Court dismisses Jews for Jesus evangelism case

For a third time, a court dismissed claims in a lawsuit against Jews for Jesus prompted by a woman who complained she was defamed when the group called her a "Jewish believer" in its newsletter.

This time, Florida State Circuit Court Judge Edward Fine in West Palm Beach dismissed the entire $1 million suit with prejudice, meaning none of the claims can be re-filed.

The judge ordered the plaintiff, Edith Rapp, and her attorney, Barry Silver, to pay attorney's fees and costs.

Judge Catherine Brunson had twice dismissed similar variations of the same lawsuit.

"Jews for Jesus is pleased to put this frivolous lawsuit behind it and move forward," said Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel for Liberty Counsel, which represented Jews for Jesus. "The lawsuit was a theological attack wrapped in a legal pleading against Jews for Jesus as a Christian organization, because of its outreach to the Jewish community."

Staver said, rather than a legal pleading, the lawsuit read like a polemic against Christianity: "It was essentially a theological diatribe."

The conflict began in July 2002 when Jews for Jesus sent a "Praise Report" newsletter claiming Edith Rapp had asked Y'shua, Jesus, to be her savior.

The report was written by her stepson, Bruce Rapp, an employee of Jews for Jesus.

His stepmother filed suit Dec. 11, 2003, after the death of his father, complaining the stated account was fictitious and that Jews for Jesus knew the account was false when it published the newsletter.

The complaint said Jewish people harbor extreme animosity towards Jews for Jesus and the group seeks the "end of the Jewish religion and the Jewish faith."

But as WND reported, Circuit Court Judge Catherine Bruns agreed in May 2004 to a motion by Liberty Counsel to dismiss the case, which argued it was not defamatory to call someone a Christian. A defamatory statement, the group said, must be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Simply calling someone a Christian in America is not highly offensive to a reasonable person, nor should it be, Liberty Counsel stated.

Allowing the case to go forward, the group argued, would give effect to religious prejudices by recognizing and approving the prejudices that some individuals may have against Christian organizations such as Jews for Jesus.

At the 2004 hearing, Edith Rapp's attorney asserted that calling Edith a member of Jews for Jesus was the same as calling a Christian a member of al-Qaida or the Nazi party.

The newsletter in question was Bruce Rapp's recounting of his visit with his father and stepmother, "Edie," before his father died.

It read: "Edie began to ask me questions about Jesus … when I asked her if she would like to ask God for forgiveness for her sins and receive Y'shua she said yes! My stepmother repeated the sinner's prayer with me – praise God!"

The newsletter included a prayer request urging prayer for "grace and strength for new Jewish believer Edie and salvation for her husband, Marty."

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Jewish evangelism case dismissed

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