A judge has ruled that a teen can attend a Louisville Catholic high school, despite objections by his atheist father. Oldham County family court Judge Tim Feeley said in a ruling published Monday that 14-year-old Michael Ryan can attend St. Xavier High School because that's where he wants to go. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351275,00.html
I'm all for kids being able to make their own decisions....except for one fact. Most Catholic schools (and I know cause I went to Catholic elementary AND High School) are not free public schools. They cost a nice chunk of change. In that light, the parent has every right to pay for whatever school he wants. Whatever his reasons are for not wanting the kid to go there, he foots the bill and has the right to make the final decision.
this seems more like a father's right issue. On that sense if he isn't paying child support then it is good. If he is paying child support then this is not good
Great point Pagan. I guess we are to assume the childs mom is the one who filed the lawsuit? Kinda strange all the way around. Only in Kentucky I guess. EDIT: Didnt read it closely, saw father did file the suit.
Crap! There ain't enough info in that article to help one form a definitive opinion on it. We don't know the facts of the child custody order from the divorce. Does the father have any custody rights as ordered by the court? Does he have any legal right to approve or deny schooling for said child? I would think that he would. Maybe this is why it goes to court in the first place, because the original order was vague. Divorce sucks. If it were easy, everyone would get one!
I strongly doubt this case has much if anything to do with religious freedom or expression. It is far more likely to be about money, influence, and the desire of two adults to punish each other using their child as the weapon. We would need to see if the father is an atheist of long standing or if he just discovered it in order to object to paying money? Is the mother about what's best for the son or is she trying to squeeze the ex for every dime she can? Does she want the son exposed to a faith tradition because it is her position of long standing? simply better than the local public school? or just to anger the ex? Does the kid really want to go there or has he been pressured to support one parent against the other? Do the "religious" interests in this case care about the youngster or are they also using him to make a legal point? This case has all kinds of smells eminating from it imo. None of them are "holy incense"!
