The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment has widely been used by courts in recent decades to exclude any form of religious actvities from
everything from schools to courtrooms. Now a civil case in Indiana challenges that a State judge has been unconstitutionally endorsing some religions
over others in what amounts to an Establishment of Religion by the State.
www.indystar.com
An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to
"non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals."
The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.
Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce
objections, court records show.
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One might understand a ruling against one parent inculcating a child in a minority religion, if the other parent objected as part of a custody
battle. The oddest thing about this case, however, is that it's both parents at odds with the judge!
As the
Indianapolis Star goes on to point out, neither parent requested the bizarre ruling that Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion
Superior Court kept in the divorce decree last year, after both "outraged parents" objected to a provision neither asked for nor wanted.
While even the U.S. military accommodates Wiccans and educates chaplains about their beliefs, the Indiana judge was having none of it when he cited
the child's enrollment in a Catholic Parochial school as [apparently] more significant than the testimony or beliefs of the two parents who did the
enrolling! According to the court a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau outweighed the parent's wishes when it
claimed:
"There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones' lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and
Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages."
[edit on 26-5-2005 by Fu Manchu]
[edit on 26-5-2005 by Fu Manchu]