Skip to content
Photo: Tennessee Supreme Court Building in Nashville; via Wikipedia.
The Tennessee Supreme Court heard arguments today in a closely watched defamation case that could shape how religious institutions respond to allegations of sexual abuse while asserting constitutional protections under the church autonomy doctrine, Baptist Press reported.
The case centers on a lawsuit brought by Preston Garner against the Southern Baptist Convention and others. Garner alleges that a letter sent in early 2023 following a report to the SBC’s abuse hotline resulted in his termination from a Christian school and the withdrawal of a job offer from a church.
Attorneys representing the defendants argued that the dispute involves internal church governance and religious decision making that should be shielded from judicial review. “Religious bodies have religious ways of approaching [these matters],” said an attorney who represents the SBC and related parties. “That’s obviously the case here, where the religious polity really plays a significant role in how the convention itself can interact with its member churches.”
The court also heard from Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice, who emphasized the constitutional implications of forcing religious organizations into litigation over internal processes. “The very process of requiring religious institutions to engage in litigation over matters of their faith doctrine and internal governance, itself, causes a constitutional harm under the religion clauses,” he said.
The dispute traces back to a report submitted to the SBC abuse hotline in 2022. The report involved an allegation of sexual abuse said to have occurred more than a decade earlier. The woman who made the allegation has not been publicly identified. She accused Garner, then a worship pastor and school music teacher, of abuse during his time working at a church.
In January 2023, a representative of the SBC Credentials Committee sent a letter to Everett Hills Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, where Garner had recently resigned. The letter informed the church of the abuse report and stated there was “a concern” about the church’s relationship with the SBC. It requested a response within 30 days and noted that the issue could affect whether the church remained in friendly cooperation with the Convention.
Garner maintains that the letter directly led to his dismissal from The King’s Academy, a Christian school, and to First Baptist Church in Concord withdrawing an employment offer. He later began serving as a worship and music minister at another church in Knoxville in September 2024.
Garner’s attorney argued that the case does not involve internal governance of the SBC because his client has no claims against Everett Hills or The King’s Academy. Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sarah Campbell challenged that position, noting that the SBC’s structure and denominational governance cannot be separated from how it communicates with member churches. “You’re asking us to discriminate based on a certain denomination’s decision about how to structure itself and how to structure its governance, and we can’t do that under U.S. Supreme Court precedent regarding the establishment clause,” she said.
Arguments for dismissing the lawsuit have focused on two primary legal doctrines. The first is the church autonomy doctrine, which protects religious organizations from government interference in matters of faith and internal governance. The second is the Tennessee Public Participation Act, which provides protections against lawsuits that arise from a party’s exercise of free speech, petition, or association rights.
Four amicus briefs have been filed in support of the SBC’s position. The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed to review the case last summer after lower courts issued conflicting rulings on the applicability of the church autonomy doctrine and the TPPA.
The SBC Credentials Committee, which was restructured in 2019, is tasked with determining whether churches are in friendly cooperation with the Convention. One of the criteria for cooperation involves alignment with the SBC’s stated beliefs and policies regarding sexual abuse.
A decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court is expected in the coming months.
