by Shauna Van Praagh

About the author: Shauna Van Praagh was a Boulton Fellow at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. She has taught at the law faculties of Columbia University, King’s College London, and McGill.

The teachings of a religious community with respect to children may be translated into parental practice, and therefore become central to a child’s day- to-day life. And yet, while religions concern themselves with doctrine relating to the rearing of children, children do not choose to be members subject to that doctrine. Child membership in religious communities, in fact, is unique in that it is not based on any notion of the free choice to join or not join. . . . At the same time, child membership is crucial to the continuation of religious communities, and...