Answer: TRUE
Details:
Writing for Ranker, Danielle Ownbey notes: "The Amish live a secluded life away from other Americans (known to them as the English). Because of this seclusion, the average person knows very few facts about the inner workings of the Amish religion and culture."
The Amish have sometimes needed the protection of the courts to maintain their rights to keep their culture separate, to pursue their religious beliefs and way of life. An example would be the case, Wisconsin v. Jonas Yoder (1972), in which the decision of the Supreme Court was that a state could not compel education past 8th grade for Amish children. The case revolved around some Amish families who would not send their children to New Glarus High School in Wisconsin. County court held the parents responsible (represented by Jonas Yoder, one of the Amish fathers). However, the Wisconsin Supreme Court and then the US Supreme Court found in favor of Yoder and the Amish families. The parents' right to freedom of religion was seen as a stronger concern than the state's interest in educating children. An interesting fact about the Wisconsin v. Yoder case is that the Amish typically would not go to court to settle a dispute, because that would be a move beyond what their religious beliefs would allow. But a Lutheran minister named William Lindholm took up their cause for the sake of protecting religious freedom as a primary right. Lindholm established the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom.
