Maine Supreme Judicial Court denies mother’s appeal of order that stops her from taking daughter to church

PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) - The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, has ruled against a mother who claims a custody order that prevents her from taking her daughter to church violates her constitutional rights.

Emily Bickford challenged a December 2024 custody order that prohibits her from bringing her daughter to Calvary Chapel in Westbrook.

A district court judge sided with the child’s father, Matthew Bradeen, ruling that some of the church’s teachings could be psychologically harmful to the girl. The order allows Bradeen to solely decide on his daughter’s involvement with Calvary Chapel Church. When it comes to any other religious organization, the order states that the parents share rights and must discuss decisions.

Bickford’s attorneys, led by Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, argued that the district court’s decision violates her rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The case was argued before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in November 2025, and on Tuesday, the state’s high court affirmed the district court’s ruling.

“Bickford asserts that the court’s order in this case was hostile to her religion for two principal reasons: (1) the court’s finding of harm to the child was predicated on unconstitutional judgments about the content of her religious beliefs and practices, and (2) the court used language that was disrespectful toward her religion, including referring to her church as a ‘cult.’ We disagree,” the Supreme Judicial Court said in its published opinion. “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. Thus, far from ‘declar[ing] that the Christian religion is 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.”

After the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision was published, Liberty Counsel announced that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

“This opinion rejects the First Amendment right of a fit parent to raise her child consistent with her Christian faith,” Staver said in a statement. “This 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. We will ask the High Court to take this case and overrule the decision.”

Staver argued the implications of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s decision pose a serious threat to religious freedom.