The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Sept. 1 kept in place a ruling giving Matthew Bradeen the final say over whether his daughter can attend Calvary Chapel Greater Portland. The decision leaves a Portland District Court order standing in a dispute that has turned a family fight over worship into a test of parental authority.
That is why the case is drawing attention now. Bradeen and Emily Bickford were fighting over their daughter's religious upbringing in 2024, when Bickford had been bringing the 11-year-old to multiple services a week at Calvary Chapel Greater Portland in Westbrook. Bradeen said the church was a dangerous and harmful environment and told the court his daughter had anxiety and even a panic attack after hearing teachings on the rapture.
The lower court did not strip either parent of broader responsibilities. It said the parents must continue to share parental rights and responsibilities, but that if they disagreed about religious organizations, the father would make the final call. It also found that some of the church's language was psychologically damaging to the child because of the way it characterized her father. That detail mattered because the dispute was not over belief in the abstract; it was over whether one parent's religious objection could override the other's practice when the child was being brought to services several times a week.
Bickford argued that the ruling violated her First Amendment rights and her ability to direct her child's religious upbringing. Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a Christian ministry focused on religious freedom, said it planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mathew Staver said the group expected the fight to continue and argued that the case could draw the court's attention because of its reach under the First Amendment.
Michelle King said she had anticipated all along that the case might end up before the Supreme Court, and she called the Sept. 1 ruling well thought-out and reasoned. Even so, the legal path is still open. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has kept Bradeen's authority in place for now, but the next question is whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take the case at all.
The dispute has already moved beyond the courtroom and back into the church itself. During the original hearings, Pastor Travis Carey led a six-and-a-half-minute prayer focused on the case, and the prayer referred to the parents and child by name. For now, the Maine ruling means Bradeen keeps the final word on the child's attendance at Calvary Chapel unless a higher court decides to step in.
