>From a colleague.
-Original Message-
From: Hamoudi, Haider [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_
Just a few points on this, from someone who would know very little about the
New York law aspect of it, but a reasonable amount concerning the Islamic
law side.
First, the practice of bl
There's much to what Marty says, but I'm still not sure how it
all works out. I take it that Marty's position accepts Palmore's
conclusion that the Equal Protection Clause remains in play in custody
cases, even if an unbigoted judge could conclude that a child in 1980
Florida really would
Marty: I appreciate your argument, but let me probe it a little
further.
Say a judge says that it's in the child's best interests -- all
else being equal -- to be raised a more religiously observant parent,
rather than an atheist, agnostic, or someone who's not very devout.
(I've
Apropos the ongoing discussion of the role religious beliefs should play
in custody disputes, the Oregon Supreme Court decided today that a 12 year
old boy should have some say in the custodial parent's decision to have
him circumcisd, though that say should occur within the context of the
noncusto
Good question. We've been over this before in other contexts. First of all --
is it really the case that there's empirical evidence (as opposed to a judicial
assumption based on anecdote) that a religious upbringing is more likely to
keep a child out of trouble? Religious cultures, after all,
Let me just add to what Eugene says here. In numerous cases I've found over
the last few weeks, a judge has been quite blatant about using such
anecdotal data to justify preferring religion to non-religion. In one case
the judge said:
"And I was a little bit distraught in finding that there was no
Just on Marty's first point -- and this might be off-list material:
there is abundant evidence that religion has a positive influence on
the family and the social order. Though I do only some work in this
area, I have never seen an empirical study that suggests otherwise (if
others have I'd be inte
Richard makes a fair point – but if we take this thread back to the original
dispute in which people of different faiths shared custody of a child at least
to some extent, the question isn’t whether religion has a positive influence on
the family and the social order but rather whether particula
