Where Does He Get Off?

I had to read this article a couple times to process that it was a judge - not one of the parents - who put a provision into a divorce decree that they cannon expose their child to their Wiccan practices. How on earth is this possible?

"An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to 'non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.'

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

[...]

The parents' Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford's attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones' son attends a local Catholic school.

'There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones' lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages,' the bureau said in its report.

[...]

'This was done without either of us requesting it and at the judge's whim,' said Jones, who has organized Pagan Pride Day events in Indianapolis. 'It is upsetting to our son that he cannot celebrate holidays with us, including Yule, which is winter solstice, and Ostara, which is the spring equinox.'

The ICLU and Jones assert the judge's order tramples on the parents' constitutional right to expose their son to a religion of their choice. Both say the court failed to explain how exposing the boy to Wicca's beliefs and practices would harm him."

This is thoroughly absurd and I still cannot believe what I am reading. Aside from believing that the judge probably doesn't have a clue what Wiccans really practice, he is just plain out of line and off the mark for imposing his views on this family. How dare he?!