A judge in Tennessee changed a 7-month-old boy's name to Martin from Messiah, saying the religious name was earned by one person and "that one person is Jesus Christ."
37 comments
So what about all those hispanic boys named Jesus, hmmmm?
Actually, I kind of agree with the judge's decision, but more to save that poor kid from being teased than anything else.
To be fair, that is putting a lot of pressure on the kid. I mean, start him off with something easier, like 'Tycoon' or 'Mayor'.
But I'm not the Messiah!
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In the UK we have a list of banned names such as "Prince" or "Princess".
Its not a taste thing, more a case of not allowing the use of a title as a name.
Actually, "Christ" comes from the Greek word "Christos" which means "anointed one." Several people are described as being anointed in the bible, including David and Saul. Literally speaking, they were Christos.
Christian fundamentalist not knowing the bible take #824,061,963
A judge in Tennessee changed a 7-month-old boy's name to Martin Brian from Messiah,
Would have been so much funnier.
Also, good decision, wrong reason.
Messiah just means "anointed". It's applied to all sorts of things in the Bible besides Jesus - including bread and temple hardware.
the religious name was earned by one person and "that one person is Jesus Christ."
No, Cyrus the Great and Solomon were both referred to as "messiah".
As much as I dislike when people give their kids stupid names (unique names are fine, but some people think unique is automatically good and end up giving their kids stupid names like "Apple" or "Messiah"), this absolutely reeks of the stench of flagrantly violating the separation of church and state. So as much as I hate to support people who call their child "Messiah", a family can call their child whatever the hell they want. They can call him "God" if they want to and Constitutionally they have the right.
Yeah, I'm in the "good decision, deeply questionable reasoning" camp on this one.
But then, I'm quite a stick-in-the-mud (orthographically as well as phonetically) about the personal names people give their children. (If someone with sufficient cognitive function to understand the consequences of doing so wants to call <i>themselves</i> "Moon Unit", "Hen3ry", or "Yahweh Allah Brahma Amaterasu", on the other hand, that's their business.)
Oh, damn it. Doubting Thomas beat me to the reference. I'll just throw mine in anyway.
"He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
Messiah's not a good name for a kid, but does this mean that those followers of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe who think he's the messiah now have to become Christians? On the other hand, the parents could change the name to Moshiach and Lu Ann Ballew would probably be none the wiser.
While the woman is at it, she should change everyone named Chris, Christopher, Christian, Christina,and Jesus to Martin as well.
I remember years ago, a baby girl that was named "god" (lower case). Whatever happened to that? There must be lots of names that mean about the same as "Messiah", what about Xavier?
So, if a Mexican boy is in your hands, you're going to interfere with their parents' desires if they call him Jesus. Or if he's Greek and they call him Christos. Please, remember the first ammendment.
Did you, by chance, forget the Establishment Clause, Lu Ann?
Bravo on perfectly giving us an example as to why fundies in positions of authority are a bad thing.
Your courtroom is not the place to set up your personal theocracy. You should get tossed off the bench.
..., saying the religious name was earned by one person and "that one person is Jesus Christ."
The only legitimate reason to force a change of name is in the cases where this name could bring ridicule.
Inpeach Lu Ann Ballew or at last send her to Traffic Court because she's replacing the law by her faith.
@ Broton of Loch Ness
Seriously? Where in the Bible did he say it?
I have to agree that naming the kid "Messiah" is kind of a bad idea, but I think the mother said that she actually didn't know what Messiah meant and that she just thought it sounded nice.
@documentingtehcrazy
I've read about people from other countries naming their kids phonetically, like "Diarrhea", and have personally met 2 different black women named "Latrina".
Like The Super said in Eddie Murphy's "The P.J.s", when they were going to name the go-cart, "Naw, ya can't name it LeSabre - nobody names cars by people names."
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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