On The Front Lines
TRI Attorneys Defend Christian Publishers' Right to Publish Books on Issues of Public Concern
HOUSTON -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have submitted a "friend of the court" brief with the Texas Court of Appeals in defense of the right of publishers and authors to freely publicize matters of public concern without having to face costly defamation lawsuits. Filed on behalf of a group of leading Christian publishers and ministries that includes Moody Publishers, Gospel Light Books and the Christian Film and Television Commission, the Institute's amicus brief comes in response to a defamation lawsuit brought against Harvest House Publishers by a religious group known as The Local Church, which was referenced in a book about cults. Insisting that the defamation lawsuit can only serve to chill the speech of individuals who wish to engage in open, robust discussion relating to matters of public concern, Institute attorneys are asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit and uphold the publisher's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and press."The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that the First Amendment provides substantive protections to the press from defamation charges," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Believing that religion is one of the 'great questions' on which public discussions and debate must remain free, open and robust, it is our hope that the appeals court will protect the right of all publishers to freely contribute to the marketplace of ideas."
In the introduction to their 700-page book, Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, published by Harvest House, authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon define the word "cult" to be "a separate religious group generally claiming compatibility with Christianity but that adheres to select teachings that are theologically incompatible with teachings of the Bible." Within the introduction, which provides an overview of cults and new religions in general, the authors also provide a list of characteristics of a hypothetical "perfect cult," along with the qualifier that "[n]ot all groups have all the characteristics and not all groups have every characteristic in equal measure." Nevertheless, the Local Church, which is mentioned a few times in the book yet never singled out as promoting or engaging in behavior attributed to some sects and cults, filed a lawsuit charging that the list of characteristics found in the introduction defamed it. Institute attorneys maintain that the language found in the Harvest House book is protected by the free speech and press provisions found in the United States and Texas Constitutions. Furthermore, in their brief, Institute attorneys cited numerous Supreme Court rulings that affirm protections for the press from defamation charges. In affirming the right of all publishers and authors to freely engage in vigorous debates of public concern, Institute attorneys quoted from the Supreme Court's 1984 ruling in Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, in which the Court declared, "The First Amendment presupposes that the freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty--and thus a good unto itself--but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole."
A copy of the brief is available here.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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