Maine court removes mother’s right to bring child to church

A mother petitioned the Supreme Court of Maine earlier this month to overturn a lower court ruling and restore her right to guide the religious upbringing of her 12-year-old daughter. The custody dispute focuses on issues about religious liberty and parental rights.

In December, a Maine district court issued a custody ruling that stripped Emily of all parental power over her daughter’s religious training and healthcare decisions, giving total control to the child’s father, Matt. WORLD is not using the parents’ last names to protect the privacy of their child. The parents, though never married, shared equal custody for years. Matt wanted to change this after their daughter started attending Calvary Chapel in Portland with her mother.

Calvary Chapel is a nondenominational evangelical church that operates under the Calvary Chapel fellowship with nearly 2,000 other congregations internationally. The church fellowship’s origin received mainstream recognition in 2023 in the blockbuster hit Jesus Revolution. Churches in the Calvary Chapel fellowship hold traditional, Biblical values regarding marriage, sex, and original sin.

The father began watching Calvary Chapel sermons online and took issue with his daughter hearing Biblical doctrine on heaven, hell, spiritual warfare, and Christ’s second coming. Matt alleged that the church’s teachings were psychologically harming the child, and he filed to have full control over his daughter’s religious training. District Judge Jennifer Nofsinger granted this request in December with an order that gave Matt control over where his child went to church, if at all.

Nofsinger’s order cited testimony from cult expert Janja Lalich, who testified on behalf of the father. Lalich said that closed, cultic systems are usually led by a charismatic and authoritarian leader espousing a belief system offering answers in life and a type of future salvation. Her testimony also pointed to the church’s governing structure, commonly referred to as “the Moses Model,” in which the senior pastor, rather than a council of elders or fellow pastors, holds the governing authority within the church. Nofsinger ruled that Calvary fit Lalich’s description and found that the church operated as “a cultic organization.”

Nofsinger also took issue with leaders not skipping passages that describe suffering in hell, violent physical conflict, and the Antichrist. She found it damaging for the child to hear members share testimonies which included discussions of topics like childhood trauma, gay and lesbian relationships, and infidelity. The judge’s order specifically slammed the church’s senior pastor for leading a congregational prayer for Emily and her daughter during a Wednesday night service.

“The ‘fear mongering,’ paranoia, and anxiety taught by Calvary Chapel has, more likely than not, already had an impact on [the girl’s] childhood development,” Nofsinger ruled.

The court also gave Matt the legal right to decide whether his daughter may consume church-produced media or literature and whether she may keep in contact with people at the church. Nofsinger ruled that Emily’s commitment to her faith barred her from acting in her child’s best interest, and she granted Matt final say over the child’s medical care. The court order said Emily made medical decisions based on emotions and cited her opposition to her child receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Rik Lovett, a North Carolina attorney and expert in family law, said it was an unusual ruling in a perplexing case, noting that judges rarely parse out dictatorial powers across separate custody areas. After more than 30 years of practicing law, Lovett never had a case where a judge gave one parent dictatorial power over religious training.

“Every case I’ve ever had where religion comes up, judges avoid sectarian disputes like the plague,” Lovett explained. Most religious differences are resolved through mediation, he added, with parents ultimately splitting religious practices. “If the mom is Catholic and the dad is Jewish, the dad can take the child to synagogue,” he explained. “When the child is with the other parent, they can take them to the Catholic church.”

Attorneys at the religious law nonprofit Liberty Counsel appealed Emily’s case to the Supreme Court of Maine, arguing that the December order violated Emily’s constitutional right to direct her child’s religious upbringing. Nofsinger’s order showed clear religious hostility toward an unquestionably fit parent, which is an abuse of discretion and a clear error of law, according to the appeal brief filed in early April.

“Parents have that fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their child,” said Liberty Counsel attorney Daniel Schmid. A court doesn’t get to label traditional religious beliefs as psychologically harmful just because it doesn’t agree with them, he argued. Now Matt has full veto power over any churches Emily wants to attend with her daughter, he explained.

Schmid also noted that many denominations commonly teach the doctrine Nofsinger claimed was damaging. “That would make every church in the country a cult, and that’s objectively false,” Schmid said. The daughter never testified and no interviews with her were entered into evidence for consideration in the case, the lawyer noted, adding that the ruling basically came from parent testimony.

Calvary Chapel senior pastor Travis Carey testified on behalf of Emily and described Emily’s daughter as a firm Christian. He recalled attorneys asking pointed religious questions like, “Do you believe that your church is homophobic?” and “Do you believe that the world one day is going to be judged?”

“It’s the Bible,” Carey told me Monday. “Of course we’re talking about sin and righteousness. Of course we’re talking about demons and angels.”

Under the order, Matt must approve any church Emily wants to attend with the 12-year-old, which has yet to happen, according to Carey. “He has been given a court order that gives him complete autonomy over medical and spiritual decisions,” he said. “He’s got all the power, all the responsibility, and he hasn’t yet let them go to any church.”

Carey said the church has come alongside Emily amid the dispute and raised nearly $10,000 for her legal fees. “There’s just been a kind of the proverbial wrapping the arms around Emily, anyway we can through this,” he said.

Liberty Counsel expects a ruling on the case later this summer. If the appeal fails, Emily’s only option left would be to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, Schmid said.

WORLD contacted Matt’s attorney, Michelle King, but she declined to comment on the ongoing case.