Chapter 2 Amish's story

In recent years, with the development of cultural exchanges between China and the United States, some cultural streams in the United States that are far from the mainstream have gradually been introduced to China.As a result, the United States is no longer a rigid and fixed routine. In the impression of people on this side of the ocean, the image of the United States is gradually enriching.I have read two times in domestic magazines that someone mentioned that there is a group of Amish people living silently in their own world in the United States. If our general impression of the United States can be placed on one pole of the concept, then the Amish must be sent to the opposite pole.If we call the American way of life modern, then Amish can be said to be ancient; if we call America technologically progressive, then in the same value system, Amish is not only backward but also refusing to progress Yes, wait.If we visualize it a bit more, if our impression of Americans is dazzling and colorful, then the Amish people will always be plain, with only black and white monochrome.

If in your imagination, the Amish are a small group living in a certain isolated mountain valley surrounded by mountains, inaccessible by vehicles and boats, and where birds do not lay eggs, it is nothing unusual.The problem is that there are almost 350,000 such a group of believers in the United States today, and the number is still slowly increasing.They live on the rich and vast plains of the traditional farming areas of the United States.Not only are they not closed, they don't even live together. There is no Amish village, and they are all retail investors.Amish farmers are scattered among the houses of other Americans, mixed in the same area.The country roads in front of their house are also flat asphalt roads, leading directly to the highway.The town is nearby with shopping centers and entertainment facilities.The noisy, changeable and vibrant modern life is within easy reach.But when you pass by the houses there, it's easy to recognize Amish's house. In addition to having a huge barn, there is also a small black carriage parked in the backyard.Because in an age when we decided we weren't American if we didn't drive a car, they only drove horses and carts.

Therefore, this cannot but make people who believe that "technical progress" must be "unstoppable temptation" stunned for a moment.No matter what the future holds, you have to admit that, after all, in the United States, where such temptations are the greatest in the world, Amish has been here silently for more than two hundred years.Peaceful and serene, perhaps not particularly happy, at least not particularly painful.They also have their own emotions, but they are not "lured" into turmoil as we imagined.Six gods have no master.eager to try.parefull. Speaking of their ins and outs, we have to go back to Europe five hundred years ago.

In the tide of the European religious reformation in the 16th century, a small number of radical reformers emerged from Zurich, known as the "Anabaptist".They advocate the strict practice of the teachings of the Bible and the rejection of vain red tape that does not conform to the Bible.They believe that religious beliefs should be practiced in daily life, and they cannot say one thing and do another.They earnestly seek what the Bible says about big and small things, and when they figure it out, they must do it, and they must do it.They believe that the church should be a collective of like-minded adults.Therefore, the "passive" first baptism after the baby's birth does not count.And after a person becomes an adult, if he is convinced that he really has faith, he should "actively" accept Christian baptism again.This is where the name "Anabaptist" comes from.

The 16th century was far from an age of religious tolerance.As soon as the Anabaptists came out, they were persecuted from both directions by the Roman Catholic Church and other Protestants.In Switzerland and southern Germany, where Anabaptists originated, hundreds of Anabaptists were burned at the stake.In such a cruel environment, the Anabaptists showed amazing religious persistence.They believe that although the world they face is arrogant, wealthy, narrow-minded, and violent, they should still be kind, poor, humble, and civilized.Under severe repression, Anabaptists gradually formed some characteristics different from other Protestant denominations.They couldn't form a good church organization, and they could only gather and pray quietly in caves at first.They don't even have a clear leader, because the leader is killed as soon as he comes out.They can only do everything quietly, and fear, anxiety and suffering are always with them.

Since there is no strict and tangible church organization, no constraints of church norms, and no cohesion of rituals and rituals common in general religions, then their existence as a believer depends entirely on their inner beliefs.So it would probably be good to say that the Anabaptists were particularly persistent in their beliefs.In the process of their spread in northern Europe, two tribes emerged. In the mid-16th century, a Dutchman named Meno attempted to re-establish a peaceful Anabaptist group in northern Europe.Their successors are called Menonat, or Menoists.By the end of the 17th century, the Anabaptists in Switzerland and the South Rhine were still in a scattered state of being persecuted. A Swiss named Aman stood up and called for the reform and unity of the Anabaptists. This faction was called Amish, also It's Omani.

Both branches have since come to the New World of North America, mostly settled in Pennsylvania and Ohio.These two states were in those days the best agricultural regions on the North American continent, and they were the best farmers in Europe.Thanks to the Quakers who opened up Pennsylvania, they are the North American mainstream sects that are most tolerant of paganism, and we should also thank the North American continent for its rapid popularity, and after the independence of the United States, the freedom of religion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution made these "Menonats" And "Amixu", finally able to live and work in peace and contentment.Compared with Menonat, the Amish adhere to the ancient clothing and lifestyle, are easier to identify in appearance, and the contrast between their style and modern life is more sharp and strong, so many Americans only know Amish does not know Menonat.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is an area where Amish is relatively concentrated, and it is only an hour's drive from the famous metropolis of Philadelphia.On the coldest day of last winter, we came there to see the real Amish life.But we found that they lived quietly and humbly in their own world.As long as it is an "Amixu tourist spot" that is open to the outside world to satisfy the curiosity of tourists, it must not be run by Amish.Because such a profitable "tertiary industry" does not conform to their life principles.However, although they are religiously rigid and have an introverted lifestyle, they are friendly to outsiders and understand that outsiders are curious about them.If you want to take a photo of their pony carriage, they will smile and slow down to let you do it.We found that they do not have the secretive deeds that are very easy to appear in such small sects, and what they stick to is just a kind of plainness caused by religious belief.

The Anabaptists living in Pennsylvania have no prominent churches. Their churches are as simple and humble as their farmhouses. Sometimes they even refer to the church where they gather to worship God as the meeting house like the early Quakers.The old-fashioned Amish also took turns gathering in their respective farmhouses for worship, around the old-fashioned country fires, with one side of the man and the other side of the woman, reading the old version of the Bible, using a language that no one else here used. Knows High Germanic.And in their one-room school, their children were taught two languages, English and the ancient language they had brought with them from their European homeland.

No matter where you are, you can recognize Amish at a glance because of their unique clothing.Simply put, other people's clothing has been changing for four or five hundred years, but they have not changed.Whether it's men's clothing hats or women's dresses, they are all black.Only at festivals or weddings, women add a pure white shawl.The girls' tunics don't have a single button, and the men's dresses have buttons, but nothing else.It is said that these prominent "humility" rules can be found in the "Bible".In Lancaster, if you meet "ancient European villagers" that you could only see in movies before, they are Amish.

Perhaps, there are high-voltage lines above their heads, and their neighbors have all kinds of household appliances, but they don't use electricity.So there are no lights, TVs, refrigerators, radios and microwave ovens.The Amish don't use cars, they are farmers, but they refuse to use tractors and any new machinery. Some Menonats use cars occasionally, but they must be black, as a sign of humility.Amish plowed the land with horse-drawn horses and went out in a single-drawn carriage.We see the Amish wagon clattering along the country roads of Lancaster, often followed by the cars of patient neighbors. For people who believe that only their own value system is the only correct one, it is difficult to understand why Amish refuses to use a ready-made new technology.They couldn't find any other explanation except that Amish was stuck behind.However, as the concept of multiculturalism is gradually accepted by people today, people can see that these Anabaptists are very intelligent and capable.The small family farm they operate in Lancaster County using traditional agricultural techniques is one of the farms with the highest yield per unit in the United States, and there are no common problems of modern agriculture such as chemical pollution and soil degradation.Their life is simple and comfortable.Their own explanation is that due to their religious beliefs and the persecution they have suffered for hundreds of years, they are deeply wary of the entire outside world. and thus follow their God undisturbed by temptation.They see glitzy appliances as a threat to their spiritual world. The sight of cars and carriages driving along the Lancaster Highway is rare in the United States, so we still remember it long after we left.This also caused us another curiosity: since the Amish are mixed among ordinary Americans, the problems they have to solve are obviously not only the contradiction between cars and horse-drawn carriages, their unique religious beliefs and their lives hundreds of years ago How does it coordinate with the modern outside world?The most salient part of this question is how to resolve the conflicts between them and the laws made by governments at all levels in accordance with modern American life? The reason why we immediately have such an association is because after living in the United States for several years, we know that this is a country that values ​​legal contracts and enforces strict laws.In this society, laws and government decisions are the result of the consensus of the majority, so once the law is passed, individuals are required to obey, including the minority who hold different opinions, and Amish is obviously a minority in the United States. When two different cultures clash, the most important thing is often the spirit of compromise.Amish are a humble group, so they are also making the greatest compromise within the scope they can accept.The Lancaster County Council once legislated that when Amish carriages are traveling on the road, an orange triangular slow-moving sign must be installed on the rear of the vehicle.Although it goes against the Amish tradition of being unadorned, they understand the rationale for traffic safety, and their wagons now have this symbol, which stands out against the black hood.At the same time, the county council legislated that the old-fashioned dim oil lamps could not be used for horse-drawn carriages at night, but dry battery lamps must be used.Amish does not use electricity, but this time they still accepted the dry battery lights.As another example, Lancaster County has enacted legislation to ban outdoor toilets without septic tanks for the sake of public health.Amish then changed his habits, moved the toilet indoors, and accepted the "new technology" such as underground septic tanks. However, in modern American society, there are still some laws that completely conflict with the Amish religious beliefs, and they cannot be compromised.This conflict is sometimes quite sharp.This is the time to test this society.Because the system means to act according to the will of the majority, but how to treat the minority is always a difficult subject.The United States has also experienced a historical process of gradual recognition. First up is the big question: war and peace.When the United States was involved in the two world wars and the subsequent Korean War and Vietnam War, it needed soldiers to fight.It is common sense in modern nations that conscription laws should be equal to all citizens.But the Anabaptists to which Amish belongs are absolute pacifists, and their beliefs make them stick to their swords.So they began a protracted conflict with the laws of the United States. What exactly does it mean to be absolutely pacifist?In a book handed down from generation to generation by the Amish, a historical story well known to them is described.In the early years, there was a Dutch Anabaptist named Dirk.He was chased by police officers because of religious persecution, and the police officers fell into a glacier during the pursuit.Dirk knew that his life would be lost if he was arrested, but he still couldn't do nothing.He turned around to rescue the police officer, but he himself was arrested and burned at the stake.This happened in 1569, before they came to the North American continent. After they came to the North American continent, something similar happened.In the era when whites and Indians hunted each other down, once a group of Indians surrounded an Amish family named Jacob at night.Instinctively, Jacob's sons took up their hunting rifles for self-defense.Jacob snatched their shotguns and threw them. As a result, all of their family were killed except two people who were kidnapped.This is not an isolated example.Not only Amish, but also a large number of Quakers were killed by Indians at that time because they insisted on pacifism.All of the above histories are examples of Amish education for future generations. During World War I, some Amish youths were forced to join the army, participate in military training, and were even forced to take up guns.However, war, for whatever reason, is unacceptable to Anabaptists.Therefore, there are many Amish who resist the military order. That was nearly a hundred years ago, and the U.S. government was at war, so it was obvious that they did not intend to explore religious and philosophical issues with Amish at this time.Therefore, in this war, many Amish believers were arrested and imprisoned for objecting to military service, and some were convicted of "inciting disobedience" for admonishing believers to obey the teachings and oppose killing in Amish newspapers. At that time, there was an Amish named Rudy who was drafted into the army.The officer forced him to put on his military uniform and practice in formation.A few weeks later, when it was time for the live-fire drill, he could no longer bear the condemnation of his conscience, took off his military uniform, and asked to be discharged from the army.According to the law at the time, disobedience to military orders was subject to court-martial.The officer took him to the three new graves outside the barracks, and slapped his pistol and warned him that if he didn't report in his uniform tomorrow morning, he would be the fourth grave.Rudy had a sleepless night.The next morning, while the recruits were having breakfast, Rudy came.He is dressed in black traditional Amish clothing and a black hat.For religious conscience, Rudy made the choice of death.The military officer who has always said one thing looked at this Amish, but he did not shoot him and let him discharge from the army. During the First World War this problem was encountered and dealt with differently in each individual case.Conflicts arise, problems are not resolved.Due to the small number of Amish people and the limited scope involved, it did not attract much attention. In World War II, Germany was the main enemy.It just so happens that the homeland of many Amish ancestors is Germany.They attach great importance to maintaining their native language in their education, and the daily language of the Amish is often High Germanic.Therefore, this time their anti-war behavior has attracted attention in the United States.Some suspect that they refused to fight because they were on the side of their mother country.The U.S. Congress held a special hearing for this.In order to clarify the pacifist purpose of the Anabaptists and fight for the right not to go to the battlefield, Amish, who has always been reluctant to show his face, sent a representative to testify under oath at the congressional hearing. They used their own history to prove to the American people that they opposed the war only because of their religious beliefs.What they opposed was war of any kind, no matter who the belligerents were or why it was fought. After their religious stance of absolute pacifism was confirmed, the majority made concessions to the minority.In such a hostile environment as World War II, Congress still recognizes the fact that people are different, and a few people have reasons for a few people.The U.S. military has made special arrangements for Amish, known as conscientious objectors, called "alternative service."They must work in hospitals or factories arranged by the military for two years without pay and not related to combat, in lieu of their civic obligations to serve in the military and fight. Amish has always only worked on his own farm and rarely went out to work.They believed that such two years of "alternative service" still forced them to assimilate into outside life, and brought the breath of outside restlessness into the pious and peaceful life of Anabaptists.The Anabaptists appealed to Congress again.After long-term efforts, the current "alternative service" has been changed to "voluntary service". Amish can do two years of unpaid agricultural work on the farm managed by his church instead of military service. It is not easy for the U.S. Congress to make such a decision.The Second World War was a tragic battle for all the participating countries.Before the war draws to a close, no one can say the inevitable direction of victory or defeat.In this extraordinary state, as the "majority" of a country, they agree to use their own flesh and blood to resist the enemy's bullets for some "minority" who claim to be "pacifists". "Religious belief is almost impossible without a rational spirit. The United States has repeatedly ignored the past of minorities in history, which has become the reason for their continuous reflection so far.Now if you travel in the United States, you can often encounter some historical memorial plaques, which record a period of history that happened in the place where the plaque was inserted.There are many such brands reviewing the injustice of Indians and blacks.It is this kind of introspection that makes the United States become more and more cautious and tolerant when it comes to dealing with minority issues. The majority in this country is in conflict with the Amish, but both sides are based on rationality, especially on the side of the mainstream society where the majority is dominant, and they are gradually learning how to respect the minority in order to reach a compromise.Therefore, although Amish are citizens of the United States, their civic obligations and rights are not exactly the same as those of ordinary Americans.For example, the taxes in the United States are very high. Although such taxes are not within the traditional self-sufficiency lifestyle of the Amish, the Amish still pay taxes according to the law.But on the other hand, they have also reached an agreement with the government. They take care of their old age in the traditional way, and never have the problem of being old and homeless. Social Security Fund.They also do not assume an important obligation of American citizens, which is that they do not serve as jurors in court.Because in their religious belief, only God has the right to judge people's sin or innocence. In history, one of the biggest conflicts between American law and Amish occurred in the field of education.This conflict is a typical reflection of how big the cultural difference between the "minority" and the "majority" can be. Amish traditional schools are so-called "one-room" schools, which, as the name suggests, have only one room.It also has only one teacher, and all the children have lessons together so that they can learn to help each other.Americans have always believed that it is the right of parents to choose how to educate their children. The practice of homeschooling has continued in American history to this day.The problem is, Amish also believes that it is enough for children to study until the age of fourteen, which is equivalent to the eighth grade, and they should start working in the farmland from the age of fifteen.They think that the high school education that children from outside start at the age of fifteen is harmful to Amish.However, educational legislation is in direct conflict with their educational methods. Education management in the United States is vested in the states, and the school councils in various places have the most say in primary and secondary schools, which are composed of parents and educators.The state parliaments have the power to legislate on education.In order to maintain the educational and cultural level of the entire society, the state legislatures successively legislated to implement mandatory compulsory education at the end of the 19th century.The universal education legislation of each state is in line with the trend of the times, based on improving the cultural level of the whole people, and has won the support of the people.So far, I have rarely heard anyone else object to compulsory education laws.When the states in which the Amish settled began legislation mandating education up to the age of sixteen, it became illegal for Amish to educate their children until the age of fourteen. Of course, Amish also understands that the state government's mandatory legislation on education is not malicious.But they see public schooling as a threat to their religious traditions by steering their children away from the religious pursuits they have passed down generations.This is not without reason. Experts have pointed out that Anabaptist education has played a huge role in maintaining and imparting values ​​that cannot be underestimated.For them, whether they can educate their children is equal to whether they can survive and continue. A minority cannot disobey the law by not agreeing. This is the rule of the game in the United States.The only legal way is to appeal, and the reasonable appeal of a small number of people can be treated fairly, which is also one of the prerequisites for the rules of the game to operate.There are two ways to appeal, one is to petition the executive and legislative branches peacefully, and the other is to bring legal proceedings to the judicial branch.The priests of the Amish religion advised everyone not to conflict with the government, nor to go to court, because this violated the Amish tradition of pacifism.The priests decided to petition the two branches of the state legislature and executive, asking for mercy. Amish of Pennsylvania printed a thousand copies of the petition and collected signatures.Although the number of Amish Christians is small, their spirit of defending the faith and their attitude of peace and humility have won the sympathy of Pennsylvanians.There are many signers.Usually, one Amish can collect 3,000 signatures from the outside world.They linked the signatures into a 130-foot-long banner, and Amish representatives took it to the governor.The governor then ordered the state attorney general to investigate whether the new education law violated religious freedom.The Amish were therefore grateful to the governor, and on Thanksgiving that followed, they sent him a basket of farm produce, including a turkey, a jar of syrup, and some corn.But the findings didn't solve the problem. Amish knew that the only way they could go was the judicial way.But the Amish don't like to sue, they are only used to appealing to God.This time they have nowhere to go, and if they don't want to give up, the only feasible option is to "try the law by oneself". In fact, this is how Americans in general tend to act when their views are outside the dominant culture.This type of judicial challenge in a passive form often leads to questioning of a mainstream concept, and may even change such a concept.And "passive" is exactly the characteristic of Amish. The Amish never caused trouble, but when they didn't send their kids to high school, the police came.The United States is a country with strict laws.In the early 20th century, Amish parents were arrested for violating compulsory education laws, and their children were placed in government custody.For the sake of family reunification, they either submit or are forced to sell their property and move their families. Some Amish families even migrated to distant Mexico to escape the compulsory education law.They are unwilling to change their religious beliefs and their accompanying lifestyles under pressure. Pennsylvania is a state with a spiritual tradition of tolerance, and Lancaster, where we visited, is home to the nation's second-largest Amish population.After the state education law was passed, the local government was also very confused about how to enforce the law on Amish at the beginning, so there were relatively rare cases of lax law enforcement.The local government basically turned a blind eye to the Amish teenagers who dropped out of school to work in the fields.But by 1937, Lancaster education officials felt that the Amish traditional one-room school was inadequate and that there was no high school education.There are plans to close some one-room schools and replace them with new public schools.Representatives of the state government wanted to convince Amish that "education is the door to knowledge".However, this kind of dialogue is based on a completely different cultural value system, so naturally no one can convince anyone.Such cultural clashes disturbed and disturbed both the state government and the Amish.Set aside during World War II, the issue was brought up again immediately after the war, and some Amish parents were fined and even imprisoned for violating compulsory education laws. They petitioned the state government again.Until 1955, the state government made a compromise: The Amish can educate their children in their own schools until the age of fourteen, and then set up a special vocational school for them, in which Amish children are educated until the legal age of sixteen.This vocational school is held only half a day a week, and traditional agricultural knowledge is taught by Amish teachers.This arrangement was such a breakthrough that it became famous in American history as the "Lancaster Vocational School Compromise."The Amish here relies entirely on an indestructible religious spiritual toughness to reach a compromise with the powerful majority government and win the right to educate their children according to their own wishes.The word compromise in American history books is usually a positive word.Everyone believed that reaching a compromise solved the problem and was a common victory for both sides. The Lancaster Vocational School Compromise did not resolve similar conflicts in other states because education legislation was vested in the states.The problem is universal.In Buchanan County, Iowa, the local government announced that it would eliminate one-room schools and send Amish children to new public schools; the Amish insisted on sending the children to their one-room schools.One morning in November 1965, county education officials, along with the police, drove a school bus to an Amish one-room school to put the children on the bus and take them to a new school.There is only one teacher Amish in the one-room school, and he watches the children line up helplessly.Suddenly, I don't know who shouted.Before the police and officials came back to their senses, the children rushed towards the endless corn fields nearby as if they had exploded, and disappeared in the green gauze tent in an instant.It was an Amish boy who yelled "Run!" in the Amish High Germanic language, which none of the others could understand. The accompanying news reporters quickly took pictures of boys and girls in black clothes, fleeing into the field like rabbits in panic.This photo became very famous later, because this issue finally went to the Supreme Court of the United States under the sympathetic eyes of the people of the United States. In the Amish schools in some places, the children were successfully put on the school bus and transferred to another school, and the two different values ​​met to form a very absurd result.A law aimed at improving children's education, but the scene is bleak when it is implemented.The Amish children sang "God Loves Me," the mothers wept silently, and the fathers stood aside in silence, blue-faced.The Amish still follow the principles of pacifism.But it is this silent, modest yet persistent attitude, and the American people's attitude towards "majority and minority" Reflecting on the relationship, Amish's education incident began to spread across the United States.Private donations from across the country poured into Buchanan County to pay the Amish fines. This sympathy and protest put a lot of pressure on the governor of Iowa, but he, as executive, has no power to change the law.He can only announce a three-week moratorium on merging schools within his purview, and at the same time ask the state legislature, which has legislative power, to consider legislation exempting Amish from compulsory education. In 1967, the Iowa State Legislature granted immunity to education officials in the state executive branch, giving Iowa Amish the right to educate their children in their own way. At this moment, a man named Lindhelm stepped forward.He was not an Amish, but a Lutheran pastor.After learning about Amish's experience in education, he believed that Amish's religious freedom had been violated. In March 1967, at an academic conference on public education legislation at the University of Chicago, he appealed to those concerned with Amish religious liberty rights to help.An organization called the Amish National Council for Religious Freedom was born, and Lindhelm served as the chairman of the council.This organization has not only lawyers, scholars, but also Christian and Jewish religious leaders. The national attention then shifted to Kansas, where Amish parents were arrested and others were convicted in court.The state of Kansas announced strongly that "professional school compromise" practices similar to Pennsylvania's "trade school compromise" would be illegal in Kansas.The state level is not about to compromise.Lindhelm's organization tried to appeal the case to the federal court, but the Supreme Court refused to accept the case because of the "separation of powers" system in the United States.Under this system, education management is left to the states, and the federal government has no right to interfere.Therefore, the federal courts do not have jurisdiction in these cases. So the Amish there decided to move again.Many people moved to Greene County, Wisconsin in this way.But by the fall of 1968, strict enforcement of educational regulations had begun here, too.Two more Amish families face arrest for failing to send their kids to high school. On Christmas Eve 1968, Lindhelm and a lawyer named Bauer decided to represent Amish to the state government in the court of Greene County after their request to the Wisconsin state government to exempt Amish was rejected.Sue the state government for violating Amish's religious freedom.But the case was lost.The district court held that although the state government could be said to have violated Amish's religious freedom, universal education is in the long-term interests of all citizens.This interest overrides the religious rights of minorities. This often happens in the United States, that is, when two legal provisions conflict, it is necessary to judge which one takes precedence.When such a legal paradox arises, it is generally necessary to go to the Federal Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court has the "judicial review power".That's exactly what Lawyer Bauer wants to achieve.He didn't intend to win the case in District Court, he even knew he would.But he wants to open up a judicial channel.Ball first appealed to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, which overturned the judgment of the district court. The judge said that the so-called interests of the whole people that can override the religious freedom rights of minorities do not exist, and Amish’s choice of eight years of education does not damage society. So the defendants in the case, the executive branch of the Wisconsin state government, appealed to the Supreme Court.The previous time, the nature of the case was to determine the educational management of Amish children, an issue that the federal court had no jurisdiction over.But now, the nature of the case is that a national civil society is suing the state government for infringing on religious freedom on behalf of the people, and it becomes an issue of whether the state education regulations are unconstitutional, which falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court.So, this time, the Federal Supreme Court accepted the case called "Wisconsin v. Yodel et al."Lawyer Bauer appeared in court to argue, and some Amish who never showed their faces also quietly came to the capital Washington, D.C., to wait for the judgment to determine their fate.They were also dressed in traditional Amish black attire.The black background is set against the background of the white marble building of the Supreme Court, which still gives us a thrilling feeling when we see this outdated news photo today. One day in late 1972, the Supreme Court justices overwhelmingly ruled in Amish's favor.Chief Justice Warren pointed out in the judgment that the content and values ​​taught in modern secondary education are in sharp conflict with the fundamental way of Amish religious life, and the mandatory education regulations violate the religious freedom rights of Amish. In his Supreme Court judgment, Chief Justice Warren Borg wrote the following passage, which is oft-quoted today: We must not forget that during the Middle Ages many of the important values ​​of Western world civilization were preserved by religious groups who, under great hardship, kept themselves away from secular influence. There is no reason to assume that today's majority is "right" and that the Amish and their like are "wrong".A different or even idiosyncratic way of life cannot be condemned simply because it is different from others if it does not interfere with the rights or interests of others. The judgment of the Supreme Court once and for all resolved the conflict between the states and the Amish on education issues, and Justice Warren's judgment made a summary of the long-term thinking and introspection.制度要求少数服从多数，同时要求多数不能压迫少数，不能侵犯少数的自由和权利。要做到这一点，在制度的设计上，一开始就要为持不同意愿的少数预留下申诉、辩解和反抗的渠道。在百分之九十九点九的一致之下，仍要为百分之零点一的异见留下呼吸的空间。这也是美国法律强调个人的宪法权利必须归属个人，而政府“不得立法”侵犯这种权利的根本原因。 如果法律不打算保护千分之一万分之一，也就保护不了“百分之五”，那么，“多数”本身也就都潜在的岌岌可危。 我们曾经习惯于法律对“百分之五”的不予保护，这是因为，当我们身处“多数”之中，我们理所当然地认为，“多数”就是对的，我们只知道庆幸自己不是少数。谁也没有想过，今天你不挺身而出保护你所不同意甚至不喜欢的百分之五，你怎么有把握下一次你不在另一个百分之五中呢？今天你看到与你无关的百分之五遭受的不公正扭过了头去，下一次轮到你的时候，你还向谁去呼喊呢？ 一个社会要发动成千上万的人并不难，要达到多数人的一致也不难，难的是公正善待只有百分之几的少数。有时候，少数显得如此人微言轻，他们的生死存亡是如此的微不足道，可是，能否保证这微乎其微的少数得到公平的善待，恰恰是检验文明和人道的试金石，也是决定能否长治久安的一个关键。 也许，最平凡的阿米绪正默默地以他们的存在，在给人类讲述着一个并非无足轻重的故事。