Maine's high court gives father final say over daughter’s church attendance

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a lower court ruling that granted a father final decision-making authority over whether his daughter attends her mother's evangelical church amid a parental dispute over the child's religious upbringing.

The court's ruling on Tuesday maintains a Portland District Court judge's decision regarding a 2024 dispute between Matthew Bradeen and Emily Bickford about the church attendance of their daughter, who was 11 years old at the time, according to The Maine Monitor.

Bickford had been taking her daughter to Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, an evangelical church in Westbrook, on multiple occasions each week.

Bradeen argued the church was a "dangerous and harmful environment" that had caused anxiety in his daughter. He said she suffered a panic attack after hearing the church's teachings on the Rapture, a belief that Christians will suddenly be taken to heaven during the end times while nonbelievers will be left behind to face the apocalypse.