{"id":2515591,"date":"2025-11-29T07:26:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-rules-12-year-olds-mother-cannot-read-her-the-bible-take-her-to-church\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T07:29:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T12:29:43","slug":"court-rules-12-year-olds-mother-cannot-read-her-the-bible-take-her-to-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-rules-12-year-olds-mother-cannot-read-her-the-bible-take-her-to-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Rules 12-Year-Old&#8217;s Mother Cannot Read Her the Bible, Take Her to Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourt-rules-12-year-olds-mother-cannot-read-her-the-bible-take-her-to-church%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2515591&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Maine Supreme Court recently heard a case involving Emily Bickford, who was legally barred from taking her 12-year-old daughter to attend Calvary Chapel, an evangelical Protestant church. A lower court custody order granted the girl&#8217;s father, Matthew Bradeen, exclusive authority over the child&#8217;s religious exposure, including attending church services, reading the Bible, or engaging with religious teachings or members of any church.<\/p>\n<p>Bradeen&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-mark-kelly-worked-with-intel-firm-hired-to-smear-harvey-weinstein-accuser\/\" title=\"Biden, Mark Kelly Worked With Intel Firm Hired To Smear Harvey Weinstein Accuser\">legal team hired<\/a> a sociology expert on cults to argue that Calvary Chapel&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >biblical teachings constituted psychological harm<\/a>, labeling the church as cult-like due to its authoritative preaching and emphasis on salvation. Despite this, Christian churches generally uphold the Bible and gospel as central to their faith.<\/p>\n<p>Liberty Counsel, representing bickford, is challenging the custody order, asserting that it violates the First Amendment by restricting a parent&#8217;s right to impart religious beliefs. They seek to overturn the order and restore Bickford&#8217;s right to take her daughter to church, emphasizing the broader implications such a ruling could have on religious freedom.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Maine Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments concerning the case of Emily Bickford, who was blocked from taking her 12-year-old daughter to church.<\/p>\n<p>Bickford received a custody order from a lower court forbidding her from taking the girl to services for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/house-dems-furious-guest-chaplain-dares-tell-truth-liberal-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Calvary Chapel<\/a>, an evangelical Protestant fellowship of churches centered on expository Bible preaching.<\/p>\n<p>The order also &ldquo;allows prohibiting the daughter from reading the Bible,&rdquo; according to a Nov. 12 <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/newsroom\/details\/111225-maine-supreme-court-to-hear-religious-freedom-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release<\/a> from Liberty Counsel, a legal advocacy group assisting Bickford in court.<\/p>\n<p>The custody order gave Matthew Bradeen, the girl&rsquo;s biological father, the &ldquo;sole right to decide about whether his daughter&rdquo; attends any Calvary Chapel services, whether she can review video messages or literature from the denomination, or even whether she can communicate with any members, according to Liberty Counsel.<\/p>\n<p>The order indeed encompasses &ldquo;any other church or religious organization, or exposure to the teachings of any religious philosophy or of the Bible in general.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Because of an unconstitutional custody order, Emily Bickford is prohibited from bringing her preteen daughter to Calvary Chapel, a church they had attended since May 2021. Matthew Bradeen (the dad and non-custodial parent) now has total authority over their preteen&rsquo;s religious&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uXTUOSV1lB\">pic.twitter.com\/uXTUOSV1lB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/libertycounsel\/status\/1991194298751099164?\">November 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Bradeen hired Dr. Janja Lalich, a California sociology professor and &ldquo;expert on cults,&rdquo; to convince Maine District Judge Jennifer Nofsinger that Calvary Chapel is a cult because of its biblical teachings on hell, demons, and spiritual warfare.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Dr. Lalich told the judge that cults usually have a charismatic, authoritarian leader who teaches about a &lsquo;transcendent belief system&rsquo; that offers answers, and &lsquo;promises some sort of salvation,&#8217;&rdquo; Liberty Counsel said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She further testified that she had &lsquo;studied&rsquo; Calvary Chapel Church and found that the church&rsquo;s pastor was a &lsquo;charismatic&rsquo; speaker, spoke &lsquo;authoritatively&rsquo; in his messages, and that he asserted his messages were objective truth.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Lalich therefore concluded that the girl could experience psychological harm by attending the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/leaders-tens-millions-us-christians-call-trump-personally-pressure-syrian-president-end-massacre-christians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">church<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This was despite the fact that all true Christian churches affirm that the gospel is the only means to receive salvation and that the Bible is the source of truth.<\/p>\n<p>Liberty Counsel noted that Nofsinger repeatedly wrote &ldquo;god&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;God&rdquo; in her order, and that Bradeen did the same in his complaint.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Mat Staver is arguing before the Maine Supreme Court this afternoon on behalf of Emily Bickford, who is barred by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-michigan-house-member-files-to-impeach-governor-gretchen-whitmer\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Michigan House Member Files to Impeach Governor Gretchen Whitmer\">court order<\/a> from taking her 12-year-old daughter to church because the girl&rsquo;s dad deems the church&rsquo;s biblical teachings as &ldquo;psychologically&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/libertycounsel\/status\/1989017689394741260?\">November 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The legal nonprofit is therefore seeking &ldquo;a reversal of this unlawful custody order and restoration of the mother&rsquo;s First Amendment right to pass on her religious beliefs to her child.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver affirmed that the custody order &ldquo;banning Emily Bickford from taking her child to a Christian church because of its biblical teachings violates the First Amendment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The breadth of this court order is breathtaking because it even prohibits contact with the Bible, religious literature, or religious philosophy,&rdquo; Staver added.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The custody order cannot prohibit Bickford from taking her daughter to church. The implications of this order pose a serious threat to religious freedom.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Maine Supreme Court recently reviewed oral arguments in the case of Emily Bickford, who was prevented from taking her 12-year-old daughter to church. A lower court issued a custody order prohibiting Bickford from bringing her daughter to Calvary Chapel, an evangelical Protestant church known for its focus on Bible teaching<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2515592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Michael-Featured-Image-366.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[41256,33740,32274],"class_list":["post-2515591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-child-rights","tag-court-ruling","tag-religious-freedom"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Michael-Featured-Image-366.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2515591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515595,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515591\/revisions\/2515595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2515592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2515591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2515591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2515591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}