In Ex parte Laura Snider, 2005 Ala. LEXIS 205 (AL. Sup. Ct., Nov. 18, 2005), the Alabama Supreme Court faced the question of whether a divorced mother's free exercise of religion was infringed when a trial court ordered custody of her daughter changed to the child's father. After her divorce, the mother, Laura Snider, converted to a conservative Baptist denomination and married Brian Snider, who shared her new religious convictions. The trial court found that Brian's parenting practices resulted in a significant and detrimental change in the personality and behavior of the child. While those practices were based on religious beliefs, the majority held that they could be considered so long as the change in custody was not based solely on the parties' religious beliefs.
A dissent by Justice Parker argued that the majority should have reversed a part of the trial court's custody decree that ordered Laura to avoid religious training of her daughter that would be disparaging or critical "in any way" of the custodial father's more liberal religious views or practices. Justice Parker argued that "the only interest offered by the trial court to justify stripping Laura of her fundamental right to teach her child the worship of God is that doing so will prevent the daughter from feeling "unnecessarily confused or pressurized [sic]" because of the differences in her parents' religious views and practices. " He found that rationale unpersuasive.
The majority responded: "Nothing in the trial court's order prevents Laura from teaching the child every facet of the Christian faith and every principal [sic.] and lesson contained in the Bible. This can be done by any parent without disparaging or criticizing his or her former spouse."
