A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Hambden Township couple that claimed their then 11-year-old son was forcibly baptized at a Chardon evangelical church against his will and without their permission.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a Hambden Township couple that claimed their then 11-year-old son was forcibly baptized at a Chardon evangelical church against his will and without their permission.
The incident occurred in August of 2016 at Morning Star Friends Church on Ravenna Road. The lawsuit was filed in March by April and Gregg DeFibaugh.
Six defendants were listed, including the Margaret Vaughn, a court-appointed guardian who worked for CASA for Kids in Geauga County, and David Guarnera, a volunteer with Big Brother/Big Sisters of Northeast Ohio. Both were congregation members of Morning Star Church.
Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the United States District Court of Ohio dismissed all the defendants from the suit on Oct. 16.
Gaughan decided Vaughn, Guarnera and Big Brothers and Sisters were not acting under the color of state law and therefore “did not conspire with state actors to deprive plaintiffs of their First Amendment rights.”
Wha the next step is for the DeFibaughs is still up in the air, according to Nick Fish, the national program director for the American Atheists, who helped file the suit.
“Obviously we, and they, are disappointed with the ruling, but we believe that they deserve their day in court,” Fish wrote in an email. “They trusted a court appointed guardian to look out for the best interests of their child but instead endured more than a year of religious harassment.”
For more details from the complaint and video of the baptism click here.
