Dallas County Judge Emily Tobolowsky has rejected a plea by disgraced pastor Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, to have abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire’s lawsuit dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
The judge, who has won her last three four-year-term elections without any opposition, provided no reason for rejecting arguments made by Morris and his wife Deborah. She also denied motions to dismiss the same lawsuit from church elders Tra Willbanks, Kenneth Fambro, Gayland Lawshe and Dane Minor.
Clemishire and her father Jerry Lee Clemishire sued Morris, his wife, Gateway Church and others in June, seeking $1 million in damages.
With the rejection of the dismissal motions, the trial is set to take place next summer, media reports indicate.
In October, Morris pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Cindy Clemishire, then aged 12, in the 1980s. He is serving a six-month jail term in Oklahoma that will be followed by 9.5 years of probation. He also will register as a sex offender and pay $270,000 in restitution.
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Morris and his wife said the Clemishire lawsuit must be dismissed, chiefly because the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine deprives the court of subject-matter jurisdiction, or authority over certain legal disputes. That doctrine comes from the First Amendment’s prohibition of government restricting the “free exercise” of religion.
According to the Morris attorney’s filing, many of the plaintiffs’ claims require the court to evaluate spiritual concepts. These include repentance, restoration, “walking in purity,” and particularly whether the Morrises received “forgiveness” from the Clemishires, which the motion frames as fundamentally religious questions.
The motion contends that determining the truth or falsity of statements about “forgiveness,” pastoral accountability, or the church-directed restoration process would force the court to “go behind the ecclesiastical curtain.” Thus, the lawsuit would improperly interfere with internal church governance, doctrine, discipline, and the management of Gateway Church’s affairs.
One of Clemishire’s attorneys, Texas State Rep. Jeff Leach, told CBS Texas the ruling was a victory for abuse survivors. The ruling, he said, is “(a) great day for justice . . . for Cindy . . . and for countless survivors and victims for whom she is blowing the doors to the Courthouse wide open.”
Along with the defamation suit, Morris is facing off against Gateway Church in court over a multimillion-dollar pension he says the church owes him. Additionally, a group of church members have sued Gateway over what they say is a fraudulent claim the church would donate 15% of tithes to global missions.
Correction 11/17: The story headline was updated.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.
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21 Responses
There is no biblical “Restoration process” for a pastor. This is a made-up concept by a bunch of criminal pastors who don’t want to give up the kingdom they have created, so they created a path for them to hold into the ministry they fraudulently created, long after they have been shown to be ineligible for leadership.
I thought I was the only one who read the epistles and could not find anything about restoration. If you have been found unable or ineligible, that seems to be all there is, sort of like Binary. I live with schizophrenia, and due to my mental illness, and being deemed, “Treatment resistant,” partially due to the contraindication of being diabetic, and not able to take any drug that treats schizoaffective disorder, my Master’s in Divinity has provided me knowledge, but the wisdom I may be granted by our LORD has to remain given from a layperson. I think the church leaders need not let their pride motivate them.
I am glad the judge stood the grounds against this man who has violated so many women!
The “ecclesiastical curtain”?????
They’re actually arguing FOR reinstallation of the curtain that was torn in two upon His death? We have no ecclesiastical curtain, certainly none that protects unbiblical behavior on the part of any Christian, and is even more unacceptable within church leadership.
And to suggest that a judge can’t determine just how wrong Morris was suggests we as Christians function under a secret code nobody else can understand.
No, there’s no hiding behind some ecclesiastical curtain that A) no longer exists and B) was never meant to protect religious leaders from bad behavior.
The sense of entitlement grifters like Robert Morris cling to is truly remarkable. Chutzpah is the word that comes to mind.
Yes, the sense of entitlement might be part of his personal DNA.
But never underestimate the influence of US business capitalism culture that includes religious entrepreneurs. No doubt its also a part of this mix and even encouraged.
Sanctification is both an internal & external challenge. More so if you truly wish to faithfully shepherd a church community that represents Christ.
Spot on, Ian. Well said.
If I may be bold, “Baseball bat” is the term that comes to mind. This girl’s father showed remarkable restraint. Everyday I pray that this corruption can be… I don’t even know what to say. I pray that we have no more victims, but I feel that is probably not likely. I am so very sad, yet also angry. I am no better than anyone else, and my sin is in no way less than another’s, however a man in Morris’s position, trusted to be in a family’s home, and doing it for years, and then lying everyday since, these are not actions of a man who is indwelt with the Spirit, and whereas I don’t wish to sound “Religious,” I just pray everyday.
Wow. The absolute gall to insist our legal system has no right to rule on legal matters. Just because he is a “Christian pastor”? Because molesting a child while a pastor is biblical? And insist on a multimillion dollar pension from a church he embarrassed, shamed, and abused his position in? Sometimes I long for the days of public whippings…
I came across the handwritten notes of my grandfather when he was the secretary of a small country church he and some neighbors established. He did not mention how they selected their original pastor, but the men of the church soon decided they had made a mistake. Their pastor was a smoker, drinker, and womanizer who pushed himself on ALL the women of the church, married or not, even though he was married. When they (strict Baptists) told him to change his ways or get out, he sneered at them. So they physically picked him up and gave him a flight right out the church doors. Nobody missed him.
That story about your grandfather’s country church, I think sums up what RM & Team were trying to do here – As those strict Baptists were throwing the rascal pastor out the door “He Sneered at them!” Thankfully the Texas Judge had seen sneering before and knew how to deal with it.
However, the root problem goes much deeper to include those who have become comfortable with the false teaching that lives of church leaders are off limits to scrutiny by anyone other than God. Lance Ford addressed this issue (hilariously well) at Restore 2025: youtu.be/w08a1eGIaTc (at 48:00 he exposes the covering doctrine) The book he mentions – Spiritual Authority – is discussed in greater depth here: youtu.be/-zodJe7bGYE
This website also offers further understanding of the root problem: http://www.wickedshepherds.com/DelegatedAuthority.html
Men don’t wake up in their early 20s and suddenly start molesting 12 year old girls. He was probably seducing 12 year olds when he was 15 and 16. And who knows how many he’s seduced since then while on “mission trips” or while “counseling”. The convoluted reasoning he & his wife cooked up to sideline the fact he sexually abused a 12 year old & continued doing so for 4+ years is diabolical. He committed a crime for which he never lost a night’s sleep while her life was destroyed.
Bottom line, the judge made the correct decision, time for Robert Morris to face the music.
Morris wanted to hide behind the ecclesiastical veil to self protect from his immoral and criminal acts like the current occupant of the White House wants immunity for acts he commits while in office. Not surprising, Morris was part of 47’s so called “spiritual” advisory board. This case has nothing to do with “forgiveness”. Morris is abusing scriptures to justify his wrongdoing. This is blasphemy. Morris must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s! No excuse. May God have mercy on his soul.
Thank you for reporting on this. The fact that these people are trying to hide behind worldly laws shows what hypocrites they are. Why don’t they obey Jesus’ command to settle with their accuser? And these are people who claim to preach Biblically! All these people should be barred from ever teaching scripture.
Of course, Morris actually teaches the false “manifested sons of God” heresy taught by people like William Branham, so the fact that he is an abuser is just par for the course for people from that tradition. For more information on this, go to the William Branham Historical Research website or listen to their podcasts: https://william-branham.org/site/video/all/3456b0ce-b669-4cce-a1ea-8024c062c8ef
All thumbs up on John Collins Podcast that runs 5 days a week. I was on it myself as a guest in early May talking about my role in starting the snowball running downhill on the Gospel for Asia scandal. Those that pay no attention to history are doomed to repeat it and we really need to pay more attention to historians like John. I did not know, for instance, that Pentecostal’s founding father was also a man just like Morris who abused children and even got dragged into court where he admitted to bleeping a boy while claiming to be sleepwalking. John covers that and more. By looking back at history it becomes much clearer what is actually happening today as old scams have been continuing generation after generation. There really is nothing new under the sun.
If anyone reading this how been hurt or offended by anyone in the church, know that you are not alone. My parents firstly did not believe me, and the the second time allowed it to be swept under the rug, and the third time said, “Why did you wait until now to tell us? Why are you making this up about your teacher?” from a Christian school. Three times, never dealt with properly, and I was never even believed until One person confessed, and everybody made it go away, but it never went away in my mind, or my spirit. It ruined sex for me, and now that I am 54, and it happened starting when I was 13, and until I was 17, I was 50 before I could even bring it up to my wife. But you are not alone.
Thank you for sharing, Gerald.
Not 3 times, but 3 different people, from 13 until I was 17. But anyone hurt like this, I do pray for you, I promise. It is not your fault. You are not to blame. It is their shame, their sin, not yours. I wish I could take your pain myself. I do not know you, but I do love you, and so does Christ.
Gerald, Have you considered going public, with names and details and confronting the abusers and their families? Consider websites like Julie Roys or Wartburg watch or even a video recorded and published on Youtube. Don’t allow it to go with you to the grave and the wrongdoers go scot free. Don’t allow false teachers to tell you to “simply forgive and move on”. They likely have their own sins to cover up and that is why they teach this. You can remove feelings of hatred and bitterness from your heart even while withholding forgiveness because there is no repentance nor restitution from those who wronged you.
This lawsuit is for 1 million dollars in damages? And at the same time Morris is suing his church for a multimillion dollar retirement pension? I don’t know the realities of the very rich, but Morris is listed as having a net worth of 117 million dollars. Maybe it’s all tied up in real estate or maybe it’s all funny money on unrealistic and unsellable stock valuations, but why would he even care about 1 million dollars. All he’s doing is keeping his name in the press in a negative light. The dude is 64 years old, why not just settle and quietly disappear (after his slap on wrist sentence anyway).
Not sure how this is even a story. Any competent defense attorney is going to seek to have a case dismissed at the onset. That being said, these predators who have hidden in the clergy need to be expelled from ministry, not “restored” to leadership. There are certain sins that disqualify you from positions of authority and public trust just as there are in our civil society. He can repent and be forgiven by God but there are limits to what he may ever do inside the church again. There are consequences for certain actions in the temporal world. And scripture backs me up.