Maine’s highest court upheld an order giving a father final authority over whether his 13-year-old daughter may attend her mother’s church, rejecting the mother’s claim that the restriction violates her constitutional rights.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a 2024 district court order granting Matthew Bradeen sole decision-making authority over his daughter’s involvement with Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, where the child’s mother, Emily Bickford, is a member.
In the previous ruling, which Bickford objected to, a district court judge decided that Bradeen would have discretion over whether she could attend services at Calvary Chapel. The ruling applied only to that specific church, and the two would share rights and discuss decisions regarding all other religious organizations.
Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, one of the attorneys representing Bickford, argued in November 2025 that the district court ruling violated Bickford’s rights under both the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Bickford’s attorneys also claimed the lower court showed hostility toward her faith, including by referring to her church as a “cult.”
The state’s highest court rejected those arguments Tuesday, ruling that the restriction was based on harm to the child rather than disapproval of Bickford’s Christian beliefs.
“The court found that the child was harmed by Bickford’s decisions to expose the child to messages that characterized Bradeen as an ‘enemy’ who seeks to ‘persecute’ the child and her faith, and by Bickford’s unwillingness to prevent the child from receiving those messages or to take any other steps to reduce the risk of alienating her from Bradeen,” the court wrote.
The court said the district judge had not determined that Christianity itself was “psychologically harmful.”
“The court’s finding reflected simply that it is harmful for a child to hear negative and frightening messages about one parent from the other parent or the other parent’s authority figures,” the ruling states.
Bradeen had claimed that the church presented a “dangerous and harmful environment” for his daughter. He said she experienced panic attacks and debilitating anxiety after hearing teachings about the Rapture — an event during which Christians believe that the faithful will be taken up to heaven while the nonbelievers are left behind.
Staver declared in a social media post that he intended to petition the United States Supreme Court to hear the case.
“Depriving one parent their right to instill their religious views into their child and granting sole authority to the other parent fails to give proper protection to parental rights and religious freedom under the First Amendment. The implications of this opinion pose a serious threat to religious freedom. Liberty Counsel will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately decide this case,” Staver wrote in response to the ruling.
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