A British judge has ruled that a 10-year-old Jewish girl is mature enough to convert to Christianity – even against the wishes of her mother.
The somewhat complicated backstory: The girl was raised by Jewish parents, but her father converted to Christianity after the couple divorced in 2010. Her mother filed a court order last November after the girl requested to be baptized in her father’s Anglican church after having an “encounter with God” at an evangelical festival.
Judge John Platt ordered that the mother’s complaint be dismissed and that arrangements for the child’s baptism be made.
However, he also said the parents are forbidden from showing their daughter the court’s decision. Instead, Platt wrote a personal letter to the girl explaining his decision.
“Sometimes parents simply cannot agree on what is best for their child,” wrote Platt, who noted his job is to “decide simply what is best for you.”
Platt also told the girl that her baptism “does not mean that you give up your Jewish heritage” and that her parents will “carry on loving you just as much whatever happens about your baptism.”
CT has reported the trend of religious differences making custody disputes even messier, including a messy custody battle where a child was introduced to three religions before she was 13 due to her parents’ divorce and remarriage.
