Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris, who Donald Trump once named as a spiritual adviser to his administration, announced he was stepping down from Gateway Church amid allegations he molested a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.
The resignation comes days after Morris, 62, seemingly admitted to molesting the girl in a statement to The Christian Post. In that statement, he conceded that he engaged in “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a “young lady” when he was already married with a child in his early 20s.
Morris didn’t mention the girl’s age—but his alleged victim, Cindy Clemishire, told the religious watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch on Friday that she was only 12 when she was first sexually abused by Morris on Christmas Day in 1982. She claimed that he invited her into the room he was staying in at her family home during a visit, and touched her inappropriately on her breasts and “under her panties.”
Is it really an allegation still when you are quoting him in the article admitting to it?
Until convicted he’s innocent until proven guilty. No matter how insanely obvious it is that he’s guilty.
It’s just a sparkling apology if it isn’t administered under oath as part of a court pleading.
If I was writing the article I would have pointed out the admission, rather than pointing towards the allegation. Which is based on his admission.
If you were writing the article you probably wouldn’t get to pick your headline. Headline writing is not an art, it’s a boring science of putting it in the most regular and concise of terms.
He resigned amid allegations of abuse. Those are the cold hard facts. If it turns out that the Christian Monitor how misquoted him or coerced him etc then this outlet might also be liable for claiming something not quite 100% defensible in a court of law.
And I think it just means that if you are rich enough to sue a newspaper, then they’ll never claim you are anything other than an upstanding citizen.
That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying the liability issue.