TOMKAT divorce and Scientology

I am generally the first one to stand against divorce, but I have to say that I am relieved to hear that Katie is divorcing Tom. I think Scientology is dangerous and I think that Katie is right to fear Suri getting taken away. I remember when Katie first got married to Tom. I was honestly scared for her.

I think there is a huge difference in Sunday school. And being shipped off to be indoctrinated into a cult.

I think it depends on the religion and proof of potential harm. I mean, Christianity in general is considered a "safe" religion, but if you get into some cult that takes it to an extreme, a kid could be in danger - an adult could be, really! If one parent could prove that the other parent was engaging in a religion or a version of a religion that would or could harm the child mentally or physically, then yes, I think it should be taken into consideration. "He plans to take her to a cult compound where they're going to marry her off at age 8 to a man who is 57", for example, would count if it could be proven, but not "I'm Catholic and he's converting to Judaism and I don't like that!"

While I personally don't understand Scientology, I can't say that it should automatically count against Cruise. If she can prove that it really might hurt their daughter, fine, but just not agreeing with it isn't enough in my book.

I don't know enough about the Scientology religion to form much of an opinion about the pros & cons of it. But if Katie felt strongly enough that it was in her dau's best interest to distance her from that, then I feel she has the right to do that. To be honest, this is getting played out in the media way too much, every time new details leak out. But I still wouldn't mind hearing the specifics about what exactly Kate is protecting her dau from.

Religion in and of itself should never be a consideration. That's a violation of the religious rights of the parents. What should be a consideration is how the child will be treated, period. Too often, the religion of one parent is sensationalized and twisted by the other to try and win custody (cases of one accusing the other of performing skyclad rituals in front of the child, etc).

If there is some part of raising a child in this religion that could be considered abusive or unsafe, it should be reported, just like any offense that has nothing to do with religion. Scientology spends a lot of money on legal defense, but if there was really something unsafe, I seriously doubt ALL the parents who've divorced a Scientologist would give up their kids without a fight. The fed gov't would love a reason to strip their tax exempt status on all those book sales and million dollar seminars, too.

I think she has every right to decide how much she wants her child exposed to something, for whatever reason. I think the more money you have the more power you have when it comes to Scientology, it is too bad that people as smart as Cruise, Travolta etc, find them selves drawn to a religion that only "truly" desires their money, not their religious health.

Well, in the Catholic church, when you marry, you agree to raise your children as Catholics. IN that way religion should be a consideration. But my understanding of Scientology is that it's much more than faith formation classes for an hour on Sunday.

Of course, I'm on Kate's side here. I don't think religion should be imposed on children, and I think cases like this highlight the problems with it. Scientology is considered to be a cult by many, but it's just at the more extreme end of a spectrum. While I do think that parents should be allowed to raise their children as they see fit, when it comes to divorce and child custody battles, I hesitate to say that either parent should be granted sole custody because of the other parent's religious views. Many atheist parents have lost custody of their children because a judge was more sympathetic to the other parent's religious views. It's a tricky situation because of its relativism. Who gets to decide that Scientology is dangerous to the child? What are the criteria? Would that criteria be applied across the board?

I think religion should be taken into consideration should it place the child out of the other parents care and should it be potentially dangerous (brainwashing) to the child and their relationship with their other parent.
In this case-absolutely.