Can Atheists Be Parents?

[flashl]

After six years of childless marriage, John and Cynthia Burke of Newark decided to adopt a baby boy through a state agency. Since the Burkes were young, scandal-free and solvent, they had no trouble with the New Jersey Bureau of Children's Services—until investigators came to the line on the application that asked for the couple's religious affiliation.

John Burke, an atheist, and his wife, a pantheist, had left the line blank. As a result, the bureau denied the Burkes' application. After the couple began court action, however, the bureau changed its regulations, and the couple was able to adopt a baby boy from the Children's Aid and Adoption Society in East Orange.

Last year the Burkes presented their adopted son, David, now 31, with a baby sister, Eleanor Katherine, now 17 months, whom they acquired from the same East Orange agency. Since the agency endorsed the adoption, the required final approval by a judge was expected to be pro forma. Instead, Superior Court Judge William Camarata raised the religious issue.

Inestimable Privilege. In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes' right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes' "high moral and ethical standards," he said, the New Jersey state constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience." Despite Eleanor Katherine's tender years, he continued, "the child should have the freedom to worship as she sees fit, and not be influenced by prospective parents who do not believe in a Supreme Being."

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[whistle]

1. They have been pretty much over human history

[atommom]

2. It's an outrageous story, but it is from 1970. nt

[SteelPenguin]

9. And it was reversed by the NJ Supreme Court

http://www.americanadoptions.com/adoption/article_view/article_id/2435?pg=1

Baby stayed with parents.

[mzmolly]

14. PHEW! I was fit to be tied.

;)

[evlbstrd]

3. There was no such line on my application.

Wait, I didn't have to fill one out to father my children.

[Mass]

4. Hopefully, it would be different now.

[BuyingThyme]

5. Umm, fuckhead...

If a child is adopted by a Catholic family, he will be deprived of the inestimable privilege of being a Protestant in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.

When did people go and become so fucking stupid?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. God must think so. They've been having children since the beginning.

Though I suspect that many of them sometimes make reference to a deity at certain moments. i.e. "Oh, God!"

[KamaAina]

7. Well, I suppose so...

the only obstacle I could see would be a reluctance to scream "Oh God! Oh God!" at the beginning of the process.

:sarcasm:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. Well then no one should be allowed to adopt a child

Because if you practice a particular relgion, you are denying the child the experience of other religions.

This is bullshit! :grr:

I hope they appeal this all the way to the US Supreme Court. Not that they'll get much help from those godbags...:(

[mrreowwr_kittty]

12. Never mind. I saw the date on the story. nt

[mzmolly]

10. edited angry response as the article is 30 plus years old.

*

[BuyingThyme]

11. The article is from 1970.

[cali]

13. this story is evidence of the sometimes mindlessness of the internet

why the fuck do you think a story that's 38 years old about a bad decision that was revered on appeal, is germane to... well, anything?

[flashl]

15. Judicial activism

If Congress files charges, Bush aides likely will face friendly court

[cali]

16. That is a huge stretch. n/t

[LibertyLover]

17. When my husband and I adopted our daughter

we were asked to give a religion on the form for the agency. I left it blank. The agency specifically asked about it when they called to review our application. And we were asked what religion we intended to bring her up in by the social worker during our home study. Sneakily, she asked us separately during our individual interviews in order to make sure we both said the same thing. And the oddest of all, since we were adopting from China, was that we had to tell the Chinese government that we intended to raise her in X religion. At the time we had thought that we would join the Unitarian Universalist Church, and said that we would be raising her UU. However in the 4 years since we have had her, neither of us has been moved to do so and she is being raised Wiccan.

[Marrah_G]

19. Congratulations !

As an adopted child and a Wiccan, your post made me smile, deep down inside. May the Lady watch over your daughter, always.

[LibertyLover]

20. Thank you

and bright blessings to you as well.

[flashl]

18. The same article appears under Jan 2008 dates

in serveral forums and blogs

evlibender
Tailrank
Digg

Sorry, do not know how it got into rssfeeds.

[Withywindle]

21. That's just bizarre.

Granted, my parents made me themselves and didn't have an adoption agency asking nosy questions, but I assure you, atheists can indeed be parents.

I don't feel "deprived" of anything. They let me go to church with my friends when I wanted to. (They dropped me off and picked me up.) I turned out Wiccan, but it's not their fault. :D