The Maine Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that a father can prevent his daughter’s mother from taking the child to an anti-LGBTQ+ church in Maine. The mother was represented by the Christian nationalist legal group the Liberty Counsel, which drew national attention to the parents’ custody battle by portraying the child’s dad as anti-Christian.
The case involves Matthew Bradeen and Emily Bickford – two parents who never married and separated as a couple over a decade ago – and their 12-year-old daughter Ava. In 2021, Bickford began taking Ava to Calvary Chapel. When he started noticing changes in Ava’s behavior, he asked a court to change his and Bickford’s custody agreement to give him greater control over Ava’s religious upbringing, Friendly Atheist reported.
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Bradeen said that Bickford took Ava to a church service during the week and two services held on Sundays. He said the church began teaching Ava about the end of the world in the Book of Revelation, demons, suffering in Hell, and the reign of Antichrist, which reportedly made his daughter start experiencing “fear and anxiety” and panic attacks, and compelled her to try to convert Bradeen so that he wouldn’t go to Hell.
During Sunday services, Bradeen said Ava listened to testimonials from people who claimed that Jesus had saved them from “sexual and physical trauma, gay and lesbian relationships, and infidelity.” She also brought home work study pages about demons, adultery, and sexual impropriety. Bradeen reportedly never told Ava that he thought her mother and the church were “wrong,” but rather explained to her that people believe in different things and that he personally disagreed with the church’s teachings.
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Bickford reportedly told Bradeen one day that she was taking Ava out of school to visit the state capitol, but in reality, the purpose of the trip was to attend an anti-abortion protest. She also sent the child to a church-sponsored overnight retreat without Bradeen’s knowledge and had planned to have her baptized without his knowledge as well. Their child custody agreement required Bickford to discuss these issues as part of their shared rights regarding religious education and upbringing.
During court child custody hearings, Dr. Janja Lalich, an expert on cult-like organizations, observed that the church’s sermons are “filled with hateful rhetoric,” including “homophobia, disdain of science, and hatred of public schools.” Lalich never called the church a “cult” but said that its “charismatic” leader positioned himself as a supreme authority with a connection to God that should never be questioned.
“The organization is based on fear – fear of the outside world and its risks – breeding paranoia, anxiety, and separation from the outside world,” a 2024 court document said of Lalich’s characterization of the church. Lalich also said that Ava’s attendance at the church was seemingly involuntary and that a child of her age would likely seek to conform to church teachings to gain parental and adult approval.
During one church service that Ava attended, Pastor Travis Carey spoke about the custody battle between Bickford and Bradeen and claimed that Bradeen had hired a private detective to “find dirt” on the church. The speech characterized Bickford and the church as being on the side of “good” and Bradeen as being on the side of “evil”; the pastor referred to Bradeen and the government as an “enemy” who seeks to “crush,” “quench,” and “strangle” the church and Ava’s faith.
Bradeen also said that Bickford opposed recommendations from the child’s doctor that she receive flu and COVID vaccines and also opposed Ava taking an antibiotic to treat pneumonia, though the mother later agreed to let her take an alternate antibiotic for the illness.
Bickford also reportedly opposed Ava getting any counseling or mental health treatment for her increasing anxiety, viewing both as “hoaxes” and believing that prayer alone should address her fears.
In 2024, a Maine District Court ruled in Bradeen’s favor, stating that the church’s influence psychologically harmed the child and giving the father sole responsibility for the child’s religious upbringing. However, the anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist legal group, Liberty Counsel, appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, saying that the district court decision violated Bickford’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to freedom of religion and due process.
In its fundraising emails about the case, Liberty Counsel falsely claimed that the district court’s ruling forbade Ava from “attending any church or Christian event — even Christmas or Easter,” from discussing faith with her mother, and from being exposed to the Bible or any “religious philosophy.” The court’s ruling said none of those things and, in fact, said those issues can remain subject to the joint agreement of both parents.
At the Maine Supreme Court last November, Liberty Counsel argued that the case involves one simple question: “Does a district court have the authority to prohibit a parent from taking her child to Church?” When asked by the court justices what sorts of church activities he would deem too potentially harmful to children, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver pointed out that children in other cases have been allowed to attend churches with snake-handling and child marriage.
The justices based their ruling not on the church’s teachings but rather on the harm inflicted on the child.
“Far from ‘declar[ing] that the Christian religion is psychologically harmful,’ 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 wrote in their decision.
Liberty Counsel has said it will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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