Child's Baptism Ban Overturned: Plus: White House says faith-based initiative is still a priority, Planned Parenthood warns it'll form third party if Democrats go soft on abortion, and other stories from online sources around the world.

Opinion

Ted Olsen

Weblog

Child's Baptism Ban Overturned

Plus: White House says faith-based initiative is still a priority, Planned Parenthood warns it'll form third party if Democrats go soft on abortion, and other stories from online sources around the world.

[ posted 4/13/2006 12:00AM ]

Multiple Pages

Nature of sacraments takes center stage in Pennsylvania custody battle
Custody battles are almost invariably messy, so be patient with this story. Jana Hicks grew up Catholic, but married David Hicks in a Presbyterian church. Eventually, the two started attending an evangelical church, then an Assemblies of God congregation. In 1998, David and Jana split, but by then they had a daughter (identified only by the initial "M" in court documents). Custody was shared, with David Hicks getting the girl three out of four weekends. Most weekends, M went to First Assembly of God in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. That fourth weekend, it was off to a Roman Catholic parish with her mom, Jana.

In 2001, Jana and M started attending St. Sergious Russian Orthodox Church in Parma, Ohio. Last year, Jana decided to remarry, this time to a Russian Orthodox man. And she wanted M to be baptized in that church. But David opposed the baptism.

"This will be now the third religion introduced into [M's] life, and her being baptized in the Orthodox Church, ummm, I oppose that," David explained. "I don't think that that should happen at this time. I think she should grow up, and at her age, when she's old enough, she can make her own decision."

The Court of Common Pleas of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, agreed.

"Substantial harm would be caused to M.H. should [Jana Hicks] be permitted to have her baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith at this time," Judge Thomas R. Dobson ruled in June. "The harm would come from the significant increase in the level of stress." He continued:

While each party tolerates the other's religious choice, it is evident that each believes their chosen religion is the only true religion. The choice of which religion to have their daughter ...

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Weblog

Launched in 1999, Christianity Today’s Weblog was not just one of the first religion-oriented weblogs, but one of the first published by a media organization. (Hence its rather bland title.) Mostly compiled by then-online editor Ted Olsen, Weblog rounded up religion news and opinion pieces from publications around the world. As Christianity Today’s website grew, it launched other blogs. Olsen took on management responsibilities, and the Weblog feature as such was mothballed. But CT’s efforts to round up important news and opinion from around the web continues, especially on our Gleanings feature.

Ted Olsen

Ted Olsen is Christianity Today's managing editor for news and online journalism. He wrote the magazine's Weblog—a collection of news and opinion articles from mainstream news sources around the world—from 1999 to 2006. In 2004, the magazine launched Weblog in Print, which looks for unexpected connections and trends in articles appearing in the mainstream press. The column was later renamed "Tidings" and ran until 2007.