Posted on 05/13/2012 9:39:27 AM PDT by SmithL
Last December, a 12-year-old boy was baptized in a Karns Baptist church.
Four months later, his mother went to jail as a result.
"I was in complete shock," Stephanie "Stacy" Miller recalled of the day in April when Knox County Fourth Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann ordered her jailed. "The guy had to drag me down the hallway. I was like, 'I just had my son baptized.' I laid my head (on the arresting deputy's) shoulder and just cried, 'Please, help me.'"
Swann's controversial decision is raising questions about the use of the state's criminal contempt law to punish parents in divorce disputes, the inclusion of religion in parenting plan agreements, the influence of parents on a child's religious choices and the age at which a child should be allowed to make decisions of faith.
That Stacy Miller's son was baptized at Grace Baptist Church in Karns in a Dec. 18 ceremony attended by his father, Stephen Miller, is not in dispute. That Stacy Miller went to jail in late April at her ex-husband's behest is also not a matter of debate.
Almost everything else about the case is, however, hotly contested.
The controversy began when 12-year-old Caleb Miller, a regular attendee at Grace's Wednesday night youth services, announced a decision to be baptized.
The boy would later testify at a deposition that he "made a profession of faith" in Jesus Christ as savior — the overriding tenet of Christianity — while his parents were still married.
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
I was referring specifically to the list of points to consider when determining the best interests of the children.
He is really over the top, though.
I was referring specifically to the list of points to consider when determining the best interests of the children.
He is really over the top, though.
The courts think they are a special case, re this nonresistance stuff...
They may need as much of a correction as the executive, though they will never accept it.
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