The Court found both justifications wanting. It determined that Amish education was sufficient to prepare a child for living in the Amish agrarian society,123 and that the Amish’s education did not end at the eighth grade level, as the State contended, but rather continued, albeit as vocational education suitable for allowing the child to flourish in the Amish community.124 Regarding the State’s contention that the Amish child would be at a disadvantage if they left the Amish community with only an eighth grade education,125 the Justices countered with: There is nothing in this record to suggest that the Amish qualities of reliability, self-reliance, and dedication to work would fail to find ready markets in today’s society. Absent some contrary evidence supporting the State’s position, we are unwilling to assume that persons possessing such valuable vocational skills and habits are doomed to become burdens on society should they determine to leave the Amish faith, nor is there any basis in the record to warrant a finding that an additional one or two years of formal school education beyond the eighth grade would serve to eliminate any such problem that might exist.126 Thus the Amish were allowed to continue their practice of withdrawing their children from public education after the eighth grade as a free exercise of religion. Though the decision has its critics,127 it highlights the power of religion. E.
Smith – The Power of Religion Has Limits
So far in this article we have examined cases where the power of religion has swept away all before it. But its power does have its limits, as it should in a society that is a constitutional democracy, not a theocracy. Its frontier was first reached in 1878 when the Supreme Court decided
123
Id. at 222. Id. at 224. 125 Id. 126 Id. at 224–25. 127 BLACKFORD, supra note 20, at 161 (“Yoder was wrongly decided.”) (emphasis added). See also Justice Douglas’ comments disagreeing with the Court’s conclusion that the “matter is within the dispensation of parents alone.” Yoder, 406 U.S. at 241. 124
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