Maine's high court gives father final say over daughter’s church attendance

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a lower court ruling that granted a father final decision-making authority over whether his daughter attends her mother's evangelical church amid a parental dispute over the child's religious upbringing.

The court's ruling on Tuesday maintains a Portland District Court judge's decision regarding a 2024 dispute between Matthew Bradeen and Emily Bickford about the church attendance of their daughter, who was 11 years old at the time, according to The Maine Monitor.

Bickford had been taking her daughter to Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, an evangelical church in Westbrook, on multiple occasions each week.

Bradeen argued the church was a "dangerous and harmful environment" that had caused anxiety in his daughter.

He said she suffered a panic attack after hearing the church's teachings on the Rapture, a belief that Christians will suddenly be taken to heaven during the end times while nonbelievers will be left behind to face the apocalypse.

NEW STUDY REVEALS THE SINGLE MOST CRITICAL FACTOR IN WHETHER CHILDREN KEEP THEIR FAITH INTO ADULTHOOD The lower court sided with Bradeen, finding that messages the child received at the church were "psychologically damaging" because of how it characterized her father, a ruling the state’s high court affirmed on Tuesday, according to The Maine Monitor.

The lower court ruling granted Bradeen the right to decide whether his daughter attends services at Calvary Chapel, participates in church activities or interacts with church members other than her mother.

The court also said the parents must "continue to share parental rights and responsibilities" when it comes to their daughter’s exposure to other religious groups.

If the two disagreed on their daughter's religious exposure, the court ruled that the father has the final say.

The court said the allocation of final decision-making authority stemmed from the parents' inability to jointly make decisions about the child's religious upbringing, not from disagreement with the mother's religious beliefs.

Bickford’s lawyer, Mathew Staver, told The Maine Monitor he intends to appeal the case to the U.S.

Supreme Court .

Bickford and her legal team have 90 days to appeal the decision to the nation's highest court.

Staver’s law firm, Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a Christian ministry focused on religious freedom, has been involved in other religious freedom cases before the U.S.