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This question opened up a series of further questions in my mind. Since it's about parents, the implication is that they're exercising a power over their children. This leads to the question of what are the children's ages? Are they still dependent or have they reached the age of consent? Is a parent's right to change his/her own religious beliefs included in the net cast by the question? Then there's the issue, like in my family of origin, if one parent changes her hereditary religion and then it becomes the child's hereditary religion, does the parent have the power to force the child into the new religion? In turn, when do a child's rights begin and how much of them can be exercised - all rights within limits, or some rights fully?

This could take a month, so I'll limit my position on the debate to the following parameters: as the right pertains to parents over their children, not to themselves; said power is absolute and arbitrary, distinct from being merely influential; the children have reached the age of consent; the parents have maintained their own hereditary religion.

So no, parents don't have power over their children's choice of religious beliefs. Their influence has been exerted throughout the child's upbringing. Influence, however, isn't limited to the parents; it's also the quality of the religion itself that informs the human mind. At the age of consent, the children must decide for themselves. In addition, it's the quality of the religious environment, how the congregants treat one another and nonbelievers. Further, influence comes from how the religious leader delivers the message, explains its relevance and enforces adherence.

How is hypocrisy dealt with? Are "sinners" publicly humiliated, ignored or counseled in private? Does the leader gloss himself over or is he honest about how he deals with his own shortcomings? The clarity of the sacred text used must be taken into consideration, as well. The highest determinants - as far as I'm concerned - are whether guilt and shame are wielded like weapons, and whether everything that can't be logically explained is swept under the "divine mystery" rug. (Sorry, did I mix my metaphors?)

What it comes down to is this: parents don't live their children's lives any more than they live their neighbors' lives. The only thing over which EACH person is absolutely sovereign is his/her own mind. Generally speaking, we're equally sovereign over our bodies, but events happen beyond our control. Consider

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