Amish getting fined?

[Judas Maccabeus]

This will be interesting to watch. The Amish are getting crossfire from measles outbreak among orthodox Jewish schools. We faced this already, parents who object to vaccination homeschool. I would be a little surprised if the supreme court takes the case, but if they do, I would expect the Amish to win as that court has decided for religious freedom very consistently for two decades.

The situation with the orthodox was present in my city as well. The approach was entirely different. The result was the mass clinic at the largest girls school. Gentle countering of the lies that had been spread in that community went a long way. It helped to have people that could gain a hearing. My wife was a part of that effort. Never figured out what they made of her.

I think the NYS position is that vaccination is not forced, but you cannot go to school without them. They also had some friction with the yeshivas over lack of basic content like math a history. We got sternly worded letters about making sure curriculum meets all NYS objectives and arranging a time for inspection. The school board scrabbled a little to find what might be missing but when we called set up the inspection, we were told we are under a different system since we offer regents testing for graduates. So no inspection for us.

We just don't operate that way here. There are requirements for a High School diploma, but parochial schools, particularly ones that do standardized testing, just don't seem to get much attention. They have a dumpster fire that is called "Baltimore City Public Schools."

We do nopt have a "regents" system like New York either.

[JohnH]

Poughkeepsie’s is arguably worse and Rochester is neck and neck with Baltimore’s (lack of) performance.

[barnhart]

The situation with the orthodox was present in my city as well. The approach was entirely different. The result was the mass clinic at the largest girls school. Gentle countering of the lies that had been spread in that community went a long way. It helped to have people that could gain a hearing. My wife was a part of that effort. Never figured out what they made of her.

I think the NYS position is that vaccination is not forced, but you cannot go to school without them. They also had some friction with the yeshivas over lack of basic content like math a history. We got sternly worded letters about making sure curriculum meets all NYS objectives and arranging a time for inspection. The school board scrabbled a little to find what might be missing but when we called set up the inspection, we were told we are under a different system since we offer regents testing for graduates. So no inspection for us.

We just don't operate that way here. There are requirements for a High School diploma, but parochial schools, particularly ones that do standardized testing, just don't seem to get much attention. They have a dumpster fire that is called "Baltimore City Public Schools."

We do nopt have a "regents" system like New York either.

As a school board member for more than a decade, my observation is the NYC system has a much worse bark than bite. They issue new mandates from time to time but the parochial schools have a lot of power so they pick battles carefully. Vaccine mandate was one they decided to bear down on, but in general if you show cooperation and respect, you will be rewarded with very broad freedom to do things your way. For example there once was a new initiative about sex education but once we talked it over with the person whose job it was to enforce it, she said what we were doing already was sufficient.

[JohnH]

As a school board member for more than a decade, my observation is the NYC system has a much worse bark than bite. They issue new mandates from time to time but the parochial schools have a lot of power so they pick battles carefully. Vaccine mandate was one they decided to bear down on, but in general if you show cooperation and respect, you will be rewarded with very broad freedom to do things your way. For example there once was a new initiative about sex education but once we talked it over with the person whose job it was to enforce it, she said what we were doing already was sufficient.

You might be interested to know that New York State does exist outside of NYC, and as far as I know there aren't any Amish settlements within NYC's school districts (yet).

[JohnHurt]

Yet the unvaccinated supposedly cannot infect the vaccinated.

Andrew Wakefield published a scholarly article that proved the Amish have less autism due to their opposition to vaccinations. Wakefield was blacklisted as a doctor and the article retracted, not because it wasn't true, but because there really is a connection between autism and vaccines. Big Pharma rules the USA.

Here is how to get around all of this:

https://reason.com/2026/10/08/new-york- ... -for-help/

From 1966 to 2019, unvaccinated students were allowed to attend school in New York with a medical exemption issued by a physician, or if they "hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs" opposed to vaccination.

New York is now trying to get around the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, and will be overruled. That is newsworthy, and stupid.

An anti-vaccination letter of your "sincerely held religious convictions" written by yourself as an "elder" in your own church still works in Tennessee and the other 48 states, here is what I wrote for my son's exemption, and they left us alone:

https://christianisrael.com/Nashville_T ... Letter.pdf

God has made you an elder in the church in your house, over your own family. You can name your family church whatever is appropriate.

I wrote a letter to the Selective Service about my son's draft notices, and they quit sending us mail about my sons joining the military:

https://christianisrael.com/selective-s ... h-hurt.pdf

You are welcome to use my letters as a template for your own purposes.

[JohnH]

Whilst we can’t prove causation, it is true that the Amish vaccinate at a low rate (around 15%) and have an extremely low autism rate (under 0.05%, vs 2.7% for non-Amish).

[Soloist]

Andrew Wakefield published a scholarly article that proved the Amish have less autism due to their opposition to vaccinations. Wakefield was blacklisted as a doctor and the article retracted, not because it wasn't true, but because there really is a connection between autism and vaccines. Big Pharma rules the USA.

I haven’t read the article, but I would ask you a few simple questions. Did he account for genetics? Did he account for under reporting? Did he use two sets of Amish, vaccinated/unvaccinated to evaluate the data? How did he gather his data?

[Judas Maccabeus]

Andrew Wakefield published a scholarly article that proved the Amish have less autism due to their opposition to vaccinations. Wakefield was blacklisted as a doctor and the article retracted, not because it wasn't true, but because there really is a connection between autism and vaccines. Big Pharma rules the USA.

I haven’t read the article, but I would ask you a few simple questions. Did he account for genetics? Did he account for under reporting? Did he use two sets of Amish, vaccinated/unvaccinated to evaluate the data? How did he gather his data?

I would like to FIND this article. Opening suspicion is that while in the general culture, a diagnosis of autism can bring all sorts of “services “ who is running around evaluating the Old Order Amish? One of my wife’s great nephews is “autistic.” My suspicion is he simply needs better parenting. They NEVER say “no”and the results are predictable.

[joshuabgood]

Andrew Wakefield published a scholarly article that proved the Amish have less autism due to their opposition to vaccinations. Wakefield was blacklisted as a doctor and the article retracted, not because it wasn't true, but because there really is a connection between autism and vaccines. Big Pharma rules the USA.

I haven’t read the article, but I would ask you a few simple questions. Did he account for genetics? Did he account for under reporting? Did he use two sets of Amish, vaccinated/unvaccinated to evaluate the data? How did he gather his data?

I would like to FIND this article. Opening suspicion is that while in the general culture, a diagnosis of autism can bring all sorts of “services “ who is running around evaluating the Old Order Amish? One of my wife’s great nephews is “autistic.” My suspicion is he simply needs better parenting. They NEVER say “no”and the results are predictable.

Andrew Wakefield's work has been found fallacious. And the Lancet fully retracted it.

[barnhart]

I think the Amish schools are being fined for consistently operating schools that don't meet health standards, not for vaccines hesitancy. They are free pursue that and homeschool. However, I predict if this goes to the supreme court, the Amish will win.