August 3rd, 2012 
AT2W Staff 
Julia Annie Smith of Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors Blog
Former Church Member Sued for $500K in Defamation for Blogging About Church
Originally posted May 25, 2012. An UPDATE posted below.
An Oregon woman, Julie Anne Smith, her daughter and three other former church members may be sued for blogging about their criticisms of their former church at the possible amount of $500,000.
Smith’s blog known as the Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors was launched after she left the church a few years ago. Smith says she was shunned by church friends, she told KATU News.
“If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way,” she told KATU. “All we did was ask questions. We just raised concerns. There’s no sin in that.”
Smith posted critical reviews of the church on Google that were later removed. In February, she started her blog, which accuses BGBC of spiritual abuse and its pastor, Charles O’Neal, of “narcissism in the pulpit,” ABC News reported.
“The story of spiritual abuse needs to be told,”she wrote. “People are being hurt emotionally and spiritually by pastors who use bully tactics and we need a place to learn, to talk freely, and to heal. I will not be silenced.”
UPDATE on Aug. 1, 2012: A Washington County judge has dismissed the lawsuit the church had against former church member and blogger Julie Ann Smith. Both parties received the decision made by the judge by postal mail.
The Church Report reported:
Their attorney, Linda K. Williams, said the church practices “Old Testament shunning” and her clients were all eventually ostracized by the church. Their negative comments, which they published online, were protected free speech, she said.
We are very happy the former church member’s case against her and others was dismissed. It is definitely FREE SPEECH and that is what we do. People can’t change or muzzle the voice of opinion of other people.
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