Government · Utica, NY Metro · October 9, 2026
NY Fines Amish Schools $118K Over Vaccine Mandate, Families Weigh Leaving State
The Epoch Times reports that Amish families in New York's Mohawk Valley are considering whether to remain in the state amid an ongoing legal fight over New York's school vaccination requirement. In 2022, the New York Department of Health fined three Amish community schools — Dygert Road School near Canajoharie, Pleasant View School in Heuvelton, and Shady Lane School in Clymer — a combined $118,000 for violating the state's public health law, which requires children in daycare through 12th grade, including those in religious and private schools, to complete the recommended vaccine schedule. New York allows only medical exemptions, not religious ones. Hiram Sasser of First Liberty Institute, representing a group of Amish parents, said the state is effectively telling the Amish they are no longer welcome. One Amish father told the outlet he expects some in his community would go to jail before complying. Others interviewed expressed mixed views, with some saying they are not opposed to vaccination. The Department of Health affirmed the mandate applies uniformly across school types.
Source: Prescott eNews
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Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
This case tests whether a state can compel a historic religious community to violate its convictions or lose access to education and residency in its own state. New York recognizes no religious exemption, only medical ones — meaning sincerely held religious objections carry no legal weight once the state decides health policy overrides conscience. For Bible-believing Christians, this is not a niche Amish issue; it is a precedent about whether any government can force compliance with a mandate that conflicts with a family's religious convictions regarding their own children's bodies. Scripture affirms parents bear responsibility before God for their children's upbringing, and believers have historically obeyed God rather than civil authority when the two conflict. Christians in every state should watch how courts resolve this, since the same legal reasoning could be applied to any religious school or church community that departs from state-mandated policy.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. — Acts 5:29
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From the book
In Media and Arts we can build parallel institutions. We can create our own platforms and produce our own films. In Education we can exit. A family can homeschool. In Government we can do neither. One cannot build a parallel government. There is no homeschool option for the penal code. The law comes for everyone, including the people who decided not to participate in making it.
— Chapter 20
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