Because, the Commissioner explained, the psychologist, like Barlow, is a professed Christian – and so incapable of unbiased assessment of anyone who practices homosexual behavior.
That the Commissioner himself might be incapable of unbiased assessment of Christians is not a possibility deemed worthy of consideration.
When Jones pressed for overnight visits with the girl (now living with her mother in Texas), the court ordered Barlow not only to comply, but to cover Jones’ travel fare. Barlow refused, based on her daughter’s strong reaction to these visits – so the court threatened her with everything from a $1,000 fine to up to 30 days in jail.
Happily, now, the Utah Supreme Court has re-discovered common sense, and Barlow and her daughter may soon be able to get on with their lives, free of Jones’ aggressions.
Still, this is far from an isolated case. Courts across the country are grappling with similar cases, all of which raise the fundamental issue of what it means to be a parent … or a family. If the issue is no longer purely biological, and doesn’t involve traditional adoption, what qualifies a person for legal authority in the life of a child? Is it enough to simply want to be a parent to this particular youngster? To have lived, even for a little while, in the same house as the child? Should desire and proximity really trump the biological claims of a mature, loving parent?
Sadly, more and more judges are saying “yes” to those questions, cutting our definitions of parenthood loose from the traditional moorings that have successfully guided societies for thousands of years. In their zeal to embrace an agenda that endorses homosexual behavior, these judges are legally mugging moms and dads all over the nation – supplanting the natural authority of parents to determine their children’s environment and influences with the crude power of the state to enforce its own bigotries.
So far, the U.S. Supreme Court is passing up every opportunity to address these so-called “psychological parenting” cases. Unfortunately, while they wait, a wave of new cases is building, the tide of our culture is turning … and legal chaos is engulfing the American family.
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