KANSAS
Baptist News
BOB ALLEN | JUNE 30, 2016
A Southern Baptist church being sued over sexual abuse committed by a former Vacation Bible School volunteer currently behind bars is asking a court to reveal the identities of two underage victims, accusing the girls’ parents and lawyers of using pretrial publicity to malign the congregation’s reputation.
Westside Family Church of Lenexa, Kan., filed a petition in district court June 15 requesting that the teenaged sisters and their parents who sued the church June 9 not be allowed to proceed with the case with their identifies protected by pseudonyms.
Church officials accused the family of “a Pearl Harbor-styled barrage of negative publicity” against the congregation purposely timed to coincide with this year’s Vacation Bible School.
“Ordinarily, defense counsel would stipulate permission to use of an alias in a case involving a minor claiming sexual abuse,” the church claimed in the petition. “Sadly, the minors’ parents and attorneys have chosen a different path” by leaking their complaint to the media before the congregation received official notice that it was being sued.
“While the Defendant admits the sensitivity of the allegations, Plaintiffs tactically decided to ‘draw first blood’ on the issue publicly,” the church’s petition says. “In time, that may ultimately be seen in hindsight to be a bad decision. However, they should not be able to hide behind pseudonyms after systematically and intentionally initiating a campaign specifically designed to damage Defendant’s reputation.”
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