September 29, 2003
Amish Sue Health Agency, Say Rules Violate Religious Freedom
by Christina Denny
Religion News Service
Five Amish farmers in rural Michigan are suing the local health department, charging that strict enforcement of septic system rules is violating their religious freedom.
Health agency officials maintain that Amish families in Gladwin County, 150 miles north of Detroit, must install septic systems large enough to meet health codes.
The Amish, who use indoor water only for washing dishes and bathing, say installing standard-size septic systems would be wasteful and would violate their religiously mandated simplicity.
"What the government is asking is unconstitutional," John Whitehead, president of the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute, told the Associated Press. "These people have essentially been persecuted for their religious beliefs."
Lawyers for the civil liberties organization, which is representing the farmers, filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo, Mich. The defendant is the Central Michigan District Health Agency, which covers six counties, including Gladwin County.
The suit claims that the farmers were denied religious accommodation and requests permission for the Amish of central Michigan to use alternative systems that still meet basic sanitary requirements.
"This denial of septic variance is part and parcel of a campaign of harassment and discrimination against the Amish community," said Steven H. Aden, chief litigation counsel for the Rutherford Institute.
The federal suit follows a December 2002 motion filed in state court by the Amish farmers, appealing the health department's denial of their request to install alternative septic systems.
The Amish had offered to install simpler, 300-gallon systems -- which would not require electric pumps -- but authorities say septic systems need to hold at least 750 gallons in order to meet health codes. Both sides are still awaiting a ruling.
The health department has defended its actions, saying it must apply its rules equally.
"We can't treat different segments of the population differently. We can't discriminate," Mary Kushion, the agency's top administrator, told the Associated Press last year.
For the Amish farmers of Michigan, said Aden, the conflict is "a matter of religious and cultural survival."
