PA FARM BUREAU SUNDAY HUNTING STANCE - RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION

Josh First, Jewish Faith, Saturday is a day of worship

Letter sent to Mr. Luke Brubaker, Chair of Lancaster County Farm Bureau’s Local Affairs Committee

From: Josh First

June 20, 2019

Mr. Luke Brubaker, District 8

PA Farm Bureau

680 Musser Rd

Mount Joy PA 17552

Dear Mr. Brubaker,

It is difficult to express the full amount of frustration my son and I feel due to the PA Farm Bureau's position against Sunday hunting. Like you we are religious people, but we observe Saturday as our day of rest, which prohibits us from hunting, driving cars, using phones or computers or doing much else other than attending services, Bible study, and relaxing with friends and family. That leaves us Sunday as our one weekend day to hunt, and as Isaac has gotten older we are seeing the end of his youthful outdoor opportunities before he goes off to college and moves out of our home. Maryland has Sunday hunting, so last November we went to Maryland, over three hours from our home, so Isaac could hunt deer without missing school. So it was on a Sunday morning in Maryland that my son killed his first deer, not in Pennsylvania, where he was born and has lived his entire fifteen years. Not at his family's hunting camp, where he has grown up shooting off the porch. Instead it was in Maryland, a serious inconvenience and a disconnect from what is an important rite of passage.

We own active crop land in Dauphin County and a tree farm in Lycoming County, and we would like to hunt on Sundays on our own land. We do not ask anyone for permission to hunt on their land, we are just fine with what we have. Our Dauphin County land is open to hunters we have approved. The PA Farm Bureau's opposition is the only reason Pennsylvania has not adopted Sunday hunting like the rest of the states surrounding us, and at this point, we believe the PA Farm Bureau is stealing our family's private property rights and persecuting us for our religion. I dislike saying these things, but the PA Farm Bureau's actions have put us in this position. You need to hear about the consequences of your actions.

How would you feel if you were in our shoes? I can answer for you.

You would feel terrible. You would feel like your fellow Pennsylvanians were oppressing you out of close-minded zeal, instead of making room for everyone to live happily here according to their conscience and free choices, as our state was originally founded. If you believe that the role of religion is to oppress, coerce, and deprive people, then you can guess why I eldered out of the Quaker faith decades ago. As I experienced then and now, too many Christians believe it is their duty to force others to live a certain way, instead of  demonstrating the correctness of their values and beliefs through their simple, gentle deeds and good living. That coercive behavior drives people away instead of bringing them closer, and the behavior of the PA Farm Bureau is driving me and many others far, far away from what you say your represent. If you are against other people enjoying Sunday hunting out of your own religious conviction about what is right for you, then you are shooting yourself in the foot, because you are setting a bad example by proving you believe in force, not love. Sorry to say. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,                                                            

Josh First

**As of publication. Josh has not received a response to his letter**