The court unanimously upheld a custody order granting one father, Matthew Bradeen, complete legal authority to block his 13-year-old daughter from attending church with her mother, Emily Bickford — a restriction in place since December of 2024.
AFN reported previously on how the state’s highest court agreed with the ruling of a lower district court.
The father argued that the local congregation was harmful and described it as a cult. He claims his daughter has suffered anxiety and emotional damage from the church’s teachings, such as the biblical doctrine known as the Rapture.
But talking about this on “Washington Watch,” Travis Carey, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in Portland, rejected those accusations and argued the legal system demonstrated clear prejudice against the church's traditional teachings.
“The father and his legal team are trying to say that we — and including me, the pastor — have somehow slandered or caused harm by our preaching, and yet they seem to be free to slander the church and me… that we're like a cult, or I'm like a cult leader,” Carey stated.
Carey said that giving sole religious authority to one parent strips the mother of her fundamental rights to guide her child's faith — a ruling he believes sets a dangerous legal precedent well beyond state lines.
“It is an egregious overreach of the First Amendment that first began with the family court here in Cumberland County, where that judge gave 100% autonomy to the father, and then it was now upheld by the state Supreme Court,” Carey stated.
Calvary Chapel is eager to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court as they continue organizing local civic action groups across the state.
Liberty Counsel plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal on behalf of Bickford on the grounds her First Amendment rights are being violated.
