Maine court tells Christian mom she can’t take daughter to church — now it’s headed toward SCOTUS

BS BULLETIN:

Maine’s highest court unanimously upheld a custody order giving father Matthew Bradeen final authority over his 13-year-old daughter’s religious participation, including whether she can attend church with her mother, Emily Bickford.
The court says the ruling isn’t an attack on Christianity but a response to messages that allegedly frightened the girl and portrayed her father as an “enemy” who threatened her salvation.
Bickford’s attorneys at Liberty Counsel call the order a serious violation of parental and First Amendment rights and say they’ll ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn it.

Can a court tell a fit Christian mother she can’t take her daughter to church?

Maine’s highest court just said yes — under the circumstances of one increasingly contentious custody battle. And the next stop could be the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously upheld a lower-court order giving Matthew Bradeen final decision-making authority over the religious upbringing of the 13-year-old daughter he shares with Emily Bickford.

The parents have shared parental rights since 2013, but their relationship deteriorated into a years-long fight over religion and medical care. Bickford began attending Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, an evangelical Christian church in Westbrook, and brought her daughter with her.

Bradeen objected.

He argued that some experiences at the church were causing the girl severe anxiety, including teachings involving the rapture and the prospect that unbelievers — including her father — could face eternal punishment. Court records say the girl suffered anxiety and at least one panic attack.

But the case became about considerably more than theology.

A Christian mom in Maine has been prohibited from taking her 13-year-old daughter to church or even read the Bible to her for nearly two years — not even for an Easter or Christmas service or a Bible study.

Today, the Maine Supreme Court rejected the First Amendment and… pic.twitter.com/x6GC9Jj1DZ

— Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) September 1, 2026

During the custody proceedings, Calvary Chapel pastor Travis Carey conducted a roughly six-and-a-half-minute prayer about the family’s court battle while the daughter was present. According to the Maine Supreme Court, the parents and child were referred to by name nearly 30 times. Bradeen was described as needing salvation, while the proceedings were characterized as an attack on God’s Word.

Bickford did not remove her daughter from the service and later testified that she considered the prayer appropriate. That became crucial to the court’s decision.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court said the lower court had not ruled that Christianity or Bible-based beliefs themselves were psychologically harmful. In fact, the lower court explicitly found there had been no showing of harm to the child merely from “a belief system that is rooted in the Bible.”

Instead, the high court said the problem was exposing the girl to messages depicting her father as someone persecuting her faith and threatening her eternal salvation. The justices concluded that the harm came from the parents’ inability to co-parent on religion and Bickford’s unwillingness to shield her daughter from messages that could alienate her from her father.

Bradeen, the court concluded, had taken a more “measured approach” and was better positioned to make decisions based upon the girl’s welfare.

That’s the court’s side. Bickford’s attorneys see something considerably more ominous.

Liberty Counsel argues the ruling has effectively prevented Bickford from taking her daughter not merely to Calvary Chapel, but to any church, Bible study or religious event without Bradeen’s approval. The organization says Bradeen has denied every such request since December 2024.

“Nothing for nearly two years,” Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said.

Liberty Counsel also argues that the case presents a fundamental constitutional question: How far can a family court go in restricting the religious practices of a parent whom the court itself has not declared unfit?

“This opinion rejects the First Amendment right of a fit parent to raise her child consistent with her Christian faith,” Staver said.

He says the organization will petition the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bradeen’s attorney, Michelle King, called the Maine decision “well thought-out and reasoned” and said the possibility of a Supreme Court appeal had been anticipated. The Maine court’s opinion makes clear that the justices view the case primarily as a child-welfare and co-parenting dispute rather than a referendum on Christianity. But Liberty Counsel’s argument ensures the next stage will be framed very differently.