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Rick Warren criticizes sexual abuse of Robert Morris

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The fallout from Robert Morris’ resignation from Gateway Church continues after he caused an uproar following allegations that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.

Well-known Christian author and retired pastor Rick Warren is outspoken in his condemnation of the reports about Morris. Warren wrote on X: “I am angry and disgusted to hear of Robert Morris’ child sexual abuse, and my heart breaks for Cindy Clemishire. Sexually abusing a 12-year-old child and then continuing to do so for years is not just an ‘inappropriate relationship.’ It is a crime. Child sexual abuse is an evil punishable by law. You cannot simply confess when you are caught and move on without consequences.”

Daystar Television Network announced this week that it had removed all of Morris’s programs from its network, and Gateway Church elders also separately launched an investigation into the allegations against their former leader.

“We are deeply saddened and saddened by the recent and very serious allegations against Pastor Robert Morris involving the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old minor,” Daystar said in a statement. “In light of these events and a recent statement from Gateway elders, Daystar leadership has made the decision to remove all of Pastor Robert Morris’s broadcasts from our schedule.”


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Summary of events

As CBN News previously reported, Morris, 62, who resigned from Gateway on Tuesday, June 18, issued an initial statement on the allegations against him, in which he again used the term “young lady.”

In that statement to The Christian Post, Morris described what he called “inappropriate sexual conduct toward a young lady” in a home he lived in when he was in his twenties. “It was kissing and petting and not sexual intercourse, but it was wrong,” he said.

The preacher further explained that this behavior occurred “multiple times” over several years. Morris said the situation “came to light” in 1987. He said he confessed, repented, sought counseling and returned to ministry two years later with the support of the victim’s father.

For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that the plaintiff, Cindy Clemishire, now 54 years old, has denied the latter allegation.

“I submitted myself to the elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father,” Morris said. “They asked me to step down from the ministry and accept counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. I have been leading purity and responsibility in that area ever since.”

That statement sparked another firestorm after Clemishire and others criticized the language used and more details about the allegations against Morris emerged.

Gateway elders initially issued a statement addressing the allegations against Morris, specifically citing the preacher’s “moral failure.”

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“Pastor Robert has spoken openly and honestly about a moral error he made over 35 years ago, when he was in his twenties and before he founded Gateway Church,” the elders’ initial statement said. “He has publicly shared from the pulpit the proper biblical steps he has taken in his lengthy restoration process.”

The elders said the matter had been reported to church leaders.

However, after Morris’ resignation, the church issued a second statement saying that the extent and details of the allegations against the preacher had been unknown until now.

“The elders had previously assumed that Morris’ extramarital relationship, which he had often mentioned during his tenure, was with ‘a young lady’ and not the abuse of a 12-year-old child,” it said. “We are deeply dismayed and appalled by what has come to light in recent days and we extend our deepest sympathies to the victim and her family.”

Clemishire has again denied these allegations, saying that in 2005 she sent an email to Robert Morris’s Gateway email address and provided him with details of the alleged crimes.

“Former Gateway elder Tom Lane received and responded to my email. He confirmed that the sexual abuse began on December 25, 1982, when I was 12 years old,” she said in a statement through attorney Boz Tchividjian, grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham.

Clemishire continued, “In 2007, my then-attorney, Gentner Drummond (the current Attorney General of Oklahoma), again sent a letter to Robert Morris in hopes that he would help me recoup the thousands of dollars I had spent on counseling as a result of this abuse. His attorney also confirmed the data and then tried to blame me for the abuse.”

To read the full story, visit our content partners at CBN News.

Reprinted with kind permission of www.cbn.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.

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