Maine’s highest court has upheld a custody order allowing a father to prevent his daughter from attending a Calvary Chapel congregation with her mother, rejecting arguments that the restriction violated the mother’s religious liberty rights.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued a unanimous decision Tuesday in Emily A. Bickford v. Matthew A. Bradeen, with Chief Justice Valeria Stanfill writing for the court.
The dispute centered on an arrangement granting Bickford and Bradeen “shared parental rights and responsibilities,” while leaving them at odds over who should have authority over their daughter’s religious upbringing.
Bradeen objected to Bickford taking the child to Calvary Chapel Greater Portland, a theologically conservative congregation, and also opposed her decision not to allow the child to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Stanfill affirmed the lower court’s ruling in Bradeen’s favor, concluding that the “strict scrutiny” standard often applied in cases involving parental religious rights “does not apply to allocations of parental rights between a child’s parents.”
“Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to direct the upbringing of their children, including in matters of religion,” wrote Stanfill. “Importantly, however, the parents share that right.”
“An allocation of rights to one parent inherently limits the authority of the other but does not necessarily infringe upon the constitutional rights of either parent.”
The court said “parental rights and responsibilities must be allocated in whatever fashion best serves the best interest of the child.” It also said it was “unpersuaded by Bickford’s claim” that the lower court demonstrated “hostility toward her religion by describing her church in offensive terms, including referring to it as a ‘cult.’”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, who represented Bickford before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, said he intends to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This opinion rejects the First Amendment right of a fit parent to raise her child consistent with her Christian faith,” said Staver in a statement, calling the opinion “disappointing” and “a serious threat to religious freedom.”
“This opinion goes against other state court decisions involving custody in the context of religious free exercise rights and ignores precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court. We will ask the High Court to take this case and overrule the decision.”
Michelle King, an attorney for Bradeen, told The Maine Monitor that she “anticipated all along” that the dispute could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court and described the state high court’s ruling as “well thought-out and reasoned.”
