You can't make this up

[billym]

Oregon mother, daughter reportedly sued for writing bad reviews of church online

Read more: Oregon mother, daughter reportedly sued for writing bad reviews of church online | Fox News


An Oregon pastor is reportedly suing a mother and her daughter for $500,000 after the two blogged about the church and described it as "cult-like."*
Pastor Charles O'Neal of the Beaverton Grace Bible Church claims reviews on a blog started by former church member Julie Anne Smith amount to defamation. Smith, who says "the story of spiritual abuse needs to be told," described O'Neal and his church outside Portland as "creepy" and "cult-like." She described him calling for church elders to search closets of female congregants for clothes that are too revealing, among other lessons from the pulpit.
Smith told the KATU.com that she and her family were shunned by community members after leaving the church in Beaverton a few years ago. Smith said she then began writing Google and DEX reviews of the church as well as a blog. *
"I thought, I'm just going to post a review," Smith said. "We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?" Smith told the website.*
O'Neal claims in his lawsuit that Smith's use of words like "creepy," "cult," "control tactics," and "spiritual abuse," are defamation. O'Neal is suing Smith as well as her daughter and three other commentators, according to the website.


Read more: Oregon mother, daughter reportedly sued for writing bad reviews of church online | Fox News

[GlennO]

[nillapoet]

Well I'll be avoiding that church should we move to Portland next year.

[LivnForChrist]

[mattfivefour]

Maybe the pastor needs to read his Bible and see what direction it gives to somebody in his situation. Of course, if what the former members say is only half true, the man may not understand (or, perhaps, accept) what it DOES say.

[SonSeeker]

Oh I see a potential job opening, Adrian!

[mattfivefour]

[RanYakumo]

Wow, that's in my hometown.

Well, I know where I won't be going to church. Ever.

[dave-o]

She described him calling for church elders to search closets of female congregants for clothes that are too revealing, among other lessons from the pulpit.

Is that really true and accurate? I guess it could be but in my experience when two parties are at such odds the whole truth is most often found somewhere in the middle.

I would urge my Christian brothers and sisters to be careful commenting on things of this nature without full knowledge of ALL the facts lest we become no better than the gossip mongers who love to try people in the court of popular opinion.

[Lynn]

I would urge my Christian brothers and sisters to be careful commenting on things of this nature without full knowledge of ALL the facts lest we become no better than the gossip mongers who love to try people in the court of popular opinion.

Absolutely, Dave! Lest we become talebearers ourselves, after reading about this, making a quick judgment without knowing all the facts, or verifying whether or not any of these accusations are true.
This may just be my opinion, but I think the woman who wrote the so-called 'reviews' of the church was in error to pass along her opinions about it. I can't think of any Scripture that allows for publicly commenting negatively on a body of Christ, of whom Christ is the Head. She should have prayed fervently for the church and waited for Christ Himself to make any changes. What could possibly have been her motive for going public? Nothing godly that I can think of.

[Sean Osborne]

All I can say is that its too bad the internet and blogs did not exist when the cult churches of Jim Jones, David Koresh, or Marshall Applewhite were doing their thing. Had they been exposed by an intrepid blogger like Julie Anne Smith there might be a hundred or more of those poor deceived victims still among the living.

[Lynn]

All I can say is that its too bad the internet and blogs did not exist when the cult churches of Jim Jones, David Koresh, or Marshall Applewhite were doing their thing. Had they been exposed by an intrepid blogger like Julie Anne Smith there might be a hundred or more of those poor deceived victims still among the living.

You're exactly right, Sean. In an extreme case of that kind, it would have been definitely better for someone to do some online 'reviewing' as it would indeed have saved many, many lives of the people who probably experienced something like 'learned helplessness' and just followed their leaders like the lambs to the slaughter that they were. Still so sad to remember these terrible, senseless tragedies.