Religion: Tiger Cat

The lordly New York Times thought that it was “a dangerous precedent . . . not many steps from . . . Nazi practices.” To Rev. Dr. John Haynes Holmes, seasoned Manhattan liberal, it was “an outrage.” Director Roger Baldwin of the American Civil Liberties Union declared he believed it was the first recorded case of its kind in the U. S. when in Newark, N. J. last week a court denied a divorced woman custody of her children because she does not believe in God.

Mrs. Mabel Eaton of Montclair, N. J. had brought suit for divorce against her husband Warren, charging cruelty. Husband Eaton filed a countersuit, going his wife one better by charging she kicked him while he was bending over a toy last Christmas eve. Seeking custody of their daughter Mabel, 10; and their son Warren Jr., 5, Father Eaton submitted that he is a Methodist, that his wife had announced that that denomination is one with which she would not permit her children to be connected. Mr. Eaton said his wife had brought home atheist pamphlets, schedule of atheist meetings, Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and an I. W. W. songbook.

In Chancery Court last week Advisory Master Robert Grosman awarded a divorce and the children to Methodist Eaton granted to Mrs. Eaton the privilege oi visiting her progeny unless she attempted to “instill her atheistic and communistic beliefs” in their minds. Decided the Advisory Master: “She frankly states that she no longer considers herself a Christian She looks on all religion as useless and entertains the deepest contempt for that of her husband.

“There is no question, to my mind, that the petitioner had permitted herself to become thoroughly imbued with communistic, atheistic and I. W. W. doctrines, even though she does not hold formal memberships in those organizations.

“It is common knowledge that the principles of communism are the antithesis of those generally held by most Americans. They scoff at the belief in the Supreme Being, in the brotherhood of man, in the virtue of women, the marriage institution, as well as the personal relations between parent and child.

“The petitioner, of course, is a ‘mistress of her own soul.’ She may do with herself as she will, but she is not privileged to instill into the minds of these young children, against the will of their father, these doctrines which she, herself, has embraced and which are looked upon with abhorrence by the vast majority of people living under the protection of our Lord.”

Asked by a newshawk to give his impressions of Mrs. Eaton, 38, Advisory Master Grosman said: “She had the look of a tiger cat.” Said her attorney: “She was so shocked, so stunned . . . that she couldn’t even talk to me.”