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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, October 17, 1980
Page 9
Mr. Rader reminded both the audience and reporters that "George Deukmejian,
attorney general of the State of California, our adversary in the lawsuits
we have been fighting, opposed Senate Bill 1493. In his opposition, he
stated he would have to dismiss the lawsuits against us if the new act be
came law."
When Senate Bill 1493 became law, the attorney general did drop the
charges against the Church.
"Mr. Deukmejian is a man of his word," Mr.
Rader announced. "He has dropped the suit against us."
Mr. Rader went on to explain that it was always our contention that not
only were we innocent of any alleged wrongdoing, but that the attorney
general had no right to harass us in the first place. To this extent we
are vindicated for he noted that the Church had convinced the legislature,
the governor, both major and minor denominations as well as constitutional
lawyers and civil libertarians of our rightness.
But are we totally vindicated? Not really. Mr. Rader explained that
"there is a lot of poison to wash out of the minds of the public'' as a
result of the bad publicity. But Mr. Armstrong is even now writing more
ads which will have the effect of diminishing or erasing the stigma in
the minds of many people. Mr. Rader further explained that this would
take time, but the publicity has given us a platform on which to build.
"The main thing this [case] has done for us is it has brought us out of
our shell.
A candle is not supposed to be hidden...," added Mr. Rader.
He then noted that far fewer people knew of the Worldwide Church of God
before the lawsuit. Now the "identification factor" is considerably
higher. More and more people will be watching us, and Mr. Armstrong's
ads and broadcasting will have a tremendous impact.
An employee asked about the effect this will have on other pending legal
matters such as the Church
1
s countersuit. Mr. Rader answered, "We are
not looking to be vindictive--that's not our purpose. Never has been.
We would not bring a suit just to make someone pay. But we would [do so]
to vindicate ourselves--if that is the best way to do it and to stop
others from demanding from us something they are not entitled to such
as 400 and some odd thousand dollars of God's money." He reminded his
listeners that he and Mr. Armstrong and others have been branded in some
minds as criminals and charlatans. Their long-standing reputations for
integrity should be restored.
So will we go ahead with the "big one"--the federal lawsuit? Mr. Rader
said that question is already being studied. We will be getting input
from our lawyers and also from Professor Tribe of Harvard. "We don't
know the answer to those questions," said Mr. Rader. "We don't even know
as yet the actual legal effect of the attorney general's withdrawal from
the case on fees that have been demanded and approved by the lower courts
for Weisman and his cronies, as well as fees requested by Chodos."
In the Forum Mr. Rader forewarned that the Church would inevitably
experience other persecution in the future. In the meantime we can
breathe a deep sign of relief and be thankful for God's intervention.
There is much to do and although persecution is part of our "job descrip-