Israeli Children Have No Choice

It is heart-breaking to see a child used as a proxy war between parents. Religious types are good at using their children for some kind of “upper hand” in the case of a divorce where one parent is religious and the other is not, so the latest out of Israel should not be too surprising.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that a child whose parents are divorced will receive a state-religious education against the will of the mother, who wants her son to receive a secular education. They ruled this way because…

The father, who comes from a renowned haredi family, objected the mother's wishes, and claimed the if the child studied in a secular school system, he will not be able to visit his haredi grandparents in Bnei Brak, because they would be disgraced and severe their ties with the boy.

The grandparents are insane if they will not visit the child because he is not being indoctrinated by some religious school, the father doubly so for even making this an issue. This is a child! This child is as religious as my dog. The fact that the father is forcing this kid to get a religious education so he can be screwed up for the rest of his life is mind-numbing.

Listen people: if you are religious, then you can be as deluded as you want. However, you need to leave your kids out of it. They need to make their own choice when they are old enough to understand what is going on. I have to agree with Richard Dawkins in cases like this: child abuse, plain and simple.