A single mother is challenging a custody order that prohibits her from taking her 12-year-old daughter to a Calvary Chapel church in Maine after a lower court accepted the claim that the denomination is a "cult," granting the girl's father the power to determine which religious activities she's allowed to attend.
In combating the December 2024 custody order, the mother, Emily Bickford, is receiving legal assistance from the Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group that has helped bring the mother's case 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 shared with The Christian Post.
"The breadth of this court order is breathtaking because it even prohibits contact with the Bible, religious literature, or religious philosophy," Staver continued. "The custody order cannot prohibit Bickford from taking her daughter to church. The implications of this order pose a serious threat to religious freedom."
The state supreme court heard oral arguments for the case on Nov. 13, with Liberty Counsel asserting that the district court's decision violated Brickford's rights under the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
"The district court claimed that it was 'not taking a position on any religious Principle,'" attorneys for Bickford argued. "Balderdash."
"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," the legal document stated.
As a result of the lower court ruling, the father of Bickford's daughter, Matthew Bradeen, was given "the right and responsibility to make decisions regarding whether [Minor Child] attends any services, gatherings, or events associated with Calvary Chapel."
The district court ruling states that both parties are required to research and discuss the church and whether their daughter's participation 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 district court's decision stated.
According to Liberty Counsel's appellant brief, Bickford started attending the Calvary Chapel Church in Portland in May 2021. After researching the church online, Bradeen became concerned about its teachings, such as the idea that "people can only be saved by meeting [G]od on [G] od's terms."
The father also objected to his daughter attending Calvary Chapel Church in Portland because it teaches the Bible "verse by verse, chapter by chapter," including what it says about eternal damnation, fallen angels, demons and warfare.
As part of his case to convince Maine District Judge Jennifer Nofsinger to stop his daughter from attending the church, Bradeen hired California sociology professor Janja Lalich, according to Liberty Counsel.
Liberty Counsel argued that Lalich, a "purported expert on 'recruitment and indoctrination processes, rules, and regulations,'" provided testimony that the district court found demonstrated that the Calvary Chapel was "a cultic organization."
"The district court noted that, after studying Calvary Chapel, Lalich came to the opinion that it is a prime example of a closed social system that follows the 'Moses model,'" Liberty Counsel wrote in its brief. "In the 'Moses model,' the district court found pastors have unquestioned authority and are not accountable to the parishioners, any other pastors, or overseeing organizations."
"The district court made a factual finding, based on the so-called cult expert's testimony, that the sermons at Calvary Chapel are filled with 'hateful rhetoric' — homophobia, disdain of science, and hatred of public schools," the attorneys for Bickford added.
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."
Another conclusion the district court reached was that attending Calvary Chapel was harming Bickford's daughter, as the brief noted. As evidence, the district court cited the Calvary Chapel pastor leading the congregation in prayer over the custody battle at a worship service that Bickford and her daughter attended.
In addition to giving Bradeen the right to make the final decision about his daughter's participation in church and religious organizations, the district court granted him final decision-making authority over the child's medical care.
"The district court explicitly noted that Bickford's religious beliefs suggest she is 'unlikely' to seek mental health counseling or other medical treatment," Liberty Counsel noted in its brief.
"But the district court found — contrary to the cited references above — that there is 'no evidence that Ms. Bickford's religious beliefs or practices have played a role in her decision making,'" the Christian legal group added.
Bradeen sought to make a custody modification request after his daughter allegedly began to experience panic attacks after she started attending the Calvary Chapel in Portland, News Center Maine reports.
The father also claimed that his daughter began exhibiting behavior that he found alarming, such as leaving notes around the house that said "the rapture is coming."
According to Bradeen, his daughter was concerned that certain members of her family would not make it to Heaven because they did not attend the same church.
The Maine Supreme Court is expected to make a decision after it reviews the arguments and briefs in the case.
