FOXNews.com: Mother Reportedly Sued for Giving Church Bad Review

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Mother Reportedly Sued for Giving Church Bad Review May 15th 2012, 00:19 An Oregon pastor is reportedly suing a mother and her daughter for $500,000 after the two gave the church bad reviews online.  Pastor Charles O'Neal of the Beaverton Grace Bible Church is suing Julie Anne Smith for allegedly writing unfavorable reviews of the church on the Internet, KATU.com reported.  Smith told the website that she and her family were shunned by community members after leaving the church in Beaverton a few years ago. Smith said she then began writing Google and DEX reviews of the church as well as a blog.   "I thought, I'm just going to post a review," Smith said. "We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?" Smith told the website.  O'Neal claims in his lawsuit that Smith's use of words like "creepy," "cult," "control tactics," and "spiritual abuse," are defamation. O'Neal is suing Smith as well as her daughter and three other commentators, according to the website.  Smith, however, says the online reviews and blog are protected under the right to free speech.  "What somebody does in the church is one thing, but when you get out into society we have the right to free speech, and it may not be what people want to hear, but we absolutely have that right," she told the website. "He can say what he wants in the church and say, don't talk about this or don't talk about that, or don't talk to this person, but when you're out in the civil world, you don't do that anymore ... And he's not my pastor anymore. He does not have that right to keep people from talking." Click for more on this story from KATU.com

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