The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:<\/p>\n
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since Congress is not allow to restrict the free exercise of religion, I would assume that Courts are also bound by that rule. Unfortunately, a Judge in Maine did not get the message.<\/p>\n On September 2nd, The New York Post<\/a> posted an article about a mother in Maine who has been told by the\u00a0Maine Supreme Judicial Court that she is not allowed to take her daughter to church.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n Emily Bickford appeared in Maine\u2019s highest court on Tuesday to challenge a December 2024 custody order prohibiting her from bringing her daughter to her evangelical church,\u00a0WMTW reported<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled a Portland District Court judge was correct to give the then-11-year-old\u2019s father, Matthew Bradeen, the power to decide whether his daughter could attend the Calvary Chapel in Westbrook, ME,\u00a0the Maine Monitor reported<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bradeen argued the church was a \u201cdangerous and harmful environment\u201d that had caused his daughter to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks after hearing the pastor\u2019s teaching about the rapture, a belief that good Christians will ascend to heaven at the end of the world, leaving nonbelievers behind.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article notes:<\/p>\n The court rejected Bickford\u2019s claims that the 2024 order was hostile to her religion by referring to it as a \u201ccult\u201d in its published opinion<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe court found that the child was harmed by Bickford\u2019s decisions to expose the child to messages that characterized Bradeen as an \u2018enemy\u2019 who seeks to \u2018persecute\u2019 the child and her faith, and by Bickford\u2019s unwillingness to prevent the child from receiving those messages or to take any other steps to reduce the risk of alienating her from Bradeen,\u201d read the opinion.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe court\u2019s finding reflected simply that it is harmful for a child to hear negative and frightening messages about one parent from the other parent or the other parent\u2019s authority figures,\u201d the opinion concluded.<\/strong><\/p>\n Liberty Counsel said it will now ask the US Supreme Court to take up the case following the decision by Maine\u2019s highest court.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cA Christian mom in Maine has been prohibited from taking her 13-year-old daughter to church or even read the Bible to her for nearly two years \u2014 not even for an Easter or Christmas service or a Bible study,\u201d Liberty Counsel said in a\u00a0statement on X<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe are fighting for Emily\u2019s right to raise her daughter in accordance with her Christian beliefs and will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take this case and OVERRULE this decision,\u201d the group\u2019s statement continued.<\/strong><\/p>\n There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that allows courts to decide the validity of a religious belief. I hope Ms. Bickford wins this case at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people … Continue reading