{"id":15488,"date":"2026-09-08T16:39:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=15488"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:39:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:39:25","slug":"maine-high-court-rules-dad-can-forbid-mom-from-taking-daughter-to-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/09\/maine-high-court-rules-dad-can-forbid-mom-from-taking-daughter-to-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Maine High Court Rules Dad Can Forbid Mom From Taking Daughter to Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maine\u2019s highest court has ruled that a father can prevent his daughter from attending a Christian church with her mother, rejecting the mother\u2019s argument that the restriction violates her First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously upheld a lower court\u2019s custody order in Emily A. Bickford v. Matthew A. Bradeen, a case involving divorced parents who disagree over their daughter\u2019s religious upbringing.<\/p>\n

At the center of the dispute is Bickford\u2019s attendance at Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, a theologically conservative Christian congregation. Bradeen objected to his daughter attending the church with her mother and was ultimately given authority over whether the child could participate in its services, gatherings or events.<\/p>\n

Chief Justice Valeria Stanfill, writing for the court, acknowledged that parents have constitutional protections when it comes to raising their children but concluded that those protections operate differently when two parents share those rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents have a fundamental constitutional right to direct the upbringing of their children, including in matters of religion,\u201d Stanfill wrote. \u201cImportantly, however, the parents share that right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court said allocating decision-making authority to one parent \u201cinherently limits the authority of the other\u201d but does not necessarily violate either parent\u2019s constitutional rights. Instead, Maine courts must allocate parental responsibilities according to the best interests of the child.<\/p>\n

The case has drawn particular attention because testimony in the lower court compared Calvary Chapel to a \u201ccult.\u201d California sociology professor Janja Lalich, who testified as an expert on cults, characterized the church as a \u201cclosed social system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maine Supreme Court rejected Bickford\u2019s argument that the lower court had displayed hostility toward Christianity, noting that the judge used the term \u201ccult\u201d only when summarizing Lalich\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

Bickford\u2019s attorneys, however, contend the lower court went much further by judging the substance of the church\u2019s beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district court denigrated Bickford\u2019s religious beliefs as \u2018cultic\u2019 and psychologically harmful, and then used that characterization to strip Bickford of her fundamental right to direct the religious upbringing of her daughter,\u201d her appeal stated.<\/p>\n

According to Liberty Counsel, Bradeen\u2019s objections included the church\u2019s verse-by-verse Bible teaching on subjects such as eternal damnation, demons, fallen angels and spiritual warfare. Bickford\u2019s attorneys also said the lower court relied on testimony describing the church\u2019s sermons as containing \u201chateful rhetoric,\u201d including alleged homophobia, disdain for science and hostility toward public schools.<\/p>\n

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, who argued Bickford\u2019s case, said the organization now plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis opinion rejects the First Amendment right of a fit parent to raise her child consistent with her Christian faith,\u201d Staver said, calling the ruling \u201ca serious threat to religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis opinion goes against other state court decisions involving custody in the context of religious free exercise rights and ignores precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court,\u201d he added. \u201cWe will ask the High Court to take this case and overrule the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Michelle King, who represents Bradeen, defended the Maine Supreme Court\u2019s decision as \u201cwell thought-out and reasoned\u201d and said she had anticipated the dispute could ultimately reach the nation\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n

If the U.S. Supreme Court takes the case, the custody battle could become a broader test of how courts balance the religious liberty rights of parents when they disagree over a child\u2019s faith and upbringing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine\u2019s highest court has ruled that a father can prevent his daughter from attending a Christian church with her mother, rejecting the mother\u2019s argument that the restriction violates her First Amendment rights. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously upheld a lower court\u2019s custody order in Emily A. Bickford v. Matthew A. Bradeen, a case involving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":15491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMaine High Court Rules Dad Can Forbid Mom From Taking Daughter to Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maine's high court rules a father can prevent his daughter from attending church with her mother, sparking a religious freedom fight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/09\/maine-high-court-rules-dad-can-forbid-mom-from-taking-daughter-to-church.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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