Plan B Forum

A Jehovah's Witness' seven-year-old son has been taken into care because she damaged him with her 'religious beliefs and practices', a family court judge has ruled.

Judge Clifford Bellamy concluded that the boy had suffered 'emotional harm' from his mother and decided he would be better off with foster parents.
The young boy had been disruptive in school during lessons touching on Christianity, destroying projects and calling bible stories lies, a court heard.
Social services also believed the unnamed little boy was also at the centre of a rift between his parents so will no longer be living with either of them.

Detail of the case has emerged in a written ruling by the judge following a family court hearing in Leicester but Judge Bellamy said no-one involved could be identified.
A member of staff at the youngster's school had told how the boy had said he 'could not be with people who didn't believe in Jehovah', said the judge.
The little boy had cut up materials his class was using in an exercise about the 'Crucifixion story' and had said, 'nobody's telling the true stories about Jehovah', the judge heard.
He had also 'presented as contemptuous, grimacing somewhat theatrically' when speaking about the 'non-Jehovah's Witness Bible'.

'I am satisfied that (he) has suffered emotional harm,' said Judge Bellamy. 'I am satisfied that the fact that (he) has been immersed by his mother in her religious beliefs and practices has been a significant factor in causing that emotional harm.'

Big RR wrote:I would agree with you on that Jim; however most US courts would at least insist that the parents address the child's problems of being disruptive and destructive in school, and get him psychological help to control himself. Failure to address it properly could then be seen as abuse of the child, regardless of their religious beliefs (just as it would if they denied him medical treatment).

Of course, in US public schools, I don't think they'd be teaching biblical lessons or the crucifixion story, especially in the lower grades (although some secondary schools might touch on it in comparative religion coursework), so it wouldn't be as much of a problem. Yet another reason to separate church and state IMHO.