Diva
03-25-02, 06:01AM
FORT WORTH (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1305953) -- A Tarrant County jury has awarded $300,000 to a woman who claimed that members of her church restrained her and attempted to perform an exorcism on her six years ago.
The pastor and several members of Pleasant Glade Assembly of God Church in Colleyville were found liable for abusing and falsely imprisoning Laura Schubert, who was 17 at the time.
"This is a situation where religion went real bad," Schubert's father, Tom Schubert, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for its Saturday editions.
In an earlier court ruling, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth agreed with church attorneys that discussing the denomination's doctrine on demonic possession would violate the church's religious freedom.
Instead, jurors listened for three weeks as 49 witnesses sidestepped the religious aspects of the case.
Schubert's lawsuit described two nights in June 1996 when church members restrained her, anointed the sanctuary with holy oil, rapped on pews and propped a cross against church doors to keep or drive demons out.
She said the experience led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide before finally seeking psychiatric treatment.
"This was not a situation of prayer," Schubert, now 23, said. "They were trying to commit an exorcism on me."
David Pruessner, an attorney for the church, argued that Schubert was suffering from a mental disorder and that church members didn't harm her.
These are what I consider 'cults'. They're so fanatical that it's 'sacrilegious. They've taken over being G-d by condemning and even holding medical care from an ailing person.
Do you believe that holding people against their will or withholding medical attention because of religious beliefs should be sanctioned under "Freedom of religion"?
The pastor and several members of Pleasant Glade Assembly of God Church in Colleyville were found liable for abusing and falsely imprisoning Laura Schubert, who was 17 at the time.
"This is a situation where religion went real bad," Schubert's father, Tom Schubert, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for its Saturday editions.
In an earlier court ruling, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth agreed with church attorneys that discussing the denomination's doctrine on demonic possession would violate the church's religious freedom.
Instead, jurors listened for three weeks as 49 witnesses sidestepped the religious aspects of the case.
Schubert's lawsuit described two nights in June 1996 when church members restrained her, anointed the sanctuary with holy oil, rapped on pews and propped a cross against church doors to keep or drive demons out.
She said the experience led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide before finally seeking psychiatric treatment.
"This was not a situation of prayer," Schubert, now 23, said. "They were trying to commit an exorcism on me."
David Pruessner, an attorney for the church, argued that Schubert was suffering from a mental disorder and that church members didn't harm her.
These are what I consider 'cults'. They're so fanatical that it's 'sacrilegious. They've taken over being G-d by condemning and even holding medical care from an ailing person.
Do you believe that holding people against their will or withholding medical attention because of religious beliefs should be sanctioned under "Freedom of religion"?