UNITED STATES
Post-Crescent
Written by
Eric Tucker
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A small evangelical Christian denomination called Sovereign Grace Ministries was already grappling with fractured leadership, outside scrutiny of its policies and public criticism from former members when a new round of problems emerged.
A lawsuit last fall brought by former members accused church officials of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse committed by its members. Then a onetime member of the church’s former flagship congregation was indicted in December on charges that he molested multiple boys in the 1980s while involved in ministries.
The church hasn’t yet answered the specific accusations, but has signaled that it may lean on the First Amendment — a defense that religious institutions have used repeatedly and with some limited success in the last decade to inoculate themselves from sex abuse claims.
A statement issued in response to the lawsuit, filed in Maryland, says permitting courts to second-guess confidential advice given by church leaders to congregation members would “represent a blow to the First Amendment.”
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