Robin Polin, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is 18 years old. She is attractive, friendly, intelligent, deaf, and mute. Last April she abandoned Judaism—the faith of her childhood—and embraced Christianity. She believes she knew what she was doing. But an Oklahoma judge thought otherwise.
Not long after Polin became a Christian her father told her she was not welcome in his home unless she conformed to his religious views. So she left. Less than a week later, her parents, seeking custody of their daughter, petitioned to have her declared incompetent. After a five-day trial, Special District Judge Robert Frank ruled that Polin was “judgmentally immature” and therefore regarded as incompetent by the laws of the state. She was placed, against her will, in the custody of an older sister.
Late last year the Oklahoma Supreme Court, in an 8-to-l decision, overturned Frank’s judgment. The state’s highest court ruled that Polin’s constitutional rights guaranteeing the free exercise of religion had been violated. The court labeled the issue of her judgmental immaturity “camouflage,” and described Polin’s beliefs as “consistent and specific ideals which have motivated her to desire a career as a Christian minister to the deaf.”
The evangelical organization Jews for Jesus backed Polin from the beginning. After the lower court ruled against her, Jews for Jesus bought advertising space in the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Tribune. The ad asked: “If you are 18 years old, Jewish, and deaf, does it mean that you are mentally incompetent because you want to believe in Jesus?” The goal of the ad was to bring in financial support for Polin’s legal defense and to raise public awareness in anticipation of an appeal.
The state supreme court ruling in Polin’s favor came as a pleasant surprise to Moishe Rosen, Jews for Jesus founder and president. Rosen says the “significance of this case goes far beyond the boundaries of Oklahoma. Had Judge Frank’s ruling stood, it would have meant that families could gain control over the lives of their adult children who choose to differ in matters of religion.”
Polin has been accepted at Tennessee Temple University, where she plans to prepare for a career as a missionary to the deaf.
Francis Schaeffer Is Rushed To The Mayo Clinic For Medical Treatment
Critically ill, noted Christian philosopher and author Francis Schaeffer was rushed from his home in Switzerland to the Mayo Clinic last December. Doctors in Switzerland were unable to control his high fever or pinpoint its cause.
Exhausted and severely dehydrated, Schaeffer was listed in critical condition upon his arrival at the Rochester, Minnesota, clinic. Doctors determined that a bleeding ulcer in his colon was causing the fever. After an operation to remove part of his colon, Schaeffer’s condition stabilized. But he is still seriously ill, due primarily to the cancer he has battled for more than five years.
In 1978, the author was diagnosed as having lymphatic cancer. He has since been receiving regular chemotherapy treatments, which can break down the body’s immune system. Swiss doctors suspended the treatments last November in an effort to control his fever. Robert Petitt, Schaeffer’s physician at the Mayo Clinic, discovered in December that the cancer had recurred.
Schaeffer, 72, was released from the clinic but was returned in mid-January when his fever recurred. That was preventing necessary surgery in connection with Schaeffer’s chemotherapy.
