New criticism of the Massachusetts state law banning interfaith adoptions were voiced here today as Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Ellis continued their legal fight to retain custody of their four-year-old foster daughter, Hildy McCoy, whose natural mother is a Catholic.
Rev. MyronW. Powell, secretary to the Massachusetts Congregational Christian Conference, expressed his belief that the law under which a Massachusetts court has ordered the Ellises to surrender the child “is not in keeping with American principles of religious freedom and that it ought to be amended.” Granting that religion should be recognized as a major factor in the original placement of a child, he said that the Massachusetts law appears to violate the principle of separation of church and state.
Dr. Kenneth L. Patton, Minister of the Charles Street Universalist Church, called for abolition of the state law, charging that the idea on which it is based–that a child is born into the religion of its parents–is “abhorrent.” Rev. Charles N. Forsberg, field secretary to the Massachusetts Baptist State Convention, hit the law as “contrary to the purpose of adoption” by subordinating the concern of a suitable home for the child to the question of religious preference.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
