Pop Quiz: What's the State Religion of Indiana?

[rolanni]

Link from bonniebluebitch

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.

Here's the rest of it...

Comments

[nachtswerg.livejournal.com]

Umm, a couple of things smack me upside the head on this one...

1) This is blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

2) If there really is an issue between the school and the student's upbringing, that's up to the school to complain about, not some judge in a divorce decree. Talk about your renagade judges (though I don't think Tom Delay would agree with me...)

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's appalling. I don't know Indiana law, but in some states a judge could lose his or her job for this kind of blatantly unconstitutional abuse of power. (Elsewhere, the decision would be overturned by a higher court, but judge's jobs are more secure.) The parochial school would be entitled to expel this kid, or any kid whose religious upbringing they objected to...but there's no indication the school has any objection at all to the family's religion.

[djonn]

The news story gives enough information to indicate that getting the judge's order modified shouldn't be difficult. But the reporter seems to have missed the real underlying question, which is what the "Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau" thought it was doing in making its recommendation to the judge. The DRCB looks to me like the root source of the governmental dysfunction here.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

We used to live in Marion. We drove around there last year, having gotten turned around, and while I recognized names of places, my mom was muttering in relief about no longer living there. I don't know what on earth we thought we were doing there.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

Normally I would agree with the ACLU lawyer -- getting that overturned should be a slam dunk. And yet, with events such as Priscilla Owen being confirmed yesterday, I have to wonder if we're going to see any true impartiality on the bench for much longer.

[thinkum]

Bizarre beyond words. Why was this "issue" even raised by the department that made the recommendation? Just...bizarre.

(Also blatantly stupid, and unconstitutional. But you already knew that.)

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

As I said elsewhere--the Catholic High School was desperate for kids who could pay the tuition, back in South Bend, IN. They took anyone who was well-mannered and would wear the uniform. The kids just didn't go to catechism class.

This is SO Bee Ssss, and also a possible "cause celebre" of the week.