The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board wants to exclude from evidence in an upcoming trial the testimony of eight witnesses along with a controversial amicus brief that portrayed the SBC as a connectional hierarchy.
The July 28 motions to exclude testimony concern the upcoming trial on a defamation lawsuit brought by Will McRaney, former executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware.
The trial is scheduled to be held in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi Sept. 18.
NAMB filed motions with the court to exclude affidavits and declarations from David de Armas, brother of the former chairman of NAMB trustees who ironically served as McRaney’s attorney in the past; Scott Thomas and Jimmy Crosby, who both say they denied later employment to McRaney based on information provided by NAMB; Rick Wheeler; Joel Breidenbaugh; Steve Wolverton; Clint Scott; Bill Barker, who offered damning testimony about the way he was treated by NAMB President Kevin Ezell; and Joni B. Hannigan, a Baptist journalist who says she was threatened by Ezell and a staff member over an article she wrote.
NAMB also wants to exclude from the trial evidence of its role in producing and approving an amicus brief filed by the Thomas More Society on behalf of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. That brief — which McRaney contends NAMB not only knew about but helped draft — said the SBC is a “hierarchy” and “umbrella organization” wherein state conventions are accountable to its national entities.
That drew howls of protest from other SBC leaders, because the denomination prides itself on being autonomous at every level. On paper, at least, the SBC has no hierarchy. The ERLC later amended that brief.
In the present case, such a distinction matters because McRaney claims his firing from the state convention was demanded by Ezell and NAMB — who were in no way his employer. Thus, this case is not about clergy employment — a protected category due to religious liberty concerns — but about defamation, McRaney contends.
The latest NAMB motions give no reasons for why the various depositions and documents should be excluded.
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