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Petition Filed with the United States Supreme Court

On February 16, 2007, the Texas Supreme Court for a second time declined to hear and rule in our case, Local Church, et al v. Harvest House, et al concerning defamatory statements in Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions (ECNR) by John Ankerberg and John Weldon and published by Harvest House Publishers. Faced with the option of abandoning our case without reaching a jury trial, we decided, after much prayer and deliberation, to petition the United States Supreme Court in this matter. Subsequently, a writ of certiorari was filed with the Court on May 16, 2007. That filing was closely followed by the filing of four amicus briefs supporting our petition.

Contrary to claims otherwise, this case has never been about religious, doctrinal or theological issues. It is about false and defamatory accusations of moral and criminal misdeeds thinly cloaked as a religious dispute and unsupported by fact in the work in question (ECNR).

Now, this matter has risen to the level of the highest court in the land. There are serious legal issues in this case which should be addressed and decided by the Court. Some of the issues are:

• The misapplication of the Establishment Clause to bar liability for false and defamatory statements when the defamatory statements are of a secular, not religious, nature.
• The misapplication of the “ecclesiastical abstention” doctrine as the basis of the Appeals Court decision.
• The appropriate balance between the Establishment Clause and the right to free speech.
• The full right of legal protection to religious groups relative to defamation.
• Conflicts among lower courts as to these questions.
• The serious and negative impact of the Appeals Court decision on religious freedom in countries that employ the term ‘cult’ in the secular sense to control religious activities.

For more detailed information about the issues raised in this case, please read our petition and the amicus briefs linked below.

It is our hope that this case could be heard by the Court, favorably decided and returned to the trial court level where, at last, our case could be presented to a jury and decided on its merits.