Saturday, October 20, 2007

"What group lives in the greatest defiance of American law? - ...otherwise peaceful religious groups like the Amish or Mormon fundamentalists."

Another very cool article about evolving and capricious laws in America.

What Is a Criminal?:
"...Since migrating to America, the history of the Amish has been peaceful. But not law-abiding. While they will "give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," when push comes to shove the Amish put the laws of heaven before those of man. While never violent, they have historically refused to obey many American laws, including education, zoning, child labor, Social Security, and conscription laws, among others.

...The Mormon fundamentalists splintered from the main Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1920s, after the main church renounced "plural marriage" or polygamy....

The capitulation of the main Mormon church led to the founding of fundamentalist groups that, like the Amish, disagreed with what they saw as deviations from original doctrine. Most notably, that means some fundamentalist Mormon groups continue to believe in plural marriage as holy. It also can mean adherence to other doctrines abandoned by the main church, including the law of consecration, which demands dedication of property to the church. Living by the original rules, the fundamentalists moved to remote areas of Utah and Arizona, where they remain today, practicing plural marriage and, often, communal property systems."

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