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the awe.some.ness of TN--another mother arrested for baptising her son
Written by
Jennifer Meckles
WBIR-KNOXVILLE
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A dispute between two divorced parents over their son's baptism escalated to the courtroom, and eventually led to the mother being temporarily jailed.
According to J. Terry Holland, the attorney for the mother Stephanie Miller, the couple's 12-year old son decided he wanted to be baptized in a local Baptist church.
Holland says both parents attended the December ceremony at Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville, but the boy's father argues the decision should have been made jointly between the two parents.
Holland believes it wasn't a decision for the parents to make.
"The child is old enough to decide where he ought to live, he is old enough to decided his relationship with the person he calls God," Holland said.
The parents faced off in court, where Knox County Circuit Court Judge Bill Swann decided the case wasn't about religion at all.
"Its not a case about baptism, or its desirability. It's not about the boy's desires," Judge Swann said. "It's a case about what contract the parents made and had they lived up to the contract."
The contract he refers to is called a "Permanent Parenting Plan," an agreement between the two parents in their divorce. It requires them to make certain decisions about their children together, or with a mediator. That includes religious upbringing.
"The question was, had the mother lived up to her end of it, and the court found she had not," the Judge said.
Miller was charged with contempt of court, arrested and spent a day in jail.
"A young man, 12 years old, looked through the windows of the courtroom," said her attorney. "He saw his mother get arrested. It destroyed that young man. He got hurt."
Judge Swann says cases like these can be complicated.
"It is always difficult when you have two good parents -- who want the best for their children -- and the two good parents do not get along with each other and do not respect what the other parent does," he said.
10News reached out to the father's attorney for comment, but he declined saying his client "... feels it is not in the children's best interest to talk about this."
Holland says he and his client plan to appeal.
Re: the awe.some.ness of TN--another mother arrested for baptising her son
Above Us Only Sky
wtf, this be crazy yo!
I was 12 when I was baptized, I decided to do it myself and approached my parents asking if it were okay. I do not understand why mom was punished here...ESPECIALLY since dad was at the service.
Gretchen Evie, born 7/8/2012 at 35w5d
If DAD was AT THE CEREMONY and didnt object then, too bad. That was his chance . since he said nothing at the time of the service Id say it was a joint decision... Mom obviously wasnt hiding it from dad...
Both of these parents should be in jail. What fuukwits. It sounds like they have spent every minute since they divorced looking for a reason to biitch at the other. Dragging the mother of your child into court over a fuuking baptism? You have to be kidding me.
Pinky's father is pagan. What he does with pinky in their home, in their family is his business. Just like what happens in my family is mine. Get the fuuk over it already. If you want to have that narrow control over how your kid is raised, don't get a divorce then.
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