This Link Contains Spoilers For The Latest Harry Potter Book (and Nudish Tom Hanks… Both can be disturbing)

Reprinted below is the article from the local newspaper. It makes me angry.

Judge: Parents can’t teach pagan beliefs
Father appeals order in divorce decree that prevents couple from exposing son to Wicca.

By Kevin Corcoran
kevin.corcoran@indystar.com
May 26, 2005

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.”

Suddenly… Well, I guess everything in the real world happens suddenly, when you’re asleep.

Suddenly, something smacked me in the face. I opened my eyes to see Daks. She’s asleep. She also has her hand curled up in a fist, and is pulling it back from the general area of my face.

Soon I’ll be telling the people at work, that I fell down the stairs.

She received a caller saying that he was for gay rights, but against civil unions. He felt that civil unions would destroy the institution of marriage.

She tore into him. His beliefs basically boiled down to… “Civil Unions are bad… Gays should get married.”

I thought to myself “#@(*@!”

He’s somewhat right, but for the wrong reasons. YES, Civil unions are TERRIBLE. They’re the same thing as “Colored” drinking fountains.

Talk about missing the point. I’m sure the gays would LOVE to get married and have all the protections that the hets are enjoying. That would be ABSO-FUCKING-WONDERFUL. But they CAN’T. Civil Unions are a stop gap to play at allowing some of the same legal protections, while dodging the issue of the “Others”.

The “Others” in this case, being the people who aren’t even INVOLVED in any of these marriages, but I guess they’re PRETTY DAMNED THREATENED that somewhere, dudes may be kissing.

Uck. Dudes. KISSING. OUR SOCIETY IS DOOMED!

If you listen to Michael Savage, you know that when dudes kiss, PEDOPHILIA AND BEASTIALITY are NEXT!

Dudes… KISSING…. YOUR SON… AND YOUR DOG!

YOUR AMERICAN DOG! DUDES KISSING YOUR AMERICAN DOG! TEACHING YOUR SON TO KISS YOUR AMERICAN DOG!

SURE AS HELL IT’S GOING TO BE CATS AND FARM ANIMALS NEXT!

So… Kudos to you, Mr. “I love Gays, They should get Married”. Yes. Yes they should. You missed the fucking bus.

As I said in a conversation with Erinpoo last night, “If there’s anyone who should be wearing the “I don’t count.” shirt, it’s 3,000 people in Oregon. That’s EXACTLY the message that they got served the other day.

I need to stop listening to Talk Radio.

P.S. - “This is what the alphabet would look like, if we didn’t have Q’s or R’s.” - Mitch Hedburg

P.P.S. - Go listen to [I Heart Fags] by MC Frontalot. The page links to the lyrics, which will link you to the Em-Pea-Threes!

“and here comes your presidential cheerleader now
so disturbed by the marriages in my home town
that he’s got to take the tip top law in the land down
scribble on it: “I hate homos, big bad frown.”

Everyone in the company got one of these. Granted, we’re a wireless company, and they’re supposed to mean “I don’t count (minutes)”.

At least I don’t work in the stores where they HAVE to wear them.

I’m in the check out line. There’s a lady in front of me, and a lady in front of her.

The lady in the front of the line, finishes her business and wheels off with her cart. The lady in front of me has all of her stuff rung up. Then… all of my stuff is rung up.

As I’m paying, the first lady wheels up, and has a case of beer in her cart. She tells the checker that it isn’t hers. The checker argues. He tells her that it was the first thing she bought. He says this just as the second lady shows up, wondering where her case of Budweiser went.

As I’m watching the drama unfold, the bag-guy takes my groceries, and puts them in the first lady’s cart.

I don’t mean Laura Bush. She wasn’t there. The lady who was wondering why she had this other lady’s beer.

Well… not she has the other ladies beer, as well as my bread, lunch meat, foot powder, cran-raspberry juice, deoderant, veggie pockets, and Mac and Soy Cheeze.

This unchecked act of aggression can not stand.

I look at the bag boy and say “She has my groceries.”

He responds, “Huh?”

At this moment, I channel the unembodied spirit of the recently deceased, Mitch Hedburg. I perform an action that my special lady friend and I have come to term “Mitching.”

“I don’t know if that lady needs foot powder, but I sure do!”

The bag-guy understands the Mitching, and hands me my groceries. I think he’s got some shady deal with the first lady. (Again, I don’t mean Laura Bush.)

Come watch, make fun of, and whine about having to watch bad irish themed movies!

Wear green. Drink beer/other things.

For Directions, send email!

-S

While searching around for more information, I came across [this page].

One of the directives on the page is that you can “(pray) that Ron Jeremy would encounter Jesus Christ while in the Spokane area.”

I’d pay good money to see that. I’m pretty certain Jesus would walk away, and remark to friends, “You know, he’s alright.”