Christian Mom Banned from Taking Daughter to Church by Court

Maine’s highest court has upheld a controversial order preventing a Christian mother from taking her teenage daughter to church, setting up a potential religious freedom showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Emily Bickford appeared before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday as she continued fighting a custody order that gives her daughter’s father the authority to decide whether the girl can attend Calvary Chapel in Westbrook.

The restriction dates back to a December 2024 custody ruling and has reportedly prevented Bickford from taking her daughter to church, Bible studies or even major Christian services such as Easter and Christmas.

Bickford’s attorneys argue the order tramples on her constitutional rights and unfairly strips a Christian parent of the ability to share her faith with her own child.

But Maine’s highest court sided with the girl’s father, Matthew Bradeen, affirming the lower court’s decision.

Bradeen had argued that the evangelical church created what he described as a “dangerous and harmful environment” for his daughter.

According to court filings, he claimed the girl experienced anxiety and panic attacks after hearing teachings about the rapture — the Christian belief that believers will be taken to heaven during end-times events while others are left behind.

Bickford’s legal team, led by Mat Staver of the Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel, argued that the custody restriction violated protections contained in the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The case had previously been argued before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in November 2025. The court ultimately upheld the restriction this week.

The justices rejected claims that the lower court had improperly targeted Bickford’s religion.

Instead, the court said the case centered on the impact certain religious messages allegedly had on the relationship between the daughter and her father.

“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,” the opinion stated.

The court also pointed to Bickford’s alleged unwillingness to shield her daughter from those messages or take steps to prevent the child from becoming alienated from her father.

“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,” the justices concluded.

For Bickford and her attorneys, however, the ruling raises much larger questions about how far judges can go when restricting a parent’s religious practices.

Liberty Counsel announced after the ruling that it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

“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,” the organization said in a statement.

“We are fighting for Emily’s right to raise her daughter in accordance with her Christian beliefs and will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take this case and OVERRULE this decision.”

Staver warned that the Maine ruling could have implications well beyond the family’s custody battle.

“Depriving one parent their right to instill their religious views into their child and granting sole authority to the other parent fails to give proper protection to parental rights and religious freedom under the First Amendment,” he said.

“The implications of this opinion pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”

The dispute could now become a major test over the competing rights of divorced parents, the welfare of children and the constitutional protections surrounding religious upbringing if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.