UPC Pastor Convicted of Slander in Pulpit!

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

Pel,
It appeared to me that he spoke on what he thought were sexual sins and said she committed ONE of those.

One thing I do agree with everyone on - we need to be very careful how we address any type of sin over the pulpit. If it is done in love, that is a different story. On another token, a person who is engaging in sin and doesn't want to let go is going to be offended and it wouldn't matter how much you loved them or how careful you were in the handling.

Well yeah, but... If the "sin" was cutting one's feminine tresses and wearing skirts that rode up above the knee, BUT the "sin" being denounced from the pulpit was having carnal knowledge with the county's livestock then I'd understand a bit of uppitiness coming from the erring sister.

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

You don't know if that was what he was doing and neither do I. Again, he should have been more careful, but we don't really know the whole story. Everything is simply speculation.

We know that the quotes about "child molestation and bestiality" were both recorded and presented as evidence in a court of law. We know that the defendant made no claims in court denying that he had said those things. We know that the defendant's only defense was a First Amendment defense of "free speech" while in the pulpit of his church.

[Charnock]

Originally Posted by mizpeh

Is that biblical grounds for divorce?

Originally Posted by DAII

Yes ... he has stated as much.

I did no such thing.

I said it would be if she wore a bikini whilst with a man who was not her husband.

To me, that is cheating. She's showing her wares to the wrong feller.

[DAII]

Originally Posted by missourimary

So what we have here is a lot of conjecture, a divorce, a divorcee who wanted to marry the pastor's daughter and is now in ministry according to the church website. We have a pastor who stood and announced that the ex-wife had done something shameful but didn't say exactly what, and inferred that it was much worse than it actually was. Which is deceitful and actually breaks one of the Ten Commandments. And we have a woman who asked for the deceitful statement to be retracted on two occassions and was ignored the first time and denied the second.

Wearing a bikini didn't cross the Bible like the announcement from the pulpit did... She wore a bikini, but the pastor bore false witness against his neighbor.

Does anyone think wearing a bikini is worse than breaking one of the Ten Commandments?

This part of the civil suit complaint and a letter sent by Fogarty's lawyer seems to deny the comments were even made ... this despite the audio tape :

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by missourimary

So what we have here is a lot of conjecture, a divorce, a divorcee who wanted to marry the pastor's daughter and is now in ministry according to the church website. We have a pastor who stood and announced that the ex-wife had done something shameful but didn't say exactly what, and inferred that it was much worse than it actually was. Which is deceitful and actually breaks one of the Ten Commandments. And we have a woman who asked for the deceitful statement to be retracted on two occassions and was ignored the first time and denied the second.

Wearing a bikini didn't cross the Bible like the announcement from the pulpit did... She wore a bikini, but the pastor bore false witness against his neighbor.

Does anyone think wearing a bikini is worse than breaking one of the Ten Commandments?

The question still remains - WHY was she wearing a bikini? Why did she think it was decent or right? Why was it wrong to address her character because of that?

What do we know about the husband? Is he a good man, or does he wear Speedos in mixed company? LOL!

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by DAII

This part of the civil suit complaint and a letter sent by Fogarty's lawyer seems to deny the comments were even made ... this despite the audio tape :

maybe he was just denying that they were defamatory?

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by DAII

This part of the civil suit complaint and a letter sent by Fogarty's lawyer seems to deny the comments were even made ... this despite the audio tape :

Maybe he thought they were taken out of context?

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by DAII

That doesn't apply to 99.8% of the American population ... you're an abnormal anomaly

I totally agree. EVEN THOUGH we don't do things that way I do understand others wearing less clothes - especially when swimming.

I am sorry... I am not convinced we have numbers to show those dressing most conservative have correlating lower statistics when it comes to divorce, infidelity and fornication. That is not an argument to abandon conservative dress - just an observation.

[Charnock]

Originally Posted by missourimary

So what we have here is a lot of conjecture, a divorce, a divorcee who wanted to marry the pastor's daughter and is now in ministry according to the church website. We have a pastor who stood and announced that the ex-wife had done something shameful but didn't say exactly what, and inferred that it was much worse than it actually was. Which is deceitful and actually breaks one of the Ten Commandments. And we have a woman who asked for the deceitful statement to be retracted on two occassions and was ignored the first time and denied the second.

Wearing a bikini didn't cross the Bible like the announcement from the pulpit did... She wore a bikini, but the pastor bore false witness against his neighbor.

Does anyone think wearing a bikini is worse than breaking one of the Ten Commandments?

"Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's."

Deuteronomy 5:21

Notice the emphasis.

[DAII]

Originally Posted by Charnock

This error in judgment is not representative of the fine man I know Mark Fogarty to be. It's unfortunate for the victim, the Warner Robbins church, the Georgia District, and for Fogarty's own family and ministry.

In no way do I excuse his comments, however, if my wife was at a pool with one of my male friends in nothing but a bikini, I would file for divorce. In my opinion, she exercised extremely poor judgment, and showed an unhealthy willingness to mingle with a member of the opposite sex in a very volatile manner.

I do think everyone on this thread have missed the reason why Fogarty did not apologize. First, he may not have felt he did anything wrong. Second, he may have believed an apology would be viewed as an admission of guilt, and used against him in court.

Ironic, I know.

Charnock would file for divorce even without biblical grounds, then..

[MrsMcD]

"Let he whom is without sin cast the first stone? NOBODY is perfect or worthy of passing judgement on ANYONE unless we ourselves are perfect. We are born of sin, we are also imperfect, so why do so many judge."