The Maine Supreme Judicial Court kept Matthew Bradeen in charge of whether his daughter may attend Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, preserving a Portland District Court ruling in a 2024 dispute over her religious upbringing. National Review takes on the case now because the order leaves one parent with final authority while an appeal to the Supreme Court is being pursued.
Matthew Bradeen and Emily Bickford
Emily Bickford had been taking their 11-year-old daughter to multiple services a week at Calvary Chapel Greater Portland in Westbrook. Bradeen argued the church was a dangerous and harmful environment and said his daughter had a panic attack after hearing teachings on the rapture.
Portland District Court ruling
The Portland District Court judge gave Bradeen the power to decide whether the child could continue attending Calvary Chapel services or interact with members of the church other than her mother. The lower court also said some of the church’s language was psychologically damaging the child because of how it characterized her father.
That order did not wipe out the parents’ shared duties entirely. The court said they must continue to share parental rights and responsibilities regarding their daughter’s exposure to other religious organizations, but if they disagreed, the father would make the final call.
Liberty Counsel and the Supreme Court
Liberty Counsel argued in a brief to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that the 2024 order violated Bickford’s First Amendment rights. Mathew Staver said he planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and said the case showed “open hostility” toward Bickford’s right to direct the “religious upbringing of her child as she sees fit.”
Michelle King, who represented Bradeen, said she had “anticipated all along” that the dispute could reach the Supreme Court and described the Sept. 1 decision as “well thought-out and reasoned.”
Pastor Travis Carey also put the case before his congregation in Westbrook, leading a six-and-a-half-minute prayer that referred to the parents and child by name. The immediate issue now is whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the appeal and turn a custody fight over one child’s church attendance into a wider ruling on parental authority and religious upbringing.
