A father has been banned from taking his nine-year-old son to church, after the boy’s Muslim mother won a court order preventing him from doing so.
The man, from a Muslim background, has been told not to take his son to any non-Islamic religious event, only feed him halal food and tell him he is an “ordinary Muslim boy”.
If he breaks the conditions of the ruling, made by a District Judge at Derby County Court, he could lose access to his child.
Over-sensitivity
Responding to the ruling Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, said he has come across similar cases before.
“This is not the first time that I’ve heard of proceedings where the authority has tried to prevent a child being exposed to the Christian faith.
“One has to ask if the courts would have done the same with any other faith.
“I think the fact that the father is himself of Muslim heritage shows there was no need for such over-sensitivity.”
This judge was so busy being politically correct that she has ignored the influence of myself as a loving father.
Scared
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lodged an appeal against the decision with the High Court last week.
He told the Mail on Sunday the judge was “scared of being branded Islamophobic”.
“This judge was so busy being politically correct that she has ignored the influence of myself as a loving father.”
“I was taught that Christians were heartless and immoral, that only Muslims have a peaceful faith and all others are evil. It was only when I began mixing with Christians that I learned this was nonsense”, he added.
Indoctrination
The child’s mother applied for a court order following the couple’s divorce, when she learned that his father spent time with the Christian community and wanted to take their son to church.
His father said he wants the boy to “learn about different cultures” and said the ruling amounted to ‘indoctrination’.
In 2008 a Christian foster carer was struck off because she did not prevent a Muslim child in her care from converting to Christianity.
Quashed
When the girl decided she wanted to be baptised, Gateshead Council officials said her carer had failed in her duty to preserve the girl’s religion.
After a legal challenge supported by The Christian Institute, Gateshead’s decision to deregister the foster carer was quashed in the High Court.