Reported by Bryian Skyz
Finally, a Hawaii based church has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by atheists. The atheists had alleged that five churches had hoodwinked public schools in the area into deals that conned the schools of large sums of money. Two renowned atheists — Holly Huber and Mitchell Kahle had filed the lawsuit dubbed Kahle v. New Hope International Ministries.
Huber is an eminent crusader while Mitchell is the pioneer of the renowned Hawaii Citizens for separation of Church and State. The duo alleged that the churches, which often pay to use school resources for worship, conned the public schools by use of insincere documents to convince the schools to provide the facilities at a cheaper cost which is not in line with the false claim Act.
According the verdict by the First Circuit Court of Hawaii judge, the churches had cheated the public schools of approximately $5.6 million by using untrue statements to reduce and dodge the rental fees for the worship facilities. Furthermore, the churches also stood accused for staying longer with the school facilities than was expected of them.
Mr. Kahle went ahead to explain that the churches were so reluctant to availing the facilities to the schools’ administrations even after acquiring them earlier than is expected of them. However, late last year, the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom had consequently filed a request to ignore the claims arguing that the complaints had not provided compelling evidence. After the court sessions, Judge Virginia Crandall ruled in favor of the duo, stating that the churches could not be exonerated from the claims and gave them an opportunity to build their case and re-file it.
For now, the New Hope Church, which still denies the charges, has no option but to part with $775,000 to clear the lawsuit. Reliable sources hint that Kahle has accepted a payment of $200,000 of the amount. Of the five churches that stand accused, Calvary Chapel Central Oahu and One love Ministries have entrusted the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom to be their advocate for the cases. The organization’s legal counsel stated that Hawaii’s False Claims Acts is not a tool for suppressing churches. ‘’The lawsuit should never have been brought in the first place,’’ said Counsel Stanley. Lawyers for the group have vowed to fiercely fight the lawsuit if refilled.
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