Tennessee judge Lu Ann Ballew may have broken the law that separates church and state. According to reports by the BBC, Ballew ordered a mother to change her baby’s name from Messiah to Martin because of her own religious views. Jaleesa Martin was in court to get her baby’s last name changed and to negotiate child support payments with the father of her child.
However, Judge Ballew decided to change the child’s first name because she believes Jesus is the only Messiah. “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,” she said.
But Judge Ballew failed to do research before making the judgement. In 2012, over 700 babies were named Messiah.
