or maybe he's about to retire anyway and he took a phat backhander for throwing a cat among the pigeons. wouldn't be the first time that one's been pulled.

Here's a bit more I found:

'Parenting 'mixed' children: difference and belonging in mixed race and faith families' ~ Chamion Caballero, Rosalind Edwards and Shuby Puthussery
20 June 2008

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/parenting-mixed-children-difference-and-belonging

*
'Press Release: Wider Consultation Needed For Mixed Race' September 2004

'Mixed race children have been over represented in the public care system for too long and ... mixed race children are also much more likely to be excluded from school and to be considered as problems. .............
'Researchers ... looked into some of the reasons why mixed race pupils are underachieving in schools and at the high levels of exclusions. Mixed race families are often seen as the 'problem' but this report shows that part of the problem stems from the way families are perceived, low expectations by teachers and the misconception that pupils have confused identities.'

http://www.pih.org.uk/features/researchpressrelease.html

i suspect the reason why certain ethnicities are overrepresented in the care and penal systems is always much the same. they are treated like xxxx and denied sufficient opportunities. yes, the families are often perceived as the problem but this is nothing more than an abdication of responsibility by society and the state.

My conclusion is that this man means well, and really doesn't perceive himself as a racist, because he has child welfare at heart, but this is akin to saying that certain couples may only marry if they are sterilised, because someone else has judged them to be unfit parents, or has judged their potential offspring to be unfit children.

Yes, the children may suffer ~ but they may not.

It is not just children of mixed marriages who have problems.

Are we going to ban anyone from marrying, or from having children, based upon the narrow ideas of other individuals?

Even if they mean well, I don't think that this can be a good thing.

I don't care if this guy means well, he's still a horrible person.

pdm ... whether or not children suffer alot or a little or not at all is 100% irrelevent in this situation.

his job is to be a judge, unbias and enforce the exact letter of the law, not what he thinks it says or what he feels ... he is not an activist or a lobbyist he is a judge.

its that simple.

Yes, and a judge has no predictive power to know the outcome. I agree.

This is a really interesting question... Calling all anthropologists! It occurs to me that there are probably cults who perform "marriages" that are never formally sanctioned by the state, but as for other cultures or situations, I don't know...

One could argue that if one is married in the eyes of one's god, then that's all that's needed, but if you want the "married filing jointly" income tax break in the States, you'd better do the legal stuff!

i've been to several pagan wedding ceremonies which have no legal stature.

Interesting .....

I agree, but he still has his opinions, and standards, which he is unwilling to compromise.

Perhaps he should have thought about that, before becoming a judge ~ or perhaps the matter never arose for him, until recent years.

I can imagine some very religious judges, for example, refusing to conduct gay marriages.

I wonder if I could find some examples???
I'll have a look.