You may need more than a court order to end your marriage. Religious laws may also dictate your marriage status. It is not our purpose here to discuss religious law but to urge you to investigate further if you subscribe to a religion with a body of divorce law. These laws may affect your assets, children you may have now and in the future, any remarriage plans and, most important of all, your spiritual life.
Roman Catholics
Roman Catholics who seek to remarry after a civil divorce must obtain an annulment of their previous marriage in a church court or forfeit the right to take communion. The Pope recently reaffirmed this stance.
For More on Roman Catholicism and Divorce
North American Conference Of Separated and Divorced Catholics
Telephone: 541-893-6089
Jews
Under Jewish law, only men can initiate divorce. They can divorce their wives for little or no reason although provision in the "ketubah"," marriage contract, do protect certain rights. Jewish women must obtain a "get," a bill of divorce, from their husbands. If they remarry without one, they are considered to be adulterous and children from the marriage are considered illegitimate and barred from some Jewish marriages. Although the process is relatively simple, many Jewish women find themselves "agunah" (literally, anchored) in a Jewish marriage if their husbands refuse to issue a get or if husbands have deserted them and cannot be found.
More about Jewish Divorce
http://www.jewfaq.org/divorce.htm#Attitude
For Help in Getting a Jewish Divorce
http://www.kayama.org/
Muslims
Islam also has complex religious laws governing divorce, in which women do not have equal rights. Karamah, Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, is drafting an Islamic marriage contract model Islamic marriage contract that would be recognized in American courts.
Islamic Divorce Laws
http://al-islam1.org/laws/divorce.html
Essay on Islam and Divorce
http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/divorce.htm
