Tenn. judge changes infant's name from 'Messiah' (1 Viewer)

[Joe Summer]

Messiah DeShawn

 

[TheIronSheik]

Maybe this kid really IS the Messiah. God is going to be pissed about a judge changing his name.

Judge not, lest ye be a judge.

 

[Christo]

Naming your kid Messiah IS, however, an insult to religious Jews and Christians.

How so?

Look who you're asking.

 

[NCCommish]

In August, a Tennessee couple appeared before a child support magistrate judge to resolve a dispute over the baby’s surname. But Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew took it upon herself to order that the seven-month-old baby’s first name be changed from “Messiah” to “Martin,” because that name should be reserved for Jesus. New court documents reveal that Ballew was fired Friday, after being cited by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct for inappropriate religious bias.

“The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” Ballew said at the time of the order, reasoning that the child would face difficulties in a heavily Christian town.

On appeal, a court held the name change unconstitutional, as a clear violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Ballew will still face a disciplinary hearing even after her removal.

 

[B-Deep]

I remember thinking this thread would unite the FFA

i had dreams for this thread REAL DREAMS

 

[Apes with Guns]

so far no one thinks the judge was right here

this is gonna be it we are all going to agree!!!!

a thread involving religion AND courts where EVERYONE agrees

historic!

i'm prolly gonna get the Nobel Prize for starting this thread, and I will thank each and every one of you

The decision is wrong, but she's right in that the kid would suffer because of the name. But that's on the parents. There are lots of horrible names out there and judges shouldn't have a right to change them except in the most extreme cases. I don't think this reaches that extreme.

Although my wife did remark to me that if the kid in her class actually went by Messiah she would have either requested him moved or used a different name for him.

why should they have a right to change the kids name in any case?