by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

An Illinois judge has issued a restraining order barring a father from taking his daughter to any church other than a Jewish synagogue.

According to CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago, after splitting up with this Jewish wife, Rebecca, Joseph Reyes, 35, had their daughter baptized in a Catholic church and began taking her to Mass.

Rebecca Reyes says she only learned about her daughter’s baptism when her husband sent photos, and insists that her daughter be raised Jewish. She claims her husband pledged to do so and even converted to Judaism himself.

However, Joseph denies this, telling WBBM that this was not “accurate.” 

“I’m not going to call her a liar,” he said, “but … at the very least she’s mistaken regarding that conversation.”

Joel Brodsky, Joseph’s attorney, said he couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he read the temporary restraining order issued against his client.  It bars Joseph from taking his daughter to church, saying the failure to restrain him will “continue to the emotional detriment of the child.”

“I almost fell off my chair,” Brodsky said. “I thought maybe we were in Afghanistan and this was the Taliban. This is America. We have a First Amendment right of freedom of religion.”

An appeal is planned.

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(WBBM-TV contributed to this story)