Posted on 05/28/2005 7:57:24 PM PDT by paintchips
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.
Through a court spokeswoman, Bradford said Wednesday he could not discuss the pending legal dispute.
The parents' Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford's attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones' son attends a local Catholic school.
"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," the bureau said in its report.
But Jones, 37, Indianapolis, disputes the bureau's findings, saying he attended Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis as a non-Christian.
Jones has brought the case before the Indiana Court of Appeals, with help from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. They filed their request for the appeals court to strike the one-paragraph clause in January.
"This was done without either of us requesting it and at the judge's whim," said Jones, who has organized Pagan Pride Day events in Indianapolis. "It is upsetting to our son that he cannot celebrate holidays with us, including Yule, which is winter solstice, and Ostara, which is the spring equinox."
The ICLU and Jones assert the judge's order tramples on the parents' constitutional right to expose their son to a religion of their choice. Both say the court failed to explain how exposing the boy to Wicca's beliefs and practices would harm him.
Bristol is not involved in the appeal and could not be reached for comment. She and Jones have joint custody, and the boy lives with the father on the Northside.
Jones and the ICLU also argue the order is so vague that it could lead to Jones being found in contempt and losing custody of his son.
"When they read the order to me, I said, 'You've got to be kidding,' " said Alisa G. Cohen, an Indianapolis attorney representing Jones. "Didn't the judge get the memo that it's not up to him what constitutes a valid religion?"
Some people have preconceived notions about Wicca, which has some rituals involving nudity but mostly would be inoffensive to children, said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
"Wiccans use the language of witchcraft, but it has a different meaning to them," Goff said. "Their practices tend to be rather pacifistic. They tend to revolve around the old pagan holidays. There's not really a church of Wicca. Practices vary from region to region."
Even the U.S. military accommodates Wiccans and educates chaplains about their beliefs, said Lawrence W. Snyder, an associate professor of religious studies at Western Kentucky University.
"The federal government has given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment," Snyder said. "Unless this judge has some very specific information about activities involving the child that are harmful, the law is not on his side."
At times, divorcing parents might battle in the courts over the religion of their children. But Kenneth J. Falk, the ICLU's legal director, said he knows of no such order issued before by an Indiana court. He said his research also did not turn up such a case nationally.
"Religion comes up most frequently when there are disputes between the parents. There are lots of cases where a mom and dad are of different faiths, and they're having a tug of war over the kids," Falk said. "This is different: Their dispute is with the judge. When the government is attempting to tell people they're not allowed to engage in non-mainstream activities, that raises concerns."
Indiana law generally allows parents who are awarded physical custody of children to determine their religious training; courts step in only when the children's physical or emotional health would be endangered.
Getting the judge's religious restriction lifted should be a slam-dunk, said David Orentlicher, an Indiana University law professor and Democratic state representative from Indianapolis.
"That's blatantly unconstitutional," Orentlicher said. "Obviously, the judge can order them not to expose the child to drugs or other inappropriate conduct, but it sounds like this order was confusing or could be misconstrued."
The couple married in February 1995, and their divorce was final in February 2004.
As Wiccans, the boy's parents believe in nature-based deities and engage in worship rituals that include guided meditation that Jones says improved his son's concentration. Wicca "is an understanding that we're all connected, and respecting that," said Jones, who is a computer Web designer.
Jones said he does not consider himself a witch or practice anything resembling witchcraft.
During the divorce, he told a court official that Wiccans are not devil worshippers. And he said he does not practice a form of Wicca that involves nudity.
"I celebrate life as a duality. There's a male and female force to everything," Jones said. "I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don't believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil."
So now a judge tells parents what religion they can or cannot raise their child. Wicca today, Christianity tommorow.
This judge should be bared from coming within 100 yards of any courthouse.
That's exactly right.
It shows that our judiciary is engaged in a monumental abuse of power, and must be stopped.
Agree
The judge's order is clear violation of religous freedom. And the judge's ruling is also a clear example of judicial activism, since there is no law that authorizes any such order. Indeed, no such law can exist, since Congress (and the States, via the Fourteenth Ammendment) are prohibited from making any law that "establishes religion."
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
......prohibiting the free exercise thereof.........
Geez....the clause is as plain as "shall not be infringed"!
Judge might mean well, but this one is getting overturned, I hope.
Scientology has been granted full recognition as a religion by the government (including their tax status). Have Wiccan?
In a custody dispute, there are often attempts to turn a child against the other parent.
>>"I celebrate life as a duality. There's a male and female force to everything," Jones said. "I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don't believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil."
Hippies suck.
Now they have the precedent.
He will probably be overruled, but he does have a point. Why send a child to Caholic school and claim to be Wiccan?
Am I understanding this correctly - both of the boy's parents want to teach him their religious views, but because the parents are divorced the judge clamins jurisdicition over thim part of the boy's life? If that's accurate, that's amazingly wrong.
I'm familiar with other cases in which the divorced parents DISAGREE about how their children ought to be raised with regard to religion. Even in those cases, I think the court ought to stay out of it. Each parent gets to teach the kid their views. If the kid gets confused, well, he won't be the first one. Ultimately, he/she has to figure it out for themselves anyway.
Just another reason to have a good marriage, or at least an amicable divorce.
There are non Catholics in my children's school. ::in no way supporting 'wiccan' by making that statement::
There's no such thing as being "officially recoginized" by the government as a religion. The old Soviet Union registered religions. We don't.
Receiving an IRS tax-exempt employer identification number is a completely separate issue and has nothing to do with government recognition of the validitity of a religious institution or belief. That is simply an administrative matter that has to do with 1) has someone applied for a tax-exempt employer ID and 2) do they administratively qualify under the law? The law grants such exexmptions to a number of different kinds of organizations, not just religious.
Free exercise rights under the 1st amendment belong to the individual, not to an organization. That is, the right belongs to the individual to believe/practice however they see fit. The government has no business saying, "You're a Catholic and good Catholics don't do x" or "You're a Baptist and good Baptists ought to believe y". The government is not in the church discipline business.
If you were to say "I'm a Wiccan and go to Mass on Sunday and I keep kosher and I observe Ramadan every year" so what? As an indivdual, I might think that's messed up, but I certainly don't want the government making decisions about what is good or bad theology.
The basic principle in this case is that parents - not the government - ought to say what religious instruction children receive.
So though I'm not a great romancer, I know that your bound to answer when I propose...anything goes!
A judge has no right to interfere with the religious..or non religious..upbringing of a child by their parents. If the private school wants to make criteria for admission, that is their business. to the judge on this: BUT OUT!
I don't want the State in my bedroom, my doctor's office or my kitchen, etc. If I commit a crime that hurts another, ok, step in. Otherwise leave us alone!
"Wicca today, Christianity tommorow."
Agreed!
If the parents are in agreement, divorced or not, the judge has not right to intervene. I suppose they could remove him from the Catholic school and that would be the end of the conflict.
"Why send a child to Caholic school and claim to be Wiccan?"
You do not have to be a Catholic to attend Catholic school. In one school my daugther attended in Jersey City, NJ most children were not Catholic. They were Protestants and Hindus, mostly. You just need to accept that the school is going to teach the Catholic religion.
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