Tennessee Judge Rules Baby Can’t Be Named ‘Messiah’
Does this not sound like the Judge is enforcing her own religious views on U.S. citizens? Since she is acting as an agent of the State, is this not the establishment of an official religion?
What happens if the parents defy her order and name their kid ‘Messiah’ anyway?
Judge is a religious douchenozzle.
It’s not the way I would Handel this…
Judge is wrong. Somebody will help the parents with the legal fees and the ruling will be overturned.
Yep. Right idea, unacceptable reason. If the judge had limited herself to telling the parents about how much shit the kid would have to deal with in his life with that name, that might be OK.
They should go to another judge and change the name to Jesus F’in Christ McCullough.
He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!
(Can’t believe I got to post that!)
I wonder what the judge would do with a Hispanic person name Jesus.
I resurrected an old thread about legality of baby names in GQ about this:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=288434&page=3
I am sure it will be overturned on appeal. In places like Germany, the govt. can tell you “No, that’s a stupid name. Name it something normal” but in America you have the freedom to be an idiot.
Ah, just like the almost-but-not-quite-as-stupid name “Nevaeh” rocketed into popularity. Well, if there is one thing that children today need, it’s to feel like even MORE of a “special snowflake”, and what better way than to tell them their whole lives that they are LITERALLY JESUS CHRIST?
I am totally in favor of someone making the choice to change their own name to something silly that invites ridicule, but it annoys me when people give their kids names that will invite ridicule and keep people from taking the kid seriously. It shows that they don’t care if their kid succeeds in life.
I agree that pointing out that the child would be mocked is reasonable (though I suspect we are looking at it from a particular culture), I don’t think that it would be OK for the judge to force the parents to change the child’s name for that reason. This isn’t Iceland! 
For one thing, his nickname is going to be “Messy.”
Hallelujah!
:smack: I meant to comment on that, but I got distracted!
Now I can only join the chorus.
and his name (and his name) shall be called (shall be called) Wonderful! Counsellor! Almighty God! the Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace Goldfarb.
So, you’re all assuming the kid isn’t the messiah?
From Tennessee?
Only two things come from Tennesee, son… and he ain’t got no horns.
… And I saw you readin’ a book!
The judge is right about how the kid will get hassled later on. She’s overstepping her authority by ordering a name change, though, AND she’s using a religious reason to do it.
I feel sorry for the kid, though. Mom and dad can’t agree on his name, and Mom thinks that Messiah is a perfectly good name for a kid? Kid’s gonna get into all kinds of situations.
They seem to have agreed on the given name. The disagreement seems to have been over the surname that would be used.
He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!