Mum loses right to have daughter baptised

[Hyena Dandy]

I agree. The religious upbringing of the child (or lack thereof in some cases) should be up to the parent(s) to decide, NOT the courts.

Yes, but the thing is that the parents evidently can't agree, so the court decided to allow the child to choose.

Although I think the father is being petty (if there is no God,what does it matter if someone is baptized?) it's a reasonable decision if they have joint custody.

[HYHYBT]

Joint custody *would* make a difference. I wish the article bothered to say whether they had that or not.

Though for something like this, if the parents cannot agree, there's no harm in letting the child decide.

[crazylegs]

Joint custody *would* make a difference. I wish the article bothered to say whether they had that or not.

Why?

If the father only has minor visitation rights (maybe because of work commitments) then is his opinion any the less relevant? His rights to be a father are not diminished by the amount of court appointment time he is allowed to spend with the child.

Should I ever have children I will never force religion on my child I will leave it to them to decide once they're an adult.

[HYHYBT]

Why? Because that's what custody means. The parent with custody makes the decisions, regardless of visitation arrangements. Joint custody means they both do, which is a poor choice if they don't get along well enough to talk such things out between themselves instead of going to court over trivialities.