Religion can often come into play in child custody disputes. Whether it is a divorce or custody case between unmarried parents, parents may often be of different faiths.
It might be a situation where both faiths are closely aligned. Take a situation where both parents are Protestant, but of different denominations where the faith differences are minimal.
But in other situations, the faith differences might be significant. For example, one parent may be a Christian, but the other parent is a Buddhist. Or, perhaps, one parent practices Islam, while the other is Jewish.
Who Gets to Decide What Faith The Children Practice?
In these situations, many ask a common question: who gets to decide in what faith the children will be exposed? The reality is the answer to this question can be complicated.
If legal custody is joint, the reality is both parents are supposed to confer and decide. Both parents could agree that they will expose the children to their faith during their custody time. Thus, the children may end up being exposed to both faiths.
If one parent has sole legal custody, they theoretically get to decide. However, the First Amendment comes into play here, where the government cannot abridge the rights of individuals to have freedom of religion. Some states may even have constitutional or statutory provisions that protect religious liberty.
Thus, it is rare that a family court would want to get involved in preventing one parent from exposing the children to their religion. Typically, courts like to stay out of these situations altogether.
When Will The Family Court Get Involved?
The laws can vary by state. Different family court judges can also look at this quite differently. It is also true that different family court judges could have their own views about religion–and may practice themselves in a specific religion.
But the typical standard that exists before a family court would get involved would be a situation where the religion would cause significant harm to the child. The harm could be physical or psychological, but the standard is normally hard to show. It would normally have to be a situation involving a cult or some other religion where the harm would be substantial.
Courts may also look at past practices. For example, where the child has practiced a specific religious affiliation their whole life, it is very unlikely the court would get involved. But where one parent has made a drastic change in their religious affiliation, and the parent desires to expose the children to it, it may be possible the court would get involved. But even there, courts generally like to stay out of religious disputes.
