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Appeals court finds judge did not punish man for religious beliefs when giving ex-wife parenting authority

By and 06/12/2024 | updated 2 years ago

Colorado’s second-highest court last month rejected a man’s claim that a Larimer County judge unconstitutionally penalized him for expressing religious beliefs critical of homosexuality when she awarded parental decision-making to his ex-wife.

District Court Judge Laurie K. Dean gave Brandon Ribble’s ex-wife broad decision-making responsibility for the couple’s children as a result of their divorce. She noted evidence of Ribble making “derogatory comments” toward his ex-wife, who Ribble originally met through a Christian organization but who had since entered into a relationship with another woman.

For example, the ex-wife alleged Ribble told their children her new romantic partner “is Satan.”

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Dean also reasoned Ribble “has had difficulty accepting Mother’s current relationship due to his religious beliefs” and she quoted a parental evaluator’s conclusion that Ribble’s comments toward his ex-wife were “disparaging, demeaning, name-calling, and vile.”

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Ribble appealed Dean’s decision to the Court of Appeals, claiming her award of decision-making authority to Ribble’s ex-wife was punishment for expressing beliefs about homosexuality protected by the First Amendment.

“The lower court should not have taken a position, and certainly should not have opined so many times, on what it considers to be Father’s objectionable or judgmental beliefs and his expressive conduct related to those beliefs,” wrote attorney Brad Bergford. “The lower court has indicated a distaste for Father’s religious views and his manner of expressing them to Mother.”

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals acknowledged Ribble has the constitutional right to educate his children in his religion. But Ribble’s communications to his ex-wife, even if they were informed by his faith, crossed into outright disparagement — calling her vulgar names and threatening to “replace you so fast so long as you are on this road.”

“The record indicates that father’s comments went well beyond an expression of his religious convictions or general disapproval of mother’s relationship,” wrote Judge Lino S. Lipinsky de Orlov in the May 30 opinion. “Regardless of whether father’s animus towards mother was grounded in his religious convictions or otherwise, the fact that father chose to send demeaning and degrading insults to her is relevant to father’s ability as a mutual decision-maker to provide a positive and nourishing relationship with the children.”

He added that nothing in Dean’s order prevented Ribble from exercising his own religious beliefs or educating his children about religion as he wished.

The case is In the Marriage of Ribble.

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