Mom Seeks Supreme Court OK to Take Daughter to Church Against Dad's Wishes
Newsweek · C · trust 46/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A Maine mother's court battle over whether she can take her daughter to church might be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up a potential clash between parental rights, religious liberty and the authority of family courts to restrict a child's religious activities during custody disputes.
Emily Bickford said a court order preventing her from bringing her daughter to church violates her constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. But Maine's highest court recently rejected those arguments, ruling that the restrictions were based on concerns about the child's well-being rather than hostility toward religion.
Following the ruling, Bickford's attorneys at Liberty Counsel announced plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, arguing that the decision represents a serious threat to religious freedom and parental rights.
Bickford is engaged in a years-long custody dispute with her former partner, Matthew Bradeen, over decisions involving their teenage daughter. The conflict eventually expanded beyond ordinary parenting disagreements and into questions about religion, medical decisions and parental authority.
At the center of the case is Calvary Chapel in Westbrook, Maine, where Bickford worships. A Maine district court issued a custody order in December 2024 that prohibits Bickford from bringing her daughter to that church and grants Bradeen sole authority over the child's involvement with Calvary Chapel. The parents retain shared decision-making authority regarding other religious organizations.
Bickford maintains that the order unlawfully interferes with her ability to raise her daughter according to her Christian beliefs. Through Liberty Counsel, she has argued that she is a fit parent who has never been found abusive or neglectful and that government officials should not be permitted to decide whether a child can participate in a parent's religious practices.
Her legal team, led by Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, has framed the case as one involving fundamental constitutional protections. Following the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's ruling, Staver said the decision "rejects the First Amendment right of a fit parent to raise her child consistent with her Christian faith" and conflicts with existing Supreme Court precedent.
Bickford's supporters have also highlighted that her daughter has allegedly expressed a desire to attend church and maintain relationships with church friends. Liberty Counsel has repeatedly argued that the restrictions have prevented the child from participating in religious activities for nearly two years.
The case has become a rallying point among religious-liberty organizations because it raises broader questions about when courts may intervene in disagreements between divorced or separated parents over a child's religious upbringing.
Newsweek reached out to Liberty Counsel for comment.
Related Story Clarence Thomas May Get to Overturn Case He Opposed 22 Years Ago What Maine Supreme Court Ruled in Emily Bickford Case On September 1, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court unanimously upheld the lower court's order, rejecting Bickford's constitutional claims and concluding that the trial judge acted within the bounds of family law.
The court expressly rejected Bickford's argument that the custody ruling was hostile toward Christianity. In its published opinion, the court said the lower court's findings were not based on disagreement with religious beliefs but on evidence that certain messages received by the child were causing harm and damaging her relationship with her father.
According to the opinion summarized by the court, the trial judge found that the child was exposed to messages portraying Bradeen as an "enemy" who sought to "persecute" her and her faith. The court concluded that those messages, combined with Bickford's failure to shield the child from them, created a risk of alienating the daughter from her father.
The Maine court stated that its decision should not be interpreted as a declaration that Christianity is harmful. Instead, it said the concern was the effect on the child of hearing negative and frightening messages about one parent from authority figures associated with the other parent.
Judges also referenced evidence presented during the case suggesting that the child's exposure to sermons discussing themes such as heaven, hell and the Second Coming contributed to anxiety and panic attacks. The court further cited a prayer by a pastor that referred to Bradeen as unsaved and characterized the custody dispute as a spiritual attack.
The ruling emphasized that family courts frequently must resolve disagreements between parents regarding children and that the case turned on the specific facts before the court. Judges determined that Bradeen's decision-making process appeared more focused on the child's welfare and more objective than Bickford's approach.
Liberty Counsel has announced that it will petition the justices to review the Maine decision, arguing that it raises nationally significant issues regarding parental rights and the free exercise of religion. The organization contends that the lower courts improperly penalized a mother for practicing her faith and allowed government officials to interfere with religious upbringing decisions traditionally left to parents.
The Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions every year and accepts only a small percentage for full review. To persuade the justices to take a case, petitioners generally must show that an important constitutional issue is involved or that courts have reached conflicting conclusions on the same legal question.
Bickford's attorneys are expected to argue that the case implicates several strands of Supreme Court precedent dealing with religious liberty and…
Read the original at Newsweek →
Open in TruthVane →