ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit may proceed against a former Seventh-day Adventist minister who married a woman for whom he was a marriage counselor.
The ex-minister's attorney had claimed the suit violated the separation of church and state in the First Amendment.
The decision will allow a negligence claim to move ahead against former minister Lowell Rideout and, possibly, the Adventist church.
Rideout's attorney said last week's unanimous ruling, which overturned a lower court decision, implies that the state can regulate religion and tells "ministers how to minister."
The case involves Rideout's marital counseling of Steven and Diane Odenthal. Court documents say Rideout had a romantic interest in the wife and told the couple they weren't compatible. When the Odenthals divorced, Rideout divorced his wife and married Diane Odenthal, leading to his defrocking.
Odenthal's attorney, Ronald Meshbesher, said the ruling is precedent setting. "We don't think the minister should be beyond the law simply because he was clothed in clerical garb," Meshbesher said.
The court ruled Rideout went beyond offering spiritual guidance and delved into psychotherapy.