Satanic Temple Drops Defamation Claim Over Washington Ex-Members

The Satanic Temple’s revived defamation suit against former Washington chapter members was dismissed without prejudice by a federal court, upon the parties’ request.

The former board members allegedly falsely claimed on the chapter’s Facebook page that the Temple was associated with extreme ideologies after they were fired. The Temple, legally known as the United Federation of Churches LLC, saw its defamation claim revived by the Ninth Circuit, which said that because the claim could invoke religious controversies that incidentally affect civil rights, thus raising questions under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, the Temple needed to specify to the US District Court ...