Christian leader Bill Gothard sued again for sexual abuse
Christian leader and home schooling champion Bill Gothard received another lawsuit for sexual misconduct, resurfacing after a dismissed case from last year.
According to the Christian Post, the founder of Institute in Basic Life Principles was sued by an additional ten women who had previously worked for Gothard. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday and amends the previous case which was filed against Gothard in October of last year.
In response to the lawsuit, the 81-year-old Gothard relaunched his website, where he further defends his claims of having never offended a woman sexually in his life. On the website, he published a statement expounding on te kinds of love that the Bible teaches, sensual love, friendly love and Godly love, and says that the first had never been a motive for him.
"My conscience had been asuring me that notwithstanding the human frailties of my life, [sensual love] did not describe my motives or my life." Gothard said in his website. "So I rested in this confidence. Now I understand how wrong I have been for not consistently demonstrating Godly love."
According to World Magazine, 60 women have now come out claiming to have been sexual abused by Gothard. The first case filed against him by 50 women, who at one point worked with the Christian businessman, was dismissed on Dec. 2, 2015 after IBLP requested the case be dropped due to lack of evidence.
In 2014, Gothard resigned from the company he founded, and that time was when the first news of According to the Christian Posthis scandalous behaviours surfaced after 30 women came out claiming to have been offended by Gothard at some point.
The Institute in Basic Life Principles is a Christian organization based in Oak Brook, Illinois that champions famiy and youth affairs, offering trainings that help in resolving family conflicts. The organization was founded by Gothard back in 1961.