Author Topic: Can Atheists be Parents?  (Read 1227 times)

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GalileoAce

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Can Atheists be Parents?
« on: January 04, 2008, 12:01:58 AM »


From Time

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."

The Burkes are now living in Carterville, Ill., near Southern Illinois University, where John Burke has worked for the past year as a speech pathologist. Nevertheless, Judge Camarata ordered the parents to send David's sister back to the New Jersey adoption agency. Two weeks ago, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Burkes appealed directly to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. If they fail in their appeal, Eleanor Katherine may have to leave the only family she has ever known and await adoption by another couple whose religious convictions satisfy the State of New Jersey.



Soph

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2008, 12:52:24 AM »
wtf

Soph

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2008, 12:52:37 AM »
 :orly: :orly: :orly: :orly: :orly:

GalileoAce

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2008, 12:55:18 AM »
wtf

My point exactly...I'm glad I don't live in the US...and the US should be glad too.

Soph

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2008, 12:58:22 AM »
Big fat country full of crazy people!  :orly:

Offline Callaway

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2008, 01:02:11 AM »
You do realize that this article is dated Dec. 07, 1970, don't you, Galileo Ace?

The county court decision was reversed on appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court and it was unanimous:

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

Quote
New Jersey Court Case: The Adoption of E

IN THE MATTER OF THE ADOPTION OF "E", A CHILD, BY JOHN P. BURKE AND CYNTHIA D. BURKE, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLANTS

Supreme Court of New Jersey

59 N.J. 36; 279 A.2d 785

July 1, 1971, Decided
...

JUDGES:
For reversal -- Chief Justice Weintraub and Justices Jacobs, Francis, Proctor, Hall, Schettino and Mountain. For affirmance -- None. The opinion of the Court was delivered by Proctor, J. Weintraub, C.J. (concurring). Weintraub and Jacobs, JJ., concur in result.

PROCTOR, J.

The county court denied plaintiffs' application for a final decree of adoption. The court held that plaintiffs' lack of belief in a Supreme Being rendered them unfit to be adoptive parents. The plaintiffs appealed to the Appellate Division, and prior to argument there, we certified the case on our own motion. We reverse.




John and Cynthia Burke were allowed to keep Eleanor Katherine pending the appeal, so she was not removed from their care, as far as I know.

Soph

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2008, 01:07:05 AM »
I didn't see the date  :orly:

Offline Callaway

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2008, 01:08:58 AM »
I also voted in your poll.

I think that birth mothers are often allowed to have some say as to whom their children are placed with and I think that it is reasonable if a birth mother has certain religious convictions and she wants her baby placed with adoptive parents who share these beliefs, then she should be allowed to consider religion as a factor if she wants to do so.

I do not think that the state should consider it if she does not.

GalileoAce

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2008, 01:15:22 AM »
I didn't see the date either...didn't know the net was around then :P

And you raise a valid point Callaway, but I think the adoptions in question were from orphanages.

Offline Callaway

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2008, 01:28:48 AM »
I didn't see the date either...didn't know the net was around then :P

And you raise a valid point Callaway, but I think the adoptions in question were from orphanages.

I'm not sure whether they were or not, Galileo Ace.

Here is what I found about the CHILDREN'S AID AND ADOPTION SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY:  Records, 1899-1978.

Children's Aid and Adoption Society of New Jersey: non-sectarian social service agency which arranges adoptions and provides day care and adolescent services; formed in 1899 as the Children's Aid and Protective Society of the Oranges (headquartered successively in Orange and East Orange, N.J.); provided foster home care for many years; adopted the name Children's Aid and Adoption Society of New Jersey in 1958 to reflect its revised emphasis and broader geographical base; moved its headquarters to Hackensack; merged in 1973 or 1974 with the Sister Mary Eugene Foundation and moved its headquarters to Bogota, N.J.

GalileoAce

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2008, 02:21:31 AM »
It's what I felt the article inferred. Though I could easily be wrong.

Offline Calandale

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2008, 04:53:01 AM »
too many words for this horny drunk.

The_P

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2008, 05:31:15 AM »
I was born to an agnostic couple.  :toporly:

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2008, 05:33:51 AM »
I was found,
under a leaf.

Probably drunk.

Kosmonaut

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Re: Can Atheists be Parents?
« Reply #14 on: January 05, 2008, 07:42:57 PM »
I'm just going to vote 'yes': it is the correct answer.  :toporly: