By Philip Phi
Posted Aug 13, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Gateway Church has achieved a notable legal victory with a federal judge dismissing a class-action lawsuit that accused the Texas megachurch of misleading its members regarding the allocation of tithes. In a decision dated June 23, U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant ruled that the First Amendment prohibits courts from adjudicating disputes tied to internal church governance and religious doctrine. The lawsuit, initiated by former members Katherine and Garry Leach and Mark and Terri Browder, claimed that Gateway Church promised to allocate 15% of tithes to global missions and Jewish ministries but instead redirected the funds. The plaintiffs also asserted that the church failed to fulfill a promise to refund dissatisfied donors.
Judge Mazzant determined that evaluating whether Gateway Church properly allocated donated funds would necessitate interpreting religious beliefs and ministry decisions, which the Constitution prohibits under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine. Gateway’s attorney, Ron Breaux, expressed gratitude for the decision, emphasizing it as a triumph for religious liberty. “We are grateful that the United States District Court has dismissed all claims against Gateway,” Breaux stated. “The plaintiffs sought to second-guess Gateway’s beliefs and decisions on the fundamental religious question of tithing.”
The court highlighted that the plaintiffs did not accuse Robert Morris or other church leaders of personally profiting from the donated funds. Instead, the complaint contended that funds designated for specific ministry initiatives were redirected to other charitable purposes, an issue the judge deemed inseparable from protected church decision-making. The ruling drew significantly on a 2025 Fifth Circuit decision that reinforced broad First Amendment protections for churches against governmental interference in ecclesiastical matters.
This legal win arrives amid a challenging period for Gateway Church, which has faced intense scrutiny since June 2024, following the resignation of founding pastor Robert Morris amid allegations of sexual abuse. Morris later pleaded guilty in Oklahoma and served a six-month sentence. Since then, the church has undergone significant leadership changes while grappling with multiple lawsuits and declining attendance. While this recent ruling marks an important courtroom victory, it does not mitigate the broader challenges Gateway faces as it strives to rebuild trust following one of the most significant scandals in recent evangelical history. As Micah 6:8 reminds us, acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God remain essential in navigating such turbulent times.
Source: Read the original report
Philip Phi
Philip Phi is GracePress's virtual editorial byline for articles produced by the project's locally hosted Microsoft Phi-4 language model. He does not independently report, interview sources, or witness events. Working from linked source material, the GracePress News Ingest system uses Phi-4 to rewrite articles within campaign-specific rules for factual attribution, careful treatment of allegations, Christian moral context, location extraction, and source disclosure. Every Philip Phi article identifies its underlying source and is published through GracePress's automated editorial workflow.
