"I’m sneaking in a comment while I’m away at high school camp as a counselor. I just heard from my attorney. WE WON!!! Basically found each and all statements “not defamatory” and so never got to “malice.”
Praise God. Thank you TWW readers for your support!!!"
Julie Anne Smith
First there was Tom Rich, now there is Julie Anne Smith. Pastors and churches take heed! Stop going after your members. TWW is elated and sends out hugs from all of us to Julie Anne and her family. Dee also gets to say, "I told you so!!!!!!!"
Read about it here
WooHoo! Congratulations, Julie Anne! Soooo happy for you!
Perfectly said:
Bloggers: 2
Pastors: 0
And tithes and offerings of Chuck’s church pay for the legal fees of Julie and the defendants.
Way to go, Julie. Phony defamation cases get thrown out under anti-SLAPP, as did Chuck’s and you and your fellow defendants are to be congratulated for doing the right thing and standing up to the bullies at Beaverton.
Let’s hope the church discipline committee at Chuck’s church turns the eye on him and his enablers now.
OK, who is next?
Just another sign that the alternative universe these guys live in doesn’t hold together out in the real world!
Amen and Huzzah!
Julie Anne, I am so happy for you. Let God be praised!
Congratulations.
Common sense prevails – thanks be to God!
(Note: I think common sense is quite, hmm… “biblical,” maybe? ;))
This is wonderful news, Julie Anne! I know you, your family, and co-defendants are thrilled and relieved. This is wonderful news for all of us and sets an important precedent.
Congratulations, Julie Anne!
Never a doubt in my mind. Don’t forget, you owe me an interview for the podcast.
SMG
Yes!
The lawyer fees and costs the pastor and church have to pay are steep. $16,750 to the people who the plaintiff pastor and church dropped from the suit after they filed an Anti-SLAPP petition. And Julie, her daughter and friend have been asked to submit their fees and costs to the court, which should be even greater than that amount, perhaps twice as much. Which means that the defendants and their attorneys may end up with a lien on the church property, pastor's house, car, etc. Because the suit was brought to court by the pastor and church, their insurance won't pay; they will have to raise the money. I suspect the amounts will total a good chunk of the pastor's salary and may put the church out of business, which will be good for the cause of Christ.
@ An Attorney … thanks for that technical info. Also, we can’t forget that there are the costs for the attorneys hired by/for the plaintiffs, so they have those to cover as well. Surely that would add a significant amount of financial burden on Pastor O’Neal and the church. Filing this kind of lawsuit is serious indeed. I do hope/pray that this point of severe mercy leads to changes of heart …
This is wonderful!! Congratulations, Julie Anne!!
Woohoo!
Attorney, Thanks for providing that info.
If this young pastor had not been a hothead and just ignored the google reference he would not be where he is today. Not only that but he alienated his icon, McArthur in the process. Has he learned a valuable lesson? When it goes public the celebs and their minions always act dumb and throw you off a cliff. It is all about image and this young hot head did not get the memo.
I am so relieved to read this. There’s always a worry and/or a concern that a judge who does not normally see First Amendment/libel/defamation issues in the course of his day-to-day affairs can be swayed by things outside of the law, e.g., “she shouldn’t be saying this about a church.” Hopefully this, as well as the negative publicity from the initial lawsuit, will cause pastors and church leaders to think twice before going to law instead of letting sleeping dogs lie.
On a separate note, I have to admit I giggled uncontrollably when I saw the name of the judge was Jim Fun. Judge Fun. I can’t stop giggling.
Yes, and how do you spell R – E – L – I – E – F ??!!
We can all have a sigh of relief with you guys!
We trust that your load is lighter and that your sleep is sweet!
Congrats Julie Anne!
The secular humanist socialist far left court ruled against the godly pastor. This is Obama’s America, ladies and gentlemen.
We need a Calvinist/Sharia Court system in this country and we need it NOW or this is the end of western civilization.
David C
I hope you were being sarcastic and your post does not reflect your true belief. First, this pastor was not “godly”, pursuing people who left the church to their homes, confronting them there with a tape recorder in hand, sometimes with a large group of members with them. Telling false stories from the pulpit about ex-members being under discipline for sins when the ex-member had heard nothing about that before. Shunning people. None of that is “godly”, and neither is suing people for reporting what you have done to them.
And our courts are not religious courts, by the Constitution of the United States, and I am glad for that.
Remember, the pastor/church started the lawsuit, and, quite frankly got the treatment the law provides for filing a false and frivolous lawsuit.
Julie Anne, I am so glad to hear this. God is so good. I’m hopeful that this pastor will leave you and your family in peace now. What he did is unacceptable. I’m glad you never backed down.
David C
Your comment made me laugh. John Calvin already proved that freedom in the hands of legalistic rulers will lead to tyranny. And, before the Calvinista crowd comes on to defend Calvin in the Servetus incident, I want you to know that I believe he had the power to stop it and did not.
May I also point out the tyranny of the superstitious Puritans with the witch trials. I recently found out that some in the homeschooling movement actually believe these people were witches. Good night!
Southwestern
Thank you for pointing out the judge’s name. It made me smile. In my book, Judge Fun is awesome!
Wanna bet that pastor’s gonna be preaching about TITHING TITHING TITHING TITHING TITHING? Including “Gimme your bank account & routing numbers for auto-tithing — Or Else!”?
Judge Fun – almost as good as Cardinal Sin from the Philippines.
Congrats all around! Wonderful news.
Good news!!!
Who used to refer to the Bishop’s Palace in Manila as “The House of Sin”.
And they still do.
Thirty years ago, playing D&D meant WITCHCRAFT(TM)!
Ten years ago, reading Harry Potter meant WITCHCRAFT(TM)!
Headless Unicorn Guy,
It will be interesting to keep tabs on what will be forthcoming from his pulpit, won’t it?
It seems the pattern for these types of people is to act the victim! “Poor me! Gimme, gimme!
It astounds me when people who claim to be Christians show such disregard for the Spirit, whose indwelling presence is to convict the individual of sin. I can only conclude the person is living in denial, is ignorant of the Truth, or has no real connection to the living God within.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Dee
I have to chime in that NOT ALL homeschoolers are in this camp- especially with the Salem witch part- lol. 🙂
I have always been an independent homeschool mom; I am also a conservative, but a freedom loving conservative mom! And one who believes all are to be treated with dignity- this is why this abuse in the church makes me steamed!
Way to go Julie Anne with the court ruling!
Faith
I think I meant that only some believe this. Another home schooling mom made that statement on the blog. No offense. I was wondering if the curriculum said so, however. Do you know?
Evie
He will say he is being persecuted for Christ.
@Attorney, of course I was being sarcastic.
@dee, I read up on Steve Lawson’s contortionist moves to explain away the Servetus incident on teampyro. His closing remark made me chuckle:
Does being hated mean that much to this crowd to even think up this kind of asinine statement? All despots throughout history can be characterized as “easy to slander” and “difficult to emulate.” Sure it is easy to slander Kim Jong Un unless you live in North Korea, but he is also difficult to emulate. Seen the throngs of admirers he is never seen without and his new smoking hot wife? Very difficult to emulate indeed. I can only dream.
Dee,
I agree. Sad isn’t it? Chuck will probably start talking about the evils of the internet, promoting the notion the problem stems from a source outside himself, and certainly outside the four walls where sit his congregants.
On the bright side, this whole schebockle has brought the issue to light and justice has been served!
WTG Julie Anne for being an instrument of His righteousness and for exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness as you encountered them!
Excellent news. It was about time that those Christians who believe in truthfulness won over those who seem prepared to lie in the name of the God of Truth.
Dee
I’m curious. Has any formal apology been made to the relatives of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials?
Haitch
There was a time of formal repentance for the community after the trials. I do not know if anything specific was said. I can tell you that lands seized were not returned in some cases.
Oh no offense Dee- just wanted to make sure those know that there are many homeschoolers out there that are pretty independent thinkers. 🙂
I have not seen any kind of curriculum out there that I know of that claimed the women and men involved with these trials as being witches. Pretty frightening if so. My husband, however, was a history major and studied about the Salem witch trials. The major issue surrounding these trials had to do with a power grab concerning land. So it really did not have to do with religion, as much as it had to do with two parties of Puritans grappling over land rights; what better way to cause division then to accuse these women and men of witchcraft.
Regarding the Salem Witch Trials, when I was at Criswell College in the early 1990s, my Professor of Church History(!) intoned quite soberly one day that he believed there was “actual witchcraft” going on in Salem, and then launched into some nonsense about Tituba.
As the heads bobbed in assent, I restrained myself from laughing out loud. In hindsight, I wish I had started writhing around, and called out that “his specter was tormenting me.”
Faith
The land grab was the reason that the trials garnered so much steam amongst the Puritan leaders. That is why i always laugh at the naivete of those who believe that the Puritans were somehow pure.
That Bad Dog
Tituba came to work for the colony from one of the Carribbean islands-maybe Jamaica-I should Google it. She told 3 girls who would be the lightening rod for the trials, stories of her native land. This is not not unlike us telling Grimm’s fairy tales to our children. She was a poor woman who was used as a political pawn by those in power. If these were truly Christian people, they would have shown her love. Instead they despicably used her. That Criswell “professor” was silly and did not deserve his title.
Yep –
This is a reason to be against closely knitted communes like Salem- you were bound to get a little strife going on.
Now I also heard a theory that the girls were literally halluncinating but it had to do ergot poisoning (a fungus found normally in wheat and rye); this could have been possible because of the grain fermenting in their barns. But the Puritan leaders and families could have used this opportunity to produce conflict with the other families they had issues with.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”……..
Appropriate name for that college. When I hear the word “Criswell”, all I can think of is that celebrity psychic of the Fifties who used to hang out with Ed Wood…
Though Tituba is usually thought of as being black, I have heard a theory that she may actually have been an Arawak Indian from the Caribbean. Either way, she came to Massachusetts as a slave.
Great victory for Free Speech and Church Abuse bloggers!
Word on the street is I might be next…but I’m more than ready.
Alex
Would you like to tell your story? This blog has a 2-0 record of supporting winners. 🙂
I would love to Dee and I appreciate the mention many months ago. I’ve been following Julie’s story (which I first discovered here 🙂 for awhile now and much of the dynamics she experienced are similar in the Moses Model Calvary Chapel ethos.
The testimonies are even darker and more sinister than what Julie experienced, unfortunately.
I think it might be the right time to discuss this long battle with you good folks now. Any help would be much appreciated. There are many “Julie’s” who have been negatively affected and given the left foot of fellowship in the Calvary Chapel System…and now CC has announced it’s “New and Improved” with the “Calvary Chapel Association”. We’ll see. My guess is it’s the same ‘ol appearance of accountability a la CCOF.
Alex
i have received some, how shall we say, vaguely threatening comments and emails, telling us not to ever discuss Calvary Chapel. Darn, when will they ever learn. I was like this as a little girl. My mother would tell me never to try to climb the cliff on our street and Dee was climbing the cliff within seconds. Take your time and let us know.
Dee said, “i have received some, how shall we say, vaguely threatening comments and emails, telling us not to ever discuss Calvary Chapel”
Par for the course. They usually scare off most folks from speaking out. Fortunately, not everyone is afraid of a good ‘ol fashioned dust up, especially for a righteous cause.
I emailed you guys.