Family issues

1.  A divorced couple is asking the legal system to adjudicate their dispute about exposing their child to various religions.  This seems like a tough issue to me, not because of the religious issues involved, but over the dispute about whether or not exposing the child to both Judaism and Catholism “confuses” her or has any “harmful” effects.  A very wise professor I am acquainted with once said, “Children create problems for any political philosophy,” including libertarianism.  Indeed!

2.  Most Pakistani women do not read their marriage contracts, in which they often relinquish many rights most in the West take for granted.  On a related note, I have often been surprised at how even people in the West do not think long and hard about the legal issues surrounding their marriages: money issues (in particular, in the event of a divorce), issues regarding how they will raise their children, et al.  Why do most people just accept the default prescriptions: joint bank accounts, the courts will decide custodial issues (often in favor of women), etc.?  As the author of the Slate article points out, your marriage contract is probably the most important contract you will ever enter into, yet even most lawyers don’t bother to think through the implications.