Thursday, May 26, 2005

so much for freedom of religion!

Judge: Parents can't teach pagan beliefs

Father appeals order in divorce decree that prevents couple from exposing son to Wicca.

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. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy's outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall.


---
Outrageous! A judge has arbitrarily decided that the parents of this child cannot teach him their religion!!!! How is this possible?! I cannot believe how f'k'd this country is! Isn't this what our country was based on?!