Out of all the children affected by Wisconsin v. Yoder, only one, Frieda Yoder, testified. In her testimony, she was only asked if her religion was the reason she did not go to school––not if she wanted to go to school despite her religion, or any question pertaining to her own wishes for her future.
Radicals believe that religion can be used as a tool to institute their own society that blatantly ignores rights granted under American law. This is not the intent of religious freedom, and the merging of religious abuse and human rights is a necessary discussion to have.
The charismatic televangelist industry and the upper echelons of the Amish Church are similar in their public relations apparatuses and financial hustling of others. Taking a look at these social institutions’ practices will give deep insight into Americans’ fallible infatuation with radical Christianity.
The Amish scholars who have so prominently featured throughout Wisconsin v. Yoder and related propaganda efforts by the Christian right are not insidious because they are activists, but because they cloak themselves in the familiar cloak of an impartial witness.