In some cases the Amish have been around there far longer than the modern high speed roads and highways that paved over their horse and carriage dirt roads. On the other hand, it is not a Christian thing to put a non biblically mandated lifestyle statement ahead of the welfare of your neighbors. On a third hand (are we growing an octopus?) it seems too little study has been paid to scientifically viable alternatives to those gaudy orange triangles.
Last summer, I think, I made a gas stop on I-80 in western PA, and getting back on I pulled out behind a flatbed wagon being driven by a young Amish woman with a load of Amish kids in the back. They were crossing under the highway on a road which was a heavily traveled two lane highway itself. Normally I bridle at every infinitesimal delay in these situations, as irrational as it is to do so, as I often contemplate, but here I was moved to calm myself, and I kept a respectful distance. There was a red traffic light, and as I sat behind the wagon looking at the children, a young girl looked back at me and gave a slow wave, which I returned. For me it was a unique experience.
“In some cases the Amish have been around there far longer than the modern high speed roads and highways that paved over their horse and carriage dirt roads. On the other hand, it is not a Christian thing to put a non biblically mandated lifestyle statement ahead of the welfare of your neighbors. On a third hand (are we growing an octopus?) it seems too little study has been paid to scientifically viable alternatives to those gaudy orange triangles.”
Personally, I don’t give one sh*t about anyone’s particular time frame of religion or outlook on a supreme being. In my 62 years, I have grown so tired of people preaching their god is better than some other god or gods. I especially despise the Islam religion for their centuries old hatred of all other man-made religions, ironically including their own.
I’m an agnostic. Deal with it. You know, the world knows, and history knows nothing more than I do about a god behind this all. Other than some words written in some old books by ill-informed superstitious men who thought the world was flat and the Sun revolved around this rock, NO ONE has one ounce of proof that such a god exists.
Even if it did (which I do believe in divine design), I can’t imagine that the creator of the entire universe has some need to be worshiped. What a petty god that would be. What? He sits in golden clouds outside of our telescopes and awaits humans to beg to him? Sheesh. That is a high-school jock who needs the approval of his peers.
You can also include the astro-physicists. They can do their calculations through their entire lives, but they will never know what is behind the “big bang” theory.
Yeah, I know it’s now got a name - “singularity”. The biggest minds in the world can’t explain why and how that existed, but they had to give it a name just so their Harvard educations and doctorate thesis didn’t go to waste.
Personally, I don’t think what is behind our known universe is within our intellectual capabilities. I have believed all my life that once we reach mental self-awareness and die, that we become part of this magnificent universe, in a way we can’t understand. Read C.S. Lewis and the writer who wrote, “A Conversation With God”.
So let the Amish deal with local ordinances. I have to. So should they. Tough sh*t. Screw theirs’ and other religious beliefs. Let them live within laws for all. If the State deems them wrong, then change them. Just don’t let my wife hit a truck head on while trying to avoid some dumb ass in a horse-drawn carriage.
F*ck him and his stupid beard and silly beliefs. Same for Christians, Jews, Buddas, Hindus, (although I like their peace beliefs...not so much for Islamists). Too bad DHS, arrest me for saying that.
Rights stop where it endangers or infringes on other peoples’ rights. That is what Madison, Randolf, Rutledge, and others tried to say back in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. May be a State issue, but the principles are the same.
Orange triangles don't negate bad driving(?) on the part of the occupants.
Couple of years back the wife and I were in Lancaster PA looking for some breakfast. Ahead of us was an Amish buggy and ahead of him was a traffic light. Imagine my surprise when instead of slowing down and stoping for the red light, he blew through it. We were so shocked that we told the nice girl who served us breakfast, and she said "Yeah, happens all the time."