Opinion ID: 1712646
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the court committed manifest error in ordering the defendant to attend church and to be responsible for the children's attendance at church.

Text: ¶ 6. Anita misinterprets the court's order. She was not ordered to attend church. The court's order pertained only to the children, stating that [b]oth parties shall assume responsibility for the attendance of the children in church each Sunday while in their respective custody. (emphasis added). Anita asserts that this court order violates the First Amendment establishment and free exercise clauses of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Fourteenth Amendment, arguing that the court order constitutes government establishment of the Christian religion. She alleges that the word church used in conjunction with a specific day, Sunday, implicates a particular religion, Christianity. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1981) defines church as place of worship, a congregation. It is not a foregone conclusion that such could only refer to a particular religion, sect, or denomination. The chancellor did not specify a particular faith. There was no discrimination or preference shown. The chancellor's order that the children attend church inherently provided for choice. One need only glance through the yellow pages for the vicinity in which Anita and Carl live to appreciate the diverse meaning of the word church. This is simply a succinct term employed by the chancellor to describe a benefit that he determined to be in the best interest of the children. The polestar consideration in child custody cases is the best interest and welfare of the child. Albright v. Albright, 437 So.2d, 1003, 1005 (Miss.1983). ¶ 7. Anita asserts that the court order violates her constitutional right not to practice organized religion. While the order for the children to attend church might somehow inhibit her ability to be completely free from any effect that church might have on her, the order was reasonably based upon serving the best interests of the children. The chancellor, familiar with the churches in the community, was doubtless aware of the myriad of programs offered for enrichment of children's lives. The range is great. Churches are traditionally places of calm and concern. At virtually no expense to parents, churches offer children the opportunity for interaction with groups of other children as well as adults, in an environment conducive to character-building. ¶ 8. In Hodge v. Hodge, 186 So.2d 748, 750 (Miss.1966), this Court addressed a provision almost identical to the one in the present case. There the chancellor awarded custody to the father with the provision that the mother take the children to church each Sunday. On suggestion of error, this Court restated its position: We feel that it is certainly to the best interests of these three children to receive regular and systematic spiritual training each week, but we do not approve the decree of the Chancellor in mandatorily requiring that all three of said children be carried to church at eleven o'clock on each Sunday. We treated this portion of the Decree as a suggestion only. We reiterate that both the mother and father should be vitally interested in seeing that their children get regular and systematic spiritual training. Whether it is by attending Sunday School each Sunday or Church or both is for the parents alone to decide. Hodge v. Hodge, 188 So.2d 240 (Miss.1966). ¶ 9. The facts of the case justify the chancellor's concern for the well-being of children whose parents have both struggled with numerous personal difficulties including drug addiction and tendencies toward violence. The chancellor was well aware that children of such tender years are particularly vulnerable. The chancellor chose a reasonable and accessible support network to import stability into the lives of children whose environment holds the potential for producing a tumultuous existence. ¶ 10. To follow the precedent established in Hodge, we modify the provision regarding the McLemore twins' church attendance set forth in the Final Judgment of Divorce in the present case, to read as follows: Both the mother and father should be vitally interested in seeing that their children get regular and systematic spiritual training. Whether it be by attending Sunday School each Sunday or Church or both is for the parents alone to decide. ¶ 11. The trial court's judgment on this issue is affirmed as thus modified.