Maine Supreme Court Upholds Father's Authority Over Daughter's Church Attendance
Maine's highest court affirmed a lower-court order giving father Matthew Bradeen the right to decide if his daughter can attend an evangelical church, overriding mother Emily Bickford’s wishes.
On Sept. 1 the Maine Supreme Judicial Court confirmed a district court’s order in a custody-related case between Matthew Bradeen and Emily Bickford concerning their 11-year-old daughter's exposure to an evangelical congregation. The lower court had found that messages delivered at Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, including a prayer that singled out the parents, caused the child anxiety and portrayed Bradeen as an enemy, deeming the environment psychologically damaging.
Accordingly, the high court granted Bradeen final decision-making authority over his daughter’s attendance at the church, while maintaining shared parental rights in other religious matters. The ruling emphasized that the problem lay in the parents’ failure to co-parent on religious issues rather than the church’s beliefs. Bickford’s lawyer, Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, announced plans to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the order infringes on her First Amendment rights. The case draws attention to how courts balance parental authority with constitutional protections of religious practice.
Why it matters
It sets a precedent for how courts may prioritize one parent's authority over a child's religious exposure.
How the sides frame it
LOW AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage frames the ruling as a matter of parental co-parenting failure, not church doctrine, while right-leaning coverage frames it as a clash between child-welfare courts and religious freedom.
LEFT
The decision is presented as addressing the parents’ inability to co-parent on religion rather than condemning the church’s beliefs.
RIGHT
The ruling is portrayed as part of a broader tension between court authority over child welfare and protection of religious liberty.
The left emphasises
- the problem lay in the parents’ failure to co-parent on religious issues rather than the church’s beliefs
- the high court granted the father final decision-making authority over his daughter’s church attendance
The right emphasises
- courts struggle to fit religious activity within legal frameworks
- the decision is seen by some as an encroachment on religious freedom
- the ruling is framed as protecting the child’s best interests
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