Before concluding that this was a case of discrimination (which it may yet well be,I would need to know certain facts. How old is the child? Did she express soem view on the matter of religious practice? Did religion play a large role in her pre-divorce life? Was the child taken to church regularly during the marriage, such that a grant of custody to the mother might be disorienting to the child? Marc Stern
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 5:00 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Yet one more example of discrimination against the irreligious inchild custody cases: >From Buck v. Buck, 4 Pa. D. & C. 5th 238 (Pa. Com. Pl. 2008). Given Lee v. Weisman's conclusion that simply having a prayer at a not formally mandatory graduation is unacceptable coercion of religious practice, wouldn't counting a parent's not engaging in "religious/spiritual activities [with] the child" against the parent in a child custody decision -- and counting the other parent's "plac[ing] a high-level emphasis on religion" in that other parent's favor -- be even more clearly unacceptable coercion of religious behavior? Eugene D. Spiritual Well-Being Father is religious and takes the child to church. Father currently places a high-level emphasis on religion. The child appears to be enjoying her religious activities. Mother did not testify as to any particular religious/spiritual activities in which she seeks to involve the child, or any religious/spiritual activities which she seeks to instill in the child. The child's spiritual well-being is better served by being in Father's custody.
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