Custody Battles and Religion
Yesterday's NYTimes had an gut-wrenching piece about the difficulties judges and families face when custody battles hinge on religious disagreements.
Judges do not want to take on custody disputes rooted in religion, said lawyers like Gaetano Ferro, who until recently served as president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Mr. Ferro said, “How will a judge say in any rational fashion that Islam is better than Buddhism, Catholicism better than Judaism, or Methodism better than Pentecostalism?”As a result, more and more states have tried to keep custody disputes out of court by mandating mediation. But the effect has been piecemeal, and religious disputes have proven to be among the most difficult to resolve, lawyers said.
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Judges risk violating the separation of church and state if they try to choose the faith a child should be raised in, legal experts said.