UK Judge rules young Jewish girl can be baptised Christian despite mothers opposition
A UK judge has ruled that a ten-year-old Jewish girl may be baptised in the Church of England despite her mothers objections. Both parents of the child are Jewish; however, the father converted to Anglicanism after their divorce.
As this case was reported last week – not sure how I missed it – The Center For Law and Religion has covered this, as well as the UK Human Rights Blog.
Martin Beckford over on the Telegraph has written about this and the judgement can be found here.
I’ve often been baffled by the assertion in some quarters of the Jewish community that converts to Christianity are no longer truly Jewish.
Anyway, fascinating case…..
August 6th, 2012 at 8:30 am
Dad supports, mum opposes, this would be an interesting one for Fathers 4 Justice as well.
I occasionally face this when people approach us for baptisms, when there are children from a previous relationship, I try to find out whether the other parent is happy with them being baptised. It’s a tricky one – does the other parent have less say in this the less involved they are? Do they have equal say, even if they never have any contact (and whose fault might that be anyway?), and how much weight does the childs consent carry? It would be a shame if this stuff was decided for us by the law courts, but having said that, it might make it a bit easier than making tricky judgment calls!!
August 6th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Interesting. The court has taken the view that religion is an issue of choice, not of birth. That’s quite an old fashioned view these days. If this was applied more widely then religion in general would have less influence in society (as a lot of the political influence comes from conflating race and religion).
August 6th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
@Gordon,
“That’s quite an old fashioned view these days.”
At what point in the historical record are you thinking of concerning the conflating of race and religion?
August 7th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
I think the saddest thing about this story is the fact that it had to be decided in a civil court. I can’t help wondering if this is motivated more by bitter rivalry between divorced parents rather the spiritual welfare and best interests of the child.
August 7th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
Just to add: I have now read the full Judge’s findings and I have to admire his compassionate and common sense attitude to this, and in particular the letter which he wrote to the girl, explaining his judgement. This is actually quite heartwarming, to find a judge so concerned with providing the most fair and measured solution for all parties, whilst trying to defuse the row between ex husband and wife. Thanks for posting this Stuart. Really boosted my faith in the British judicial system.