According to a statement released by Boyer’s office, “defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the First Amendment bars courts from considering church disputes.” The judge said that the plaintiff’s sufficiently pleaded facts to state a case that MBC denied voting rights to members in violation of the church’s constitution.
“We are pleased that the Court is allowing this case to move forward,” Boyer said. “Defendants have repeatedly violated MBC’s constitution, and trampled on the rights of their membership to have an honest vote to choose their leaders. We are pleased that the Court saw through the transparent efforts of Defendants to use Christianized language to cloak their most unchristian efforts to prevent a free and fair vote under the MBC Constitution.”
MBC member and plaintiff Steve Gaskins said, “We as members of McLean Bible Church are grateful for the Court’s ruling today. The fight to restore free and fair elections for all members of MBC will move forward. Today is a victory for truth and transparency.”
“We thank God for today’s victory,” plaintiff Roland Smith said. “Today’s ruling is a critical first step in restoring the rule of law and ensuring that critical voting rights protected by our church constitution will be preserved for all McLean Bible Church members.”
Pretrial hearings started on December 17, 2021. No further updates have been provided.
Platt and MBC Accused of Being ‘Woke’
Jeremiah Burke started a Facebook page with his wife called “Save McLean Bible Church,” which has 801 followers and posts outspoken concerns they see regarding MBC and its leadership (specifically Platt), along with lawsuit updates.
The social media page repeatedly accuses Platt and the elders of being “woke.” The slang term defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as someone “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” Gaining popularity in 2014 from the Black Lives Matter movement, the term is often used to refer to someone who is or appears to be leaning to the political left.
Platt has been referred to as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in “Save McLean Bible Church’s” posts. Platt was called a liar and accused of gaslighting in a recent post, which said, “Megachurch pastor David Platt warns of disinformation, however is found to be the one LYING…With the drastic decline in weekly attendance at McLean Bible Church, is it even considered a mega church anymore? The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as a Protestant congregation that has an average weekly attendance of 2,000 or more members in its worship services.”
Last week, a video circulated on Twitter after it was posted by @ReformationCLT with the title “Platt’s McLean Bible Church teaches Revoice/Living Out nonsense that Jesus had body dysphoria similar to ‘transgender’ people.” The video featured the pastor of McLean’s Arlington campus, Eric Saunders, explaining “How do I love my transgender neighbor.”
The video was released in February of last year by McLean Bible church and is over six minutes long. The circulated clip from last week was just over 70 seconds.
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