Bishop Sues Fellow Church of God in Christ Bishop Over Alleged Rape Letter, Online Post

A bishop filed a lawsuit on October 1, 2013, in Atlanta against another bishop in the same denomination, the Church of God in Christ. The suit alleges rape and lies.

Bishop Larry Shaw, the plaintiff, and his attorney spoke with Channel 2’s Jeff Dore about the case. They said it began 12 years earlier, when a woman wrote a letter accusing Shaw of rape and other crimes. Shaw said the church investigated and concluded the accusations were nonsense, and that the letter was a failed attempt to cost him a church election. “I made bishop after that because they proved that the letter was nonsense,” Shaw said.

According to the account, Shaw later came into conflict with Bishop John Sheard of Detroit, who chairs the executive board of the Church of God in Christ. Shaw serves as the board’s secretary. “When I refused to back down, he said, ‘If you don’t back down, I have a negative letter that could affect your career,'” Shaw said.

The lawsuit alleges that Sheard hired a Fulton County blogger to post the 12-year-old letter online. These are allegations in the complaint, and the source does not report a court finding on them. Shaw said that a granddaughter had asked him what he was doing on the Internet, and that the question showed him the child had encountered the material. “That brought me to tears to know that my grandchild knew about this misinformation,” he said.

Shaw said he wants the letter removed from the Internet and wants the court to award damages.

Sheard’s attorney told Dore that Sheard had nothing to do with the blogger posting the letter. He said Shaw does not want his reputation harmed, yet Shaw and his attorney were the ones who contacted the media (Proverbs 18:17), a point that shows why competing accounts need to be tested fairly.

Source: Read the original report