parents, children and religion

[Jim Maule]

"Robert O'Brien" <obrien at WVWC.EDU> writes

> I recommend your attention to "Family Law in the Fifty States" in the
> winter issue each year of _Family Law Quarterly_.  The most relevant recent
> case seems to be _Palmer v. Palmer_, 545 N.W. 2d 751 (Neb. 1996).  The
> summary reads as follows: "Limiting custodial mother's right to control
> religious upbringing of her minor child constituted an abuse of discretion
> and placed a burden upon religion within the meaning of the free exercise
> clause.  The court may not restrict a parent's fundamental right to control
> religious upbringing of child absent a showing that particular religious
> practices pose immediate and substantial threat to child's temporal
> well-being." _FLQ_, 4 (Winter, 1997), p. 872.
>
> My impression is that custodial parent has great power in determining the
> religion of the child but that the custodial parent is (usually) not
> allowed to limit religious activities of the non-custodial parent vis-a-vis
> the child.

So what does that do to cases of joint custody? Nothing much to
resolve the problem, I suppose?

Jim Maule
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
Villanova, PA 19085
maule at law.vill.edu
http://www.cilp.org/~maule
(610) 519 - 7135