Judge
Orders Christian Mom - No 'Homophobic' Teaching
In Custody Case Orders Child's Religious
Upbringing
Must Not Expose Her To Idea Homosexuality
Wrong
WorldNetDaily.com
11-5-3
- A Colorado mother is appealing a child custody
decision in which a court barred her from teaching homosexuality is
wrong.
-
- Cheryl Clark, who says she is a Christian, has been
ordered by Denver County Circuit Judge John W. Coughlin to "make sure
that there is nothing in the religious upbringing or teaching that the
minor child is exposed to that can be considered homophobic."
-
- The directive arose from the decision to award joint
parenting responsibilities for her daughter to a practicing
homosexual.
-
- "Forbidding the raising of children in the parent's
Christian beliefs is an anathema to parental rights and religious
freedom," said Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of
Florida-based Liberty Counsel. "Must the mother rip out pages of the
Bible that say homosexuality is against nature, or must she cover her
child's ears if her pastor preaches about sexual purity?"
-
- Staver explained to WorldNetDaily Clark and Elsey
McLeod were in a lesbian relationship that broke up after Clark became a
Christian and concluded homosexual behavior was wrong.
-
- The Denver court gave McLeod joint custody of Clark's
adopted daughter, Emma, even though McLeod had no legal relationship to
the girl. It also, in conjunction with the ruling in favor of McLeod,
said Clark cannot raise her child with any religious teaching or
upbringing that is "homophobic."
-
- Staver said courts cannot "give parents a no-win
decision of either abandoning their Christian beliefs or abandoning
their children."
-
- The definition of "homophobic," Staver noted, is "all
across the board," from being fearful of homosexuals to disagreeing with
their lifestyle.
-
- "It takes no stretch of the imagination to envision a
judge finding the mother in contempt of court for merely teaching her
daughter about the Biblical truths on homosexuality," he said.
-
- Liberty Counsel filed a friend-of-the-court brief on
behalf of the mother in her case before the Colorado Court of
Appeals.
-
- Staver notes the U.S. Supreme Court has long held that
the Constitution guarantees the freedom to "worship God according to the
dictates of his own conscience." Similarly, he said, the high court has
acknowledged "the values of parental direction of the religious
upbringing and education of our children in their early and formative
years have a high place in our society."
-
- Another troubling aspect of this case, he said, is the
award of visitation and joint parenting responsibilities to a
third-party who has no legal relationship to the daughter or the
mother.
-
- The decision, according to Staver, stands in direct
conflict with precedent throughout the country that denies visitation to
a third party based solely on that person's prior sexual relationship
with the legal parent.
-
- Staver told WND he is not aware of any similar cases
in the U.S., although there have been some in which a judge has told a
parent not to say anything degrading about the other parent's
lifestyle.
-
- None, to his knowledge, however, have gone to the
extent of Coughlin, issuing a directive that restricts a parent's
religious practice.
-
- � 2003 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
-
- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35365
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