Church Sues Woman Over Bad Google Review

Julie Anne Smith labeled church a 'cult'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 15, 2012 4:40 PM CDT
Church Sues Woman Over Bad Google Review
   (Shutterstock)

An Oregon church is suing a woman who called the place a "cult" in a Google review. The defamation suit is seeking $500,000 after Julie Anne Smith allegedly accused the "creepy" church of "indoctrination," reports the Raw Story. "Don’t waste your precious lives and relationships being held emotionally/spiritually captive by this so-called church," Smith wrote, alleging that the pastor knew of a sex offender in the church but had done nothing to protect kids.

Smith tells KATU that her family was shunned after she left the church. "I thought, I’m just going to post a review,” she says. “We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?” Beaverton Grace Bible Church pastor Chuck O'Neal posted his own Google comment accusing Smith of "hateful lying slander." "Her many lies and vicious criminal accusations will not stand in the light of day in the Washington County courthouse or in the coming courtroom before God," he wrote. (More church stories.)

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