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The Yoder Case: Religious Freedom, Education, and Parental Rights
Compulsory education has always been in the best interest of the state, as it fosters good citizenship and self-sufficiency. But what if a segment of society considers state education detrimental to its own values? In the late 1960s, one Wisconsin Amish community held that view and removed its children from public schools. When the state claimed truancy and took Jonas Yoder and two other parents to court, a legal battle of landmark proportions followed.
Prize-winning historian Shawn Peters now offers a complete and compelling account of the Yoder case and of the tortured decision of simple Amish folk to break tradition and "go to law." He examines the breadth of First Amendment protections, the validity of compulsory school attendance, and the fundamental rights of parents and children. He also takes readers deep into the world of the Old Order Amish to show how their beliefs were often at variance with the very measures being undertaken to protect them.
While most accounts of Wisconsin v. Yoder have focused on its origins and implications, Peters lays out all the facts of the case to reveal their intrinsic importance. He draws on trial transcripts and in-depth interviews with participants to fully explore the backgrounds, motivations, and strategies of the people who shaped the case-particularly the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom and its attorney William Ball. He then describes in riveting prose how the trial unfolded, explains the impact of First Amendment jurisprudence on ordinary citizens involved, and shows how a relatively obscure dispute became a conflict of national importance.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 ruled in favor of the Amish, its decision was hailed by many as a victory for religious freedom but was also criticized for conferring special protection on one faith. Yoder was subsequently cited in fundamentalist Christian efforts to excuse children from public schooling, but faith-based exemption to law was ultimately defeated in other tests. Peters traces the progress of such cases into the 1990s to show how Yoder in some ways marked the beginning of the end of an era for religious liberty jurisprudence.
In exploring the meaning and legacy of Yoder, Peters reveals not only the human element of a landmark case but also its continuing relevance for our times.
Prize-winning historian Shawn Peters now offers a complete and compelling account of the Yoder case and of the tortured decision of simple Amish folk to break tradition and "go to law." He examines the breadth of First Amendment protections, the validity of compulsory school attendance, and the fundamental rights of parents and children. He also takes readers deep into the world of the Old Order Amish to show how their beliefs were often at variance with the very measures being undertaken to protect them.
While most accounts of Wisconsin v. Yoder have focused on its origins and implications, Peters lays out all the facts of the case to reveal their intrinsic importance. He draws on trial transcripts and in-depth interviews with participants to fully explore the backgrounds, motivations, and strategies of the people who shaped the case-particularly the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom and its attorney William Ball. He then describes in riveting prose how the trial unfolded, explains the impact of First Amendment jurisprudence on ordinary citizens involved, and shows how a relatively obscure dispute became a conflict of national importance.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 ruled in favor of the Amish, its decision was hailed by many as a victory for religious freedom but was also criticized for conferring special protection on one faith. Yoder was subsequently cited in fundamentalist Christian efforts to excuse children from public schooling, but faith-based exemption to law was ultimately defeated in other tests. Peters traces the progress of such cases into the 1990s to show how Yoder in some ways marked the beginning of the end of an era for religious liberty jurisprudence.
In exploring the meaning and legacy of Yoder, Peters reveals not only the human element of a landmark case but also its continuing relevance for our times.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
About the author
Shawn Francis Peters
11 books24 followersAn internationally-recognized expert on religious liberty issues, Shawn Peters has been featured by CNN, PBS, Court TV, Time magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of four books and has twice been recognized by the American Society of Legal Writers for outstanding achievement. He currently teaches in the Integrated Liberal Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2019
It is commonly known that this case stands as a major win in the fight for religious freedom in the United States. The book did a fabulous job laying out the central players in the defense' and plaintiff's sides: the attorneys, the parents, the school officials. The book went deeper into the aspects of the Amish about which I was not aware regarding their culture that emphasizes separateness and their aversion to lawsuits and the legal system in general. As always, these manageable books from the Landmark Law Cases series from the University of Kansas press do not disappoint. I wish I had had access to these in law school (or that I even knew about them). I wish I had read ten of them before I went to law school. They go beyond the dry staid language of a Supreme Court opinion and really explain the nuances of the human story -and you get to find out 'the rest of the story;' i.e. what happened next.
This volume contained one chapter though called "Assessing the Supreme Court's decision in Wisconsin v Yoder," which was, frankly, a waste of time given the two preceding chapters "Arguing in the Supreme Court" and "The Supreme Court Rules in Wisconsin v Yoder."
This volume contained one chapter though called "Assessing the Supreme Court's decision in Wisconsin v Yoder," which was, frankly, a waste of time given the two preceding chapters "Arguing in the Supreme Court" and "The Supreme Court Rules in Wisconsin v Yoder."
June 13, 2015
This is a very useful study of the landmark Supreme Court case, Wisconsin v. Yoder. Peters does a good job explaining the legal issues of the case to non-experts and tells a good story about how the case happened and who was involved. The slender book is fairly limited, though, when it comes to any larger context.
December 5, 2012
This book is good from a genera interest and an academic standpoint.
The case and the history of it are laid out very well and it presents and opportunity to learn some things about a group of people you may not know too much about already.
Landmark religious freedom case.
The case and the history of it are laid out very well and it presents and opportunity to learn some things about a group of people you may not know too much about already.
Landmark religious freedom case.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews