Too Public Baptism: Ex-Muslim Loses Lawsuit Against Church
Too Public Baptism: Ex-Muslim Loses Lawsuit Against Church
Oklahoma Supreme Court rules against convert tortured in Syria after Tulsa church publicized his conversion online.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/march/public-baptism-ex-muslim-loses-torture-lawsuit-tulsa-syria.html
After a Syrian Muslim man converted to Christianity, he asked to be baptized by First Presbyterian Church in Tulsa. The pastor agreed, and on December 30, 2012, the man was baptized in front of the PC(USA) congregation.
The man, whose identity remains anonymous for security purposes, said the church promised to keep his baptism quiet, since shari‘ah law demands that converts from Islam be executed.
He flew to Syria almost immediately after his baptism in order to marry his fiancée. A few weeks later, while still in Syria, he was kidnapped by Islamist extremists—including his uncle and his cousin—who said they learned about his conversion from the church’s website, he said.
First Presbyterian had included the man’s baptism in its weekly bulletin announcements, then posted those announcements online. It was the first thing that popped up under his name in an internet search, he told the Tulsa World.
For three days, the extremists tortured him, telling him they were going to kill him for his conversion. They tied his arms behind him and beat him, keeping him for hours under a 55-gallon electrified drum that shocked him whenever he touched it, he said
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That wasn’t the end of his trouble. Suffering from psychological and physical aftereffects, the man gets frequent death threats and cannot ever return to Syria, he said. Their house and two cars there are a loss, and he won’t be able to visit his son who still lives there, he said.
So he sued the Tulsa church for $75,000, charging it with breach of contract, negligence, and outrage.
The church asked for the case to be dismissed because the baptism was a constitutionally-protected religious practice, among other reasons.
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[A]ssuming that the allegations are true, Appellant not only personally suffered harm, but public safety and order were harmed as well,” she wrote. “He cannot use his own name in this very case because of the continuing threat to his safety, and the public harm that religiously-motivated attacks have been proven to cause.”
The man’s attorney said he was considering petitioning the court for a rehearing. The church’s attorney said the court made an important stand for religious liberty.
“This is the first case in the United States in which a court has affirmed that how a church conducts its baptisms is only the business of the church and is not subject to interference by the civil courts,” attorney John Tucker said. “That’s important, because baptism is an essential core concept of Christianity.”
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it is apparent this church had not one fuck to give about this man's wellbeing. They only cared about adding another sheep to the flock. How disgraceful.