their beliefs. I would say that it would give them validation and confidence in a world that often might mock or invalidate their beliefs and practices. In the future, I think that this should show that government established/public institutions, like education, should not supersede religious freedom.

In my opinion, I think that the right decision was made. I think that it is the right of the parents to raise their children in their religion and to practice that religion as they please. This is an easy decision to me because there is no one that could really be in danger here. In cases where there is violence or drugs involved, it can be a more difficult decision. However, when it comes to education, there are plenty of people who do home schooling and I even think there should be more options than there currently are for education. The public school system often does not fit the personalities of students and it can, as in this case, interfere with personal beliefs and practices. Therefore, I think the right decision was made as it is the duty of the United States government to uphold the religious freedom of its citizens, especially when it is about matters like education. 

In conclusion, the government should look at what is in the best interest of society and balance it with religious freedom. The case of Yoder v. Wisconsin helped validate the Amish as a religious minority as well as brought people’s attention to the occasional conflict between religion and politics. I believe that it is the responsibility of the United States government to protect religious freedom for its citizens and that the correct decision was made in the Yoder v. Wisconsin case.

Works Cited

Linder, Doug. Yoder v Wisconsin: The Amish Challenge Compulsory Education Laws, law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/YoderStory.html. 

Mawdsley, Ralph D. “Wisconsin v. Yoder.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Wisconsin-v-Yoder. 

“Wisconsin v. Yoder – Significance.” Significance – Religious, Court, Amish, and Children – JRank Articles, law.jrank.org/pages/22905/Wisconsin-v-Yoder-Significance.html.