10-YO homeschooled child sent to public school by court

I read about this story this afternoon. A 10 yr old is being remanded to public school by a judge in New Hampshire based on her 'strict adherence' to Christianity.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/04/home-schooled-christian-girl-ordered-to-join-publi/print/

This is the only "mainstream" media article I could find directly about this case. Everything else came from Christian and homeschool news sites, which would naturally tend to support the mother and daughter's side. As such, I was seeking something that might attempt to present a fuller account of the other side of this argument.

That being said... I can see no merit for the Judge's ruling. New Hampshire law appears to be pretty clear that the only way that the judge could make this ruling is if the girl's present environment is clearly detrimental to her physical, mental, or emotional health. Given the entirety of the evidence - the girl is at or beyond current educational levels, she is involved in extra-curricular activities, she is socially adept and well adjusted - this is clearly not a case where her well-being is at risk.

I tend to be the type to hesitate at drawing attention to Christian persecution, as a number of cases strike me as "persecussionists", banging their drums to draw attention to perceived slight when little to none intentionally exists. I don't like to see persecussion performed in any arena, whether it is done on grounds of religion, race, gender, or several other common areas. In this case though, there seems to be a clear bias exhibited by the court against the mother and daughter based on their Christian faith.

I hope and pray, and honestly expect, that an appeal to a higher court will reverse this poor decision. I also hope and pray that mother and daughter are able to learn a positive lesson from this, and don't retract into a shell of anti-government distrust. You never know, maybe Amanda will look around at all of her lost schoolmates and convince her mother to let her stay for the purpose of witnessing to a generation in need of it. God can work all things to the good, if we will just let Him.