Anglican Watch

Reflections on spiritually abusive church Tenth Presbyterian

Ed: I recently asked Phil Snyder, who is being sued by his former church, Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, about an upcoming hearing in the matter. Below are his thoughts.

My conclusion is that the church’s efforts to silence Phil via this lawsuit, as well as its apparent smear campaign, in which it claims that Phil is mentally ill and dangerous, are highly inappropriate, un-Christian, and damaging to the long-term best interests of the church. If nothing else, I believe such conduct illustrates an underlying lack of Christian ethics on the part of Liam Goligher and the other “leadership” of the church. And while its litigation strategy may cause Phil financial problems, I predict it will cost the church far more over time in the form of lost membership and revenue, for it is exactly this sort of hypocrisy that is causing young people to turn their backs on organized religion.

I have edited the following for mechanics and clarity. You can also support Phil by signing my petition at http://chng.it/BvWt8CPD

You may recall that in the previous failed injunction attempt on 10/10/17, when Tenth Presbyterian said I was threatening and harassing people, I proved it was lying with my body camera.  A clip from this footage is in the Wartburg Watch article from 12/31/18 titled “What in the World is Going on with the Lawsuit at 10th Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia?” Now I have been asked to talk about the upcoming injunction hearing on 01/15/19. 

Unfortunately, I can not say much about it, except that this hearing is six months after the original hearing, which was days after they filed the lawsuit, when they tried to ram it through the court before I even had a lawyer. When I did retain a law firm, they tried to intimidate and bully my lawyers into not defending me. 

I believe this lawsuit is a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). A SLAPP is basically when Goliath files frivolous and baseless lawsuits in an attempt to bleed David to death financially so he will shut up.

Needless to say, lawsuits are also extremely stressful and take a personal and emotional toll as well, which is what the abuser, in this case Tenth Presbyterian Church, is counting on. 

Imagine this was unjustly filed against you, and you had to spend one quarter of your annual income to defend yourself against outrageous lies that you were mentally ill, delusional, and fit the profile of a mass shooter. If I were to lose, it would cost me nearly two thirds of my annual income. This is just for the injunction. Remember that after this, I face a defamation trial. Who knows how much my legal fees could be and God forbid I lose somehow.  It could cost me everything I own and more. Make no mistake, it is also an attack on my wife, a home school mom, and my minor children. This is what spritual abuse looks like, and contrary to what some say, it is just as serious as physical or sexual abuse. People who have been shunned, like I have, have killed themselves, for example.  

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