The Cotton Mather Award Goes To...

Here's another example of theocracy in action. I'm embarrassed but not surprised that it's right here in my home state.

Although we don't have a state sponsored religion (yet), the Dishonorable Judge Cale J. Bradford seems to think he can decide which religions are going to be afforded the freedom and protection of the First Amendment here in Indiana.

Here is the highlights of the story...

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.


I can't imagine how this ruling could possibly stand. It is this kind of bullshit that should get everyone reading this to join the ACLU or make a donation.

While were talking about judicial buffoonery, promise me that you will all pay more attention to the current situation regarding Dumbya's attempts to fill the federal judiciary with far-right minded judges.