Free Republic

The founder of a Texas megachurch pleaded guilty today to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child stemming from incidents that date back to the 1980s. Robert Preston Morris, 64, appeared in court today in front of Osage County District Special Judge Cindy Pickerill. Morris, who resigned last summer as senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, was indicted by a Multi-County Grand Jury earlier this year. The abuse began in December 1982 when Morris was a traveling evangelist visiting the family of the victim in Hominy. The victim was 12 years old at the time,...

DALLAS - Gateway Church founder Robert Morris asked the church for millions of dollars shortly after resigning, the church alleges in court documents filed in Tarrant County. Morris is accused in court documents of asking for a $1 million payout and for the church to pay between $600,000-$800,000 to retirement accounts for himself and his wife for as long as they live. The church said it refused the payments and said that Morris had attempted to circumvent the mediation process. The church is asking the court to issue a stay on Morris' request for an arbitration hearing on the funds,...

Disgraced former Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris, who once led the largest church in America, surrendered to police yesterday, where he spent an hour in custody being processed before being released on a $50,000 bond. Morris was indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child and is facing a maximum of 100 years in prison, with each count carrying up to 20 years. He also surrendered his passport. In 1982, pastor Robert Morris began molesting 12-year-old Cindy Clemishire, initiating sexual contact with her that would continue for the next four and a half years. In 2005,...

In the past year, several high-profile Texas megachurch pastors have either stepped down or been dismissed due to what's been labeled as “immoral behavior” or “conduct unbecoming of a pastor.” These terms may sound vague, but they point to a troubling pattern of persistent wrongdoing, ranging from sexual misconduct to financial dishonesty and abuses of power.Tony Evans resigned from his pastoral duties at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, in June 2024 due to “past sins.” While he clarified that he had not committed a crime, he admitted to a failure to exercise righteous judgment. The specifics of the...

More details have emerged regarding the sex abuse committed by Robert Morris on a 12 year old girl beginning in 1982. Robert Morris would go on to pastor Gateway Church, the largest megachurch in the United States. According to Morris, he stepped back into ministry with the blessing of Cindy Clemishire’s father who failed to report him to the police. Clemishire then alleges that Robert Morris offered her only $25000 to sign an NDA around 2005. More details have emerged from this negotiation including the remarks of Robert Morris’s lawyer who appears to blame a child for being molested. NBC...

During the Revolutionary War, our new nation faced a financial crisis. The colonies had no money to pay for the war and the prospects of raising funds were dismal, at best. Colonial troops had not been paid the money due them, so protests ensued. Some officers even surrounded the Continental Congress and held it for ransom, trying to get what was promised the troops for years of hardship, struggle and deprivation. Our young country was very near imploding after all the years of bloodshed, sacrifice and valiant commitment to the dream of liberty. Enter Robert Morris: the richest man in...

When reading the Declaration of Independence over the holiday weekend, it’s easy to skip over the names of the signers and focus instead on the sweeping language of the second paragraph. This overlooks the fact that the signers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in order to found a country upon self-evident truths rooted in the nature of man.

This year marks 225(older, but timeless article) years since our Founding Fathers gave us our National Birth Certificate. We continue to be the longest on-going Constitutional Republic in the history of the world. Blessings such as these are not by chance or accidental. They are blessings of God. On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to approve a complete separation from Great Britain. Two days afterwards — July 4th —the early draft of the Declaration of Independence was signed, albeit by only two individuals at that time: John Hancock, President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress. Four days later,...