Quote Originally Posted by Magic Hans View Post
I got thinking about this after hearing how a friend of mine, who has been separated for just over a year, is having trouble seeing his kid. It seems (from his point of view) that his (estranged) wife is being awkward and/or obstructive.
Clearly the concept of marriage pre-dates modern religion and ever changing religious practices. In fact, in the UK at least, marriages were originally associated with the church simply for the record keeping before becoming closely entwined - but then the entire community, if not country, your ancestors grew up in was closely entwined with religion, so thats not particularly relevant.

Your friends issues with access to his own children have nothing to do with religion either, modern law is a minefield when it comes to seperated parents and their children - it is always the children that get hurt in the ensuing battle when one selfish parent decides that there SHOULD be a battle.