<TITLE>12. Par 82-85</TITLE>L-82 My lifelong friend, Jim Poole, his son stands here tonight. I wished his dad would only come and do what his son did. And we were talking today by telephone conversation, and he was remarking about a, I believe, a news commentator or someone (I don't remember just who it was now), but said, "It used to be that--that the American people taken a bath once a week and prayed every day," and said; "now they take a bath every day and pray once a week." I believe I'd rather do without the bath. But just shows how we have fallen. What's happened to this nation?

L-83 About five years ago I was in Ohio, and I was having a meeting up there at the (What is the name of that place where I had it out there on that?) [Someone says, "Chautauqua"--Ed.]--Chautauqua. And I was listening to a newscast in the hotel, and it said, "The flower of freedom died this afternoon in a court here in Ohio. The Amish people, they don't believe in sending their children to these public schools. They have their own schools. And in this certain neighborhood where these were at, they didn't have any high schools. It's the law of Ohio and Indiana (I think a national law) that all children must go to school till they're sixteen. And this man had a couple of children, boy and girl, that wasn't sixteen; and they refused to send them to the public schools where they teach the ethics of Darwin (that man descended from a single cell, be a monkey; that's all he is, just a glorified monkey and...). And so, they didn't agree with that, and they won't let their children hear it. And so the courts pulled them in. And this little smart-aleck judge said to the old aged father and mother, with his crock haircut and his overalls on; he said, "Sir, this state of Ohio has a law that says that the child must attend school till it's sixteen," and said; "you refuse to send your children. What do you answer?"

L-84 He said, "Honorable sir, I respect the laws of this lovely state in which I am a native." He said, "But we come here years ago, our forefathers, for freedom of religion, and that's why we are here for freedom of religion. Our religion teaches us that we don't believe that we come from animals to be man that... We believe that we were created in the image of God. Therefore, it's against our religious beliefs to send our children to a school that teaches such. Therefore, we don't have any high school here for our children to go. And it's not because we don't respect you; we respect what you believe; but for us, we don't believe that, and we don't want it taught to our children."
He said, "You'll either send your children to school or you and your wife will spend two years in the state penitentiary." Said, "What's your decision?"
He said, "Mother and I will spend the two years." And they turned and started to walk out.
The old judge must've felt a little bit condemned, so he said, "Remember, don't your Bible say, 'Give Caesar what's Caesar's'?"
And the father turned around, and he said, "And to God?"
The man on the news said, "Well, then the freedom..."
And the judge said, "I sentence you to two years."
He said, "Then the freedom--the flower of freedom died in that courtroom this afternoon."

L-85 After all, the Dunkards--or the Amish, rather, no matter how peculiar they are, they believe in holy living. And there's not one record nowhere in the United States to where they ever had any juvenile delinquency. Not one person, one child, from their religion was ever a juvenile delinquent. Let them be peculiar whatever they want; they're raised right. I don't blame them.
But listen, the flower died there right then, but about ten minutes it revived again. The prosecuting attorney, all of them, pushed back their books, and said, "Then we resign from our job, for if you break that Constitutional right, they'll break the rest of them."


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