Amish Beard-Cutting Trials: Bishop Myron Miller Worries About Cult-Style ‘Brainwashing’
An Amish bishop concerned about cult-style “brain-washing” by a breakaway group testified against 16 fellow Amish Thursday and said his chest-length beard was chopped to within 1 1/2 inches of his chin in a late-night home invasion.
“I saw the flash of scissors right by my head,” Myron Miller, 46, of Carrollton told a U.S. District Court jury, holding up two fingers to demonstrate the open blades.
The jury is hearing evidence in five attacks labeled by the government as religious-based hate crimes. The defense calls them internal church discipline.
“I tried to get away,” said Miller, testifying how four or five men dragged him by the beard out of his farmhouse last Oct. 4 and wrestled him to the ground. His beard has grown back nearly to mid-chest.
