Following the events of the disastrous decision to forego attorney client privilege, the Southern Baptist Convention has yet another high profile lawsuit filed against it. After receiving a breakup letter from their lawyers, the SBC left itself open to lawsuits. This was the result of SBC21 going in favor of the theological liberals. The runner up for the president, Mike Stone holds Russell Moore’s released letters to the press as the reason. Yesterday, Mike Stone filed a defamation suit against Russell Moore for coordinating a campaign against him.
Capstone Report broke the story. According to Capstone Report, the lawsuit claims:
Beginning on or about February 24, 2020, within one (1) week of the creation of the aforementioned task force, Defendant began a malicious, intentional, and egregious campaign to harm Plaintiff, including, but not limited to, defaming him within the text of two letters strategically concealed from general distribution within the ERLC and the SBC but then subsequently surreptitiously released, or ‘leaked,’ to the news media which Defendant knew, due to the controversial nature of the letters, Defendant’s prominent position within the ERLC and the religious community at large, and Defendant’s significant connections to major media outlets, would result in their widespread publication. Said letters were then, in fact, subsequently published in Religion News Service, Baptist Press, and several other news media outlets.”
If given standing the discovery process should determine how authentic these letters are. Given how plagiarized the resignation letter is, their authenticity should be called into question.
The lawsuit also alleges that Russell Moore was retaliating against Stone for his participation in a task force investigation of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a Cooperative Program entity that Moore led for several years.
