Church and State

[brewer]

If the child doesn't have a birth certificate, there are plenty of combinations the government will accept, including religious ones.  For children whose parents are unbelievers, what would you suggest replace the religious records?  Are you saying that shouldn't be an option for anyone at all?  

I guess I really don't understand what the problem is, here (save for the family Bible thing... wut???).  As someone who is going through some gnarly immigration stuff (trying to get my Australian boyfriend to the US), it's actually rather nice to see more options instead of less for people trying to obtain a passport.

My point is that religious records shouldn't tip the scales. It encourages undocumented families to go to church with their children. It gives the church power over people since they can delete your records if you leave the faith. I'm sure some Islamic mosks would be doing that since apostasy carries the death penalty.

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The yes answer may be correct. I hope that the religious documentation would be one of the last pieces of evidence in a long line of evidence that they consider.

So the atheist who cant produce that last piece of evidence is out of luck.

Again, I'm not the government so I can't say, I don't think the government it saying that either. I think you are giving the theists to much credit and the atheist not enough. Doubt that the deluded would have more documentation, even accurate documentation.