A single mother in Maine is contesting a custody ruling that bars her from taking her 12-year-old daughter to Calvary Chapel.
The lower court accepted a claim that the denomination is a “cult,” giving the child’s father authority over her participation in religious activities.
The mother, Emily Bickford, is receiving legal support from Liberty Counsel as she challenges the December 2024 custody order before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
“Calvary Chapel is not a cult. This custody order banning Emily Bickford from taking her child to a Christian church because of its biblical teachings violates the First Amendment,” Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement to The Christian Post.
Staver added that “The breadth of this court order is breathtaking because it even prohibits contact with the Bible, religious literature, or religious philosophy,” arguing that the ruling “cannot prohibit Bickford from taking her daughter to church” and warning that its implications “pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”
On Nov. 13, the state’s highest court heard oral arguments in the case, with Liberty Counsel contending that the district court’s decision violated Bickford’s First and 14th Amendment rights.
“The district court claimed that it was ‘not taking a position on any religious Principle,’” Bickford’s attorneys argued. “Balderdash.”
They continued, “The entire compelling interest discussion (and, really the entire order) does exactly that. The district court denigrated Bickford’s religious beliefs as ‘cultic’ and psychologically harmful, and then used that characterization to strip Bickford of her fundamental right to direct the religious upbringing of her daughter.”
Under the lower court’s ruling, the girl’s father, Matthew Bradeen, was granted “the right and responsibility to make decisions regarding whether [Minor Child] attends any services, gatherings, or events associated with Calvary Chapel.”
The district court further required both parents to research and discuss Calvary Chapel and evaluate whether their daughter’s involvement is in her best interests.
“However, given Ms. Bickford’s history of relinquishing her independent decision making to Calvary Chapel, Mr. Bradeen is awarded the right to make final decisions regarding [Minor Child’s] participation in other churches and religious organizations in the event of a dispute between the parties,” the ruling stated.
According to Liberty Counsel’s appellant brief, Bickford began attending Calvary Chapel Church in Portland in May 2021, which prompted Bradeen to investigate the church’s teachings online. He expressed concerns about messages such as the belief that “people can only be saved by meeting [G]od on [G]od’s terms.”
Bradeen also objected to his daughter attending services because Calvary Chapel teaches biblical doctrines, including “eternal damnation, fallen angels, demons and warfare.”
Bickford’s attorneys said the district court accepted testimony from a self-described “cult expert” who claimed Calvary Chapel sermons are filled with “hateful rhetoric” characterized by “homophobia, disdain of science, and hatred of public schools.”
Calvary Chapel is an association of hundreds of autonomous charismaticEvangelical churches worldwide, which began from Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in California during the 1960s. Smith was one of the leading figures of the "Jesus Movement" of the late '60s and early 1970s, which was the center of the 2023 film "Jesus Revolution."
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will issue a decision after reviewing the full record of arguments and written briefs.
