I can't help but see parallels between this story and that of any number of closed religious communities that exist under the name of either religious freedom or religious law.

Yes, specifically certain forms of Islam come to mind, but you also have your radical Mormans, Scientologists, and any other group which would control its people based on the strictest possible interpretation of the commands from their deity.

I mean... how can it be what our founding fathers or any other like-minded group of visionaries intended, to build upon the basis of an escape from tyranny only to create a whole new and concentrated tyranny all over again?

If you had the girl who was kept captive by her father for 20+ years, and she wrote a blog about the 'Aussies' I'm sure it would read horrific like this.

No culture is spared the inhumanity and indecency of horrid parents. No culture is free of rapists, incestual abusers, and violence.

I don't think her account is true of ALL the amish, nor is every amish community alike. There are different ordnuns(sp?) and there are different beliefs.

It's sad that they had to live like this, but I don't think badly of the Amish because of it.

I had dear friends who are Amish, they built my old house. (Added a whole upstairs, actually).

They home birth and have no need for SSN, so I am wondering why her dad had that stuff in the first place???

Or a fridge or a phone.. or electricity to the house...

Those are some redneck Amish.

The Amish communities vary widely. Some are surely worse, some are better.

The Amish are required to get social security numbers, just like other US citizens. They do pay federal and state income and property taxes, and legally any child claimed as a dependant must have a SSN.

As a whole, they don't reject ALL technology, they just choose what technology they will accept into their homes, and the uses for those items.

Y'all ought to read the comments too, not just the blog.

...true. Although this article was certainly focusing on the beliefs and practices of one rather extreme sect of the Amish (and a disclaimer was posted in the article) I cannot help but wonder if these problems exist in a greater or lesser degree throughout the entire Amish community and others of the type...

(was that proper english? i don't think it was... maybe a massive run-on sentence or some such. but i am way too lazy to correct it)

That said, my parents' house was built by Amish, and by all accounts they did a pretty bang-up job for not using power tools. Of course, my father wired the place himself, but besides that it hasn't fallen down... yet.

This aspect of the Amish gives me severe reservations about them being allowed to wall themselves off and control every aspect of their community.

Believe what you want to believe, but when you are endangering the lives of children by practicing what you believe that is when they should be arrested and jailed for quite some time.

[tongue-in-cheek]They can still make their Amish furniture, that could help pay for their incarceration.[/tongue-in-cheek]

(yes the situation I linked to is not universal, however when it happens then the ones that are causing it, should be held accountable)

My first thoughts on this were similar to yours, at least she's had a voice and had her situation and story heard, how many millions of children the world over live in abusive households? Households where the parents are abusive, drunk, drug addled etc, etc.

I was born into the Jehovah's Witnesses and left when I was 15/16, I was regularly beaten by my parents, emotionally and physically bullied, my mum had a foul temper and once tried to stab me and would have had it not been for my older sister, blah, blah, blah, and all the while they presented to the world a holier than thou appearance.

I know for a fact that not all JW's are like that and that millions of kids were raised far worse than I was, no point whining about it for the rest of your life.