A Christian mother has been banned from taking her 13-year-old daughter to church after Maine’s highest court upheld a controversial custody order.
Emily Bickford appeared before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday to challenge a ruling preventing her from taking her daughter to Calvary Chapel in Westbrook, Maine.
The court upheld an earlier decision granting the girl’s father, Matthew Bradeen, sole authority over whether their daughter can attend the evangelical church.
Mr Bradeen had argued that the congregation represented a “dangerous and harmful environment” for his daughter, who was 11 when the original order was imposed in December 2024.
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He claimed the girl developed anxiety and panic attacks after being exposed to sermons about the rapture.
The rapture is an evangelical Christian belief that faithful Christians will be taken to heaven during the end times, while others will remain on Earth.
The original custody order was imposed by Portland District Court in December 2024 before Ms Bickford’s legal team challenged the decision in Maine’s highest court.
Her lawyers argued the restriction violated her rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.
However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court rejected Ms Bickford’s arguments and upheld the lower court’s decision.
The court said the restriction was based on findings concerning the impact on the child rather than hostility towards Ms Bickford’s religion.
In its ruling, the court stated: “The court found that the child was harmed by Bickford’s decisions to expose the child to messages that characterised 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.”
It added: “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.”
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The court also rejected Ms Bickford’s claim that the order demonstrated hostility towards her Christian faith, including her objection to the use of the word “cult” in the published opinion.
Liberty Counsel, the Christian legal organisation representing Ms Bickford, has vowed to take the battle to the US Supreme Court.
The organisation said: “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.”
It added: “We are fighting for Emily’s right to raise her daughter in accordance with her Christian beliefs and will ask the US Supreme Court to take this case and OVERRULE this decision.”
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman, warned that the judgment had wider consequences for the ability of parents to share their religious beliefs with their children.
Mr Staver said: “The implications of this opinion pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”
Ms Bickford has also launched an online fundraiser to help cover the legal costs of challenging the order, which has raised $6,725 (£5,000) towards a $10,000 target.
On the fundraising page, she describes the case as her “legal fight to worship God with her daughter” and asks supporters to help “share the financial burden” of her legal challenge.
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