Custody Case Triggers Major Religious Lawsuit in Maine

In December of 2025, multiple sources reported that a mother in Maine was waiting to see whether an appellate court would allow her to play a role in her own daughter’s religious upbringing. This case is a relatively rare example of how child custody can trigger a major constitutional, free speech, and freedom of religion debate. 

Mother Barred From Reading Her Daughter the Bible or Taking Her to Church

This story involves a couple that had a child without ever legally marrying. The couple then split up, and a custody battle ensued. At some point, the mother converted to Christianity and decided to have her daughter baptized. The father opposed this decision and immediately took legal action to prevent this from happening. 

According to the mother, the father found a judge sympathetic to his cause and enlisted the help of a “Marxist” law professor. This professor then provided an expert opinion about the church that the mother was taking her daughter to, telling the court that it fit the definition of a cult. The district court agreed and gave the father sole legal custody over parental religious decisions. 

What Is Legal Custody in the Context of Religious Parenting Decisions?

Those who have never navigated custody battles may be unaware of the distinction between “physical custody” and “legal custody.” While the former involves the amount of time the child spends living with a parent, the latter involves decision-making authority. The default arrangement is shared legal custody, which means each parent has “veto power” over major parenting decisions. These decisions might involve healthcare, education, and, of course, religion. 

Legal custody can become quite complex when parents cannot agree on how to settle disputes over major decisions. In this situation, one parent has the right to file a “petition to modify legal custody” with the family court. This approach may allow a parent to win sole decision-making power over a specific point of contention, such as religion. However, these petitions may also involve disagreements over many other potentially contentious issues, such as vaccinations or gender-reassignment therapy. 

Sometimes, judges presiding over these cases will give one parent sole decision-making power over all decisions moving forward. In other cases, a judge gives one parent sole decision-making authority over only one specific area, such as religion. In the aforementioned case, the judge gave the father the right to control his daughter’s religious upbringing. 

The Mother Argues That This is a Constitutional Issue

The mother has pushed back against the ruling, arguing that her First Amendment rights under the Constitution have been violated by the family court. In addition, her legal team argues that the father failed to prove that the religious teachings represent the threat of abuse or harm to the daughter. According to the mother, the child wants to go back to church and misses her friends at Bible study classes. 

The outcome of this case could have major repercussions, potentially preventing parents from controlling religious decisions to the same extent as medical or educational decisions. On one hand, the father deserves the right to prevent his daughter from engaging in religious activities that he does not agree with. On the other hand, the mother also has the right to provide a religious education that she believes is fitting. At the end of the day, one can boil this debate down to a simple question: Is religion or atheism more beneficial for a child?