By First Liberty staff
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – During a court hearing Tuesday, atheist activist Patrick Greene reached a court-approved settlement agreement with Pastor Rick Milby of Abundant Life Fellowship Church. In the settlement, Greene dropped all claims against Pastor Milby, who Greene sued over the construction of a 230-foot cross, which will be “the tallest cross in America.” Read the final court order: FirstLiberty.org/corpus
In the settlement, Greene admitted that his lawsuit was “baseless,” “vexatious” and “without merit.” As a part of the settlement, he entered into a “covenant not to sue,” agreeing to cease filing meritless lawsuits over the free exercise of religion.
Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel for First Liberty, says, “We are grateful that Mr. Greene has admitted that his lawsuit – filed against a pastor for building a cross on church property – is baseless and without merit. Today’s outcome should send a clear message to anti-religious freedom activists everywhere: if you abuse the legal system by suing people simply because you don’t like how they exercise their religion, there will be legal consequences.”
Pastor Milby, Senior Pastor of Abundant Life Fellowship, says, “We are overjoyed that we were able to reach a favorable settlement so we can get back to building the cross and pointing people to Jesus.”
The hearing was presided over by Judge Missy Medary at the 347th District Court of Nueces County.
