Closing the Gates to Hell

A five-year-old kid’s name is Max Hell. His dad’s name is Alex Hell. The surname has an Austrian origin. Alex says the name means “bright.”

Now, the Hells are feeling the heat.

According to Yahoo! News, Max was “barred from enrolling in a Catholic school in Australia because his surname jarred with its religious teachings…”

That’s it. Max could be a perfect angel, but his last name is Hell, so no deal.

The school eventually came to their senses and said he could enroll, but the family is declining. Good for them.

Alex Hell (the dad) said this:

… why would you want to go there after being victimised?

…

I’d rather go to another school — we had no problem with the public school but we just wanted to further Max’s education.

In a statement, the school said this:

The school is working with the family in the best interests of the child.

By teaching him that he should be punished for something he has no control over. Even if he did have control of it, it’s still a horrible reason to have him go through all this hassle.

Incidentally, a lot of media are reporting on this. But the story also appears in this satirical publication— it adds a couple details, but says the story is a spoof. The school does exist, though.

If someone knows the truth, let us know.

(via Freakonomics Blog)

[tags]atheist, atheism, Max Hell, Alex Hell, Austrian, the Spoof, St. Peter the Apostle[/tags]

Richard Wade

I’m sorry, sometimes it becomes necessary to set aside all attempts to practice respect in commenting and to say the unvarnished truth just as it is: The people running the St. Peter the Apostle School are ignorant, superstitious, backward IDIOTS.

The boy is far better off not going to that school. He sure got a quick and painful education in religion, civil liberties, psychology and democracy. I applaud his dad’s telling them to go stick it.
Misty

I came over from Joni Ruhs’ blog. Nice blog here. I’m trying to expand my blogroll today 🙂

Poor Max Hell–sorry, but he’ll have a hard time wherever he goes to school. Same as anyone that has a last name with multiple English meanings, such as “Dick”, etc. They will have to put up with some judgment at least from his peers. I agree that no school should ever discriminate enrollment for an unfortunate-sounding last name, however.
Maria

That’s insane……..poor kid
Jen

This has to be a joke article from The Onion, right? Right?
Amy

The local news site reported on this today. Lots of idiots from around my area commenting that he should just change his name. I can’t believe people take such a thing as a name so seriously.
Jonah Emery

Religious Christian’s excluding someone over something they have no control over? Nooooo, say it ain’t so. Kind of like how they exclude homosexuals…

It’s a choice right?

Oh dear. Sigh.
Montez

If this story is true – and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was – it is a perfect example of complete ignorance.
King Aardvark

There’s a pro hockey player whose last nast is Satan (Not pronounced the normal way though – he’s from Slovakia). It hasn’t hurt his career any, afaik. How he’s not the captain of the New Jersey Devils is beyond me.
Richard

I’d heard about this story, and dismissed it as another backwards southern-USA school (not meaning to generalise). I didn’t realise it was in MY country! (even worse, in my city)

I think us Aussies often smugly think everything bad/stupid/etc. happens “somewhere else”, but… not this time!

Anyone emailed the principal yet?
Joni

Ugh. *hangs head and shakes it in disgust*