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Samuel Mullet, the Amish bishop accused of forceful beard-cutting, sat down with us for an exclusive interview for the first time since going to jail.
“We’re not denying we cut hair. And I’m not saying it was right or wrong,” he said. “But being here in jail — well, it looks wrong. Let’s suppose that God has done this for a reason. Nobody realized when the guys went that it would be looked at this seriously. Nobody would have done anything if we knew it would become a serious case.”
Still, he saw incarceration as a sacrifice for his followers and a personal martyrdom of sorts — a fulfillment of what he described as “God’s vision” for him.
“Christ did it for me so why shouldn’t I do it for them?” he said.
But his time in jail proves to be not all bad; he did score himself a new nickname.
“They’re calling me O.G.,” he said, smiling. “I don’t know what it means, but I guess it means something good.”
He’ll beat and lock them up in the grainery of his. And they’ll get nothing but milk and bread for months. Then if they still don’t get in line, he’ll have the wives beat them.