Father Ordered Not to Take Son to Church

A judge in the UK says a British father is not allowed to take his son to church.

According to the Daily Mail, the man's Muslim ex-wife, the boy's mother, won a court order.

The father's name is being withheld for legal reasons. The man said his ex-wife believes their son could "become confused" if he is exposed to other religions. She is raising the boy to be a Muslim.

"My son is being indoctrinated and the only way I can show him other things is to take him to other places," the father said. "If I don't show him other types of life he will become just like a dumb sheep. I want him to see and learn about different cultures."

"This is nothing short of brain-washing him," the man continued. "Already he is telling me that I have a black heart, that I am a bad man, because I am not a practicing Muslim. I am heartbroken that I have to keep him away from activities with local children."

"He is being fed the same lies I was as a child and I want better for him," the father said. "This judge was so busy being politically correct that she has ignored the influence of myself as a loving father."

"I am terrified that he will stop wanting to see me because of his indoctrination," the man continued.

According to the Daily Mail, the father is a non-practicing Muslim who has close ties with his local Christian community.

"After my divorce, the Christian community embraced me," the man said. "They run many activities my son enjoys so I go to the church and would like to take my son."

The judge issued a warning that he could be banned from seeing the nine-year-old altogether if he tries to take him to church or to a leisure center run by the church, the Daily Mail reports.

The father is challenging the judge's ruling. He filed an appeal with the High Court.

"This judge is simply scared of being branded Islamophobic," the father said. "I want my son to have a balanced life in which he is exposed to different faiths and can make up his own mind about which, if any, religion he follows."

"I was taught that Christians were heartless and immoral, that only Muslims have a peaceful faith and all others are evil," the man said. "It was only when I began mixing with Christians that I learned this was nonsense."

According to the Daily Mail, the order states the father is not allowed to take his son to any religious event. It also calls for the father to feed his son only Halal food and tell the child he is "an ordinary Muslim boy following Muslim rules."

Christians leaders and legal experts are outraged by the judge's ruling.

"This is a form of judicial bullying," Andrea Williams, with the Christian Legal Centre, said. "The wife is using the law to coerce and silence a father's right to determine his son's religious experience."

"This chimes generally with what we see with the judicial system acting as if it is afraid of upsetting Islam and therefore showing a willingness to suppress the Christian faith and punishing those who practice it," she continued.

"This would not have happened the other way around. If a Christian parent was trying to deny a child access to a mosque, there would be a huge outcry and claims of Islam-ophobia," Williams said.

"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," said Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute.

"One has to ask if the courts would have done the same with any other faith," he continued. "There is a general feeling that Christianity is an easy target because there is rarely any public backlash. I think the fact that the father is himself of Muslim heritage shows there was no need for such over-sensitivity."