Wife's Religious Spoofs Become Central In Custody Case

Newswire Today reports on a child custody case that has gained high profile in the blogosphere. Rachel Bevilacqua is active in the Church of the SubGenius, a "parody religion" that produces materials and engages in satire, performance art, and comedy that take aim particularly at Christian religious denominations. Attempting to gain sole custody of their son, Bevilacqua's former husband introduced photos of Rachel performing in an adult-oriented parody of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Even though Bevilacqua's son has never attended any of the SubGenius events, the offensive photos led an Orleans County, New York judge to take away Rachel's joint custody and give sole custody of the Bevilacqua child to his father. This, in turn, has led to a flurry of online criticism by defenders of free expression. The case has now been reassigned to a different judge.