Dad To Jail For Taking Daughter To Church?

There are times when when difficult situations arise but the court should just stay the heck out of it.

Joseph Reyes has been charged with contempt of a court order NOT to bring his daughter to church.

CHICAGO – A case that may test the separation of church and state will play out in a courtroom today.

Joseph Reyes’ attorney will ask a judge to dismiss the charges against him. His estranged wife Rebecca says he violated a restraining order barring him from exposing their 3-year-old daughter to any religion other than Judaism.

The couple agreed to raise their daughter in the Jewish faith but when they split, Reyes had his daughter baptized in a Catholic church.

She claims Reyes subjected their daughter to irreparable harm.

His lawyer will argue today that a court cannot determine what religion a parent can teach their child.

Joseph Reyes’ attorney has filed a motion to dismiss arguing the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine” His lawyer says,

“Does taking the child shopping for Christmas presents qualify? What about taking the child to an Easter egg hunt,” argues Brodsky. He also cites in his motion the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” which maintains a judge cannot rule on a religious matter.

“Courts cannot determine matters of religion and say what is Jewish, what is Christian, what is Islam, what is Buddhist,” Brodsky writes in the motion, which he plans to file today.

Rebecca Reyes’ attorney goes the other way calling the baptism of the girl “an assault”.

HuffPo“Number one, it wasn’t just a religious thing per se, it was the idea that he would suddenly, out of nowhere without any discussion … have the girl baptized,” Stephen Lake, Rebecca Reyes’ attorney told GMA. “She looked at it as basically an assault on her little girl.”

This is a nasty custody battle and a terribly unfortunate situation that highlights the dangers and drawbacks of mixed marriages. The courts, however, should stay the out if it. No good can come from their involvement. Any decision that they hand down will be viewed as an assault on the freedom of religion.

Drop the charges and stay out of it.