Seeking to head off any further attacks of hair and beard trimming, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking into a heated quarrel among the Amish in Ohio that turned violent.

 

Sam Mullet, leader of a 120-member breakaway Amish group in Berholz, has been accused of ordering five men to send a message to members of his group in Holmes County by forcibly cutting off men’s beards and a woman’s long hair.

 

Hair and beard cuttings are considered degrading and insulting in the Amish world, where being untrimmed is a sign of holiness.

 

The October 4 incident stems from a dispute in which Mullet ordered the shunning of two families and part of the group sided with the shunned members. Mullet has denied giving an attack order. But he did say he’s tired of the way other Amish have treated his group, which splintered off in 1995. “We’d like to get up in the morning, be left alone, live like normal people,” Mullet told the Associated Press. “They won’t leave us be.”

 

Local law enforcement has arrested two of Mullet’s sons and another man from the community on charges of aggravated burglary and kidnapping. Five people reportedly were assaulted in Holmes County by the men.

 

The FBI says it considers the incident a potential hate crime, if it turns out the motivation was religiously based.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Ohio Amish leader: Beard-cutting Religious Matter (by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press)

FBI: Amish Beard-Cuttings May Be Hate Crimes (by Dick Russ, WKYC)

Beard-Cutting Attacks Throw Spotlight on Ohio Amish (by Aaron Marshall, Religion News Service)