When is cutting someone’s beard a hate crime worthy of a life sentence? When the federal government says so.

Sixteen members of an Amish community in Bergholz, Ohio, were convicted of hate crimes for a hair- and beard-cutting attack on other Amish in fall of 2011.

Prosecutors charged them for hate crimes because hair has spiritual significance for the Amish, who believe the Bible instructs men to stop shaving once they marry.

The haircuts were meant to shame fellow Amish for straying from religious guidelines. The defendants argued the government was wrong to intervene in what was a family or church dispute.

The 16 men and women were convicted in Cleveland last year of charges including conspiracy, assault, hiding evidence and hate crimes.

Instead of the life sentence recommended by the government, a federal judge sentenced community leader Bishop Samuel Mullet to 15 years in prison. The judge sentenced 15 of Mullet’s followers to two-to-seven years in prison, including six women.

Now, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons says eight of the 10 men have been assigned to prisons across the country.

Steven Dettelbach, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said, “It sends a message that the judge agreed that these were extremely serious crimes that require similarly serious sentences.”

Edward Bryan, the attorney who represented Mr. Mullet, said, “I was relieved that the judge didn’t follow the government’s recommendation for a life sentence, though I still believe the judge’s sentence was way too much.”

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Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/life-in-jail-...os1P1Ftyop7A.99

The signal is . . . that the oligarchy will increasingly not tolerate earnest Christians and will use any reason and any excuse for harsher and harsher slap-downs.

Black panthers could have done the same with Christians of any stripe and gotten away with it, if not been applauded.