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Choosing the Right Religion ? Uh ? Parent for Primary Custody

By Janet Langjahr

I previously posted on a case where a North Carolina court ordered children out of homeschooling and back into public school at least in part to compensate for the mother’s religious views.

In a similar recent case, a girl was ordered out of homeschooling and into public school because of her “rigidity on faith”.

In an even more recent high profile case, a teenager fled her family in Ohio after converting to Christianity, for fear that her Muslim parents would execute a so-called honor killing on her. A Florida court ordered the teen returned to Ohio, but into foster care.

There are plenty of other cases lately where aspects of a parent’s religious beliefs or practices – or lack of same – appear to play a significant role in a parenting dispute’s outcome.

Unfortunately, the outcomes don’t always seem consistent – or logical – across the country.

Are family courts indirectly imposing their own religious values on minor children and their parents? And what of a parent’s constitutionally protected right of religious freedom?

These are the questions some are asking – and hoping the US Supreme Court will address in the near future.

Read more in this ChristianityToday article: Splitting Babies – Religious differences are making custody disputes even messier.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on November 04, 2009 (boomark / email).