Tennessee Judge Creates 11th Commandment Over A Baby Named ‘Messiah’

Meet Messiah DeShawn Martin. He is a seven month old happy bundle of cuteness that has no idea what just happened to him. Messiah has no idea that his parents have recently been involved in a child custody hearing on what his last name should be. He also has no idea that the judge deciding the case has now taken his first name away from him as well.

Last week, Tennessee Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew ordered that the child could not be named Messiah because it was a title that he had not earned. Ballew issued an order that changed the child’s given name to Martin DeShawn McCullough, and ordered that the parents also change the name on his birth certificate.

Ballew stated:

The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ.

According to Ballew, it’s the first time she has ever ordered a first name change. We can only hope that it’s the last. Ballew stated that she made the decision in the best interest of the child because they live in a ‘mostly Christian population.’ When asked by a reporter about children that were named Jes?s or Jesus, Ballew seemed taken aback and claimed that it wasn’t relevant to this case.

Judge Ballew told reporters:

It could put him at odds with a lot of people and at this point he has had no choice in what his name is.

Jaleesa Martin, Messiah’s mother, was shocked by the ruling of the first name change and intends to appeal the decision. The appeal will go before the Cocke County Chancellor on Sept. 17. Martin has two older children named Micah and Mason, and liked how the name Messiah sounded alongside the names of his brothers.

Martin’s response:

I was shocked. I never intended on naming my son Messiah because it means God and I didn’t think a judge could make me change my baby’s name because of her religious beliefs. Everybody believes what they want so I think I should be able to name my child what I want to name him, not someone else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_fC8IUEVBU

Somehow, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights seems to have skipped over the state of Tennessee.

Messiah was the 633rd most popular name for boys in 2011, and the 387th most popular name for boys in 2012. That makes Messiah the fourth fastest growing name for baby boys.

Whatever the judge wants to pretend, in her reasoning there are a few more names she might want to consider that she claims are “earned titles.”

Christian: 33rd most popular name for boys
King: 256th most popular name for boys
Major: 483rd most popular name for boys
Dean: 260th most popular name for boys
Prince: 457th most popular name for boys
Zion: 235th most popular name for boys
Angel: 57th most popular name for boys

Miracle: 416th most popular name for girls
Genesis: 56th most popular name for girls
Nevaeh: 39th most popular name for girls
Heaven: 321st most popular name for girls
Angel: 227th most popular name for girls
Christina: 284th most popular name for girls
Trinity: 93rd most popular name for girls

You can see a full list of names and their rank in popularity here.

Edited/Published by: SB

"...And so I say to all of you here and to all in the nation tonight that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past do so at the cost of denying you your future. This great rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all--all, black and white, North and South, sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease. They are our enemies, not our fellow man, not our neighbor. And these enemies too--poverty, disease and ignorance--we shall overcome." ~excerpt from speech by President Lyndon B Johnson, given two days after the start of the Selma Marches in an event that became known as Bloody Sunday.