Tennessee judge orders mother to change baby's name from Messiah

"Messiah is a title, and it's a title that's only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ." When asked what she thought about the name "Jesus," pronounced both ways, Judge Lu Ann Ballew thought about it and decided that was not relevant to this case.  

Even if Judge Ballew felt free to impose her religion on others, surely as a conservative in a very conservative region she would be well aware of the issues of judicial overreach, big government intrusion into peoples' lives. etc?

This was in court in the first place because the parents of the 7-month-old boy could not agree on what the baby's LAST name would be on legal documents, and that's when the judge unexpectedly issued this ruling.

The mother, for whom the name she gave her baby has different meaning, strongly objects to the judge renaming her baby based on her own religiious beliefs and is appealing to a higher court. Given the judge's stated religious basis for her decision, the mother will win, of course.

BTW, MTs should appreciate my once wanting to name my baby Angina (as in Ann-Gina). I was a kid, but fortunately DH was able to explain the problem with it.