Mike Stone files lawsuit against SBC rival Russell Moore
“Lawyers for Georgia pastor Mike Stone filed a complaint Monday (Oct. 18) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee accusing former Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore of defamation, false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” - RNS
Related at Church Leaders: Mike Stone Seeking $750k in Defamation Lawsuit Against Russell Moore
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? (1 Co 6:1–7)
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I grew up in that area of south Georgia, my parents lived near Blackshear, and Emmanuel Baptist is a very large church. I have never met Stone or Moore. Unless this controversy has more information than what we know, this lawsuit seems to contradict 1 Cor 6 (as Aaron quotes above). Church and inter-personal politics unfortunately influence more than Biblical teaching. True in churches, True in Christian universities.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
The Washington Post says it’s obtained corroboration for a lot of Moore’s statements, and the claim that a leaked private letter constitutes deliberate public defamation is tenuous at best. I’m going to dare suggest that Mr. Stone is going to find out that he’s not just a hypocrite per his teaching on 1 Cor. 6, but also that his evidence is weak, and his lawyer needs to do a better job of warning his clients that their cases are no good.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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