By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Wednesday, April 02, 2025

A federal judge has dismissed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and the chair of its search committee, Valerie S. Grant, citing the First Amendment's "ministerial exception."

The ruling came Monday in a 19-page order and opinion by Dale E. Ho., a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of New York.

The Rev. Eboni Marshall Turman, a Yale Divinity School professor who made history when she became the youngest pastor ordained at Abyssinian in 2007, filed the lawsuit against the church and Grant in December 2023. She alleges she was ultimately rejected for the church's top job because of her sex.

Ho agreed with attorneys for the church and Grant that, because of the ministerial exception, the court is barred from entangling itself in the affairs of the church even if there are legitimate claims of discrimination. The ministerial exception is a legal principle prohibiting courts from interfering with "the employment relationship between a religious institution and one of its ministers."

"To determine whether Abyssinian's proffered reason for declining to hire Dr. Marshall Turman — her lack of qualifications — is pretextual, the Court would have to engage in exactly the type of inquiry-based entanglement from which this Court is prohibited. Under the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, it is not the business of this Court to question or otherwise look beyond Abyssinian's stated reasons for finding Dr. Marshall Turman unqualified to serve as its senior pastor," Ho wrote.

"There is no way for this Court to resolve Dr. Marshall Turman's employment discrimination claim without becoming entangled with Abyssinian's ecclesiastical innerworkings. It is therefore not premature to apply the ministerial exception at the motion to dismiss stage of this litigation. Accordingly, because the ministerial exception applies, Dr. Marshall Turman's employment discrimination claim against Abyssinian is dismissed."Because the ministerial exception bars Turman's employment discrimination claims against the church, Ho reasoned that "it also shields Grant from liability under the same cause of action. Therefore, the claims against Grant are dismissed."

Reacting to the dismissal, Abyssinian Baptist Church spokesperson LaToya Evans told The Christian Post in a statement that the church is looking forward to moving on with their new pastor, Kevin R. Johnson.

"We are grateful that the members of Abyssinian can continue to worship, heal and embrace their new Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Johnson who has already helped to grow the historic church," she said. "Under Rev. Dr. Johnson's leadership, Abyssinian's congregation has already experienced meaningful growth and renewed spiritual connection.

Turman remained defiant in a statement on Facebook Tuesday, arguing the dismissal of her lawsuit did not vindicate Abyssinian Baptist Church.

"The Abyssinian Baptist Church did not argue that they did not discriminate against me. The church argued that, because they are a religious institution, they have the RIGHT to discriminate against me. In other words, Abyssinian (which recently self-identified as the 'Black Vatican') can do bad things to people because they are legally immune," she wrote.

"While under the lower court's ruling the church's argument is legally viable, there is no doubt that the argument is morally egregious, reprehensible, and anti-Christian at its core. The court said as much in its opinion. The Mother Church of Black Baptists, born in resistance to discrimination, has openly and brazenly embraced discrimination against Black women in pastoral leadership; and in an action that echoes the current Trump administration, has publicly lied about it," she added.

Following the death of the church's previous pastor, Rev. Calvin Butts, in October 2022, Abyssinian Baptist Church said it conducted a comprehensive pastoral search process that included 40 candidates from diverse backgrounds across age, gender and sexual orientations.

In June 2024, Johnson was named the church's new pastor and has served in that role since July 2024.

In her lawsuit filed after she wasn't named a finalist for the position, Turman, who researches gender politics in black churches and related issues, asserts the selection process was unfair. She accused Grant of asking her inappropriate questions that weren't raised with male candidates for the job.

"Gender discrimination motivated the decision not to hire (Marshall Turman), a fact discussed openly during meetings of the Committee, including by Grant and another Committee member, who said that Abyssinian would only hire a woman as its Senior Pastor 'over my dead body,'" the complaint says.

Turman alleged that before his death, Butts "told her she could never be senior pastor because Abyssinian would never hire a woman for the position" and worked to ensure that the male line of succession would continue.

"When Abyssinian's longtime pastor, the Reverend Doctor Calvin O. Butts III, announced his intention to retire, the church formed a committee to find a replacement senior pastor.  Per Abyssinian's by-laws, when the office of pastor becomes vacant, the Diaconate shall convene a group of no more than seventeen of the church's members in good standing to serve as the 'pulpit search committee,'" Turman's complaint says. 

"But it was Dr. Butts, not the Diaconate, who selected the congregants tasked with finding his replacement. And the committee was ultimately comprised of twenty-seven, not seventeen or fewer, members. Dr. Marshall Turman alleges that Dr. Butts involved himself in the appointment of the committee's members to ensure that Abyssinian's new senior pastor was a man."

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/gender-bias-lawsuit-against-abyssinian-baptist-church-dismissed.html