A Lack of Grace
Julie Anne Smith says she and her family were shunned by the pastor and members of the Grace Bible Church in Beaverton, Ore., and didn’t know why. “If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way,” she said. “All we did was asked questions. We just raised concerns. There’s no sin in that.” After leaving the church, “I thought, I’m just going to post a review” on the Internet, Smith said. “We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?” After posting her review, church members responded with more positive comments. Pastor Charles O’Neal responded by suing her — for $500,000. The suit says the reviews, and a blog Smith has titled “Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors”, are defamation, what with descriptions of the church as a “cult” that’s “creepy” and uses “control tactics” that rise to the level of “spiritual abuse.” (RC/KATU Portland) ...And if you weren’t sure that was the case, the lawsuit may convince you.Story Update: Circuit Judge Jim Fun (yes, really!) threw the case out, and ordered the church to pay its own costs and attorney fees. “The court finds that the defendant’s Internet postings on plaintiff’s website and defendant Julie Anne Smith’s blog site were made in a public forum and concern an issue of public interest,” Judge Fun ruled. “The court further finds that plaintiff has not met the burden of presenting substantial evidence the defendant’s statements are defamatory.”
Original Publication Date: 10 June 2012
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 18.
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 18.
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