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Children of divorce can experience a lifetime of bitter memories and doubts. For some, the pain threatens to last an eternity.

Eleven-year-old Taylor, for example, was forced to decide if he would be "sealed" to his mother and new stepfather for all time in a Mormon ceremony, something his father - who would retain legal rights - opposed. Taylor ultimately chose not to be sealed to a new "forever" father, and sat outside the temple while his mother, stepfather and half-siblings were joined inside.

That was two years ago. Today, his mother and stepfather are divorced, and Taylor wants little to do with the LDS Church.

"It was really painful for him," said his dad, Matthew Moyle. And it's been painful for Moyle, an active Mormon who is saddened by his son's fall away from the church. This circumstance may be unusual, but the result is all too common.

Divorce often leaves children conflicted, confused and even bitter when it comes to matters of faith, according to Elizabeth Marquardt, author of the book Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce.

Marquardt, whose own parents are divorced and who is the director for the Center for Marriage and Families at the nonpartisan Institute for American Values, discovered that even children whose parents have a "good divorce" can suffer longstanding religious consequences.

Her study of 1,500 people - half from divorced families, the others from intact ones - reached striking conclusions:

* Children of divorce are less likely to have had consistent involvement in a religious faith when growing up.

* Those who were active in a religion during childhood received little or no support from their church during their parents' divorce.

* In adulthood, children of divorce are much less religious than peers from intact families.

* Young adults from divorced families feel just as spiritual as their peers, but their spiritual journeys are more often characterized by loss and suffering.

Marquardt describes children of divorce as "old souls" who have been forced to confront deep questions about loss, identity and love. They are searching for answers, and religion is a natural place to look.

"Religion is a system of meaning. It's how we make sense of our world and who we are," said Marquardt in an interview from her Chicago home.

But divorce complicates the equation.

"The image of God as a father figure is central, and children of divorce have to wrestle with that. Many of them really struggle and get stuck. 'How can God be a father when my own father was so absent? If that's how God is, how can I make sense of that God?' " she said.

Others do the opposite and take comfort in the notion that "my own father (or it can be mothers) might not have been there for me, but God is the father who never fails."

Even if a child wants to remain religious, the logistics of shuttling back and forth between two homes - and possibly two faiths - can make it extremely difficult.

And while many of the people she interviewed said it would have been a comfort if their religious leaders had reached out to them throughout their parents' divorce, churches tend to shy away from such conversations.

"They don't want to offend the parents, they don't know what to say. If the child is not there, they don't want to ask where they are," she said.

While religion can be a casualty of divorce, it can also be a weapon.

"It can become a very divisive factor," said Salt Lake City lawyer and mediator Susan C. Bradford, who has served as a guardian ad litem and former 3rd District Court commissioner. A couple "might have worked out [religious differences] in a marriage before, but with the divorce it becomes a huge issue. They don't want the other parent performing religious rituals like baptism. They don't even want them going to church, even studying it. . . . They might even be of the same religion, both be LDS, but they argue over which ward they go to on Sundays."

Of course, religion is often a comfort in a divorce. It can be a stabilizing factor for kids whose worlds have been turned upside down.

Marquardt sees some parallels with the Judeo-Christian theme of exile. A child of divorce is a child in exile from the family she once had. She may not lose her parents, but to be with one always means being away from the other.

"But exile is not the end of the story. In the Judeo-Christian tradition the faithful are assured they can come home to God," she wrote.

Matthew Moyle is hoping his son, Taylor, makes that trip someday.

"I would much rather he go to any church, so that he could learn about Jesus Christ, about values," said Moyle. "When he's ready, I'll be there to help."