The pastor of one of the nation’s largest churches and a former spiritual adviser to Donald Trump has admitted to “inappropriate sexual conduct” with a woman who claims he sexually abused her when she was 12 years old.
Cindy Klemischer told religion watchdog blog The Wartburg Watch on Friday that Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church in Texas, asked to enter her room while she was with her family for Christmas in 1982. She was 12 at the time and Morris was 20. She said Morris sexually abused her and then told her not to say anything about his actions because “it would ruin everything,” according to the report. The abuse continued for years, until Klemischer confided in a close friend and Morris’ wife found out, leading to him stepping down from his pastorate.
He eventually returned to church and founded Gateway Church in 2000, growing it into one of the largest megachurches in the country, with 100,000 people in weekly attendance, according to the church. He serves as the church’s senior pastor, and President Trump appointed him to his Religious Advisory Council in 2016.
After Klemisher made the allegations, Morris acknowledged them in a statement to The Christian Post, acknowledging he had engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct” with a “younger woman” but did not acknowledge Klemisher’s age at the time.
“It was kissing and petting, not intercourse, but it was wrong,” he said.
Pastor Morris claimed he received the blessing of the girl’s father and church elders, and was reinstated to his priesthood two years after the abuse was reported. “I asked them for their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me,” Pastor Morris said.
Then-President Donald Trump is flanked by the Rev. Robert Morris and Bishop Harry Jackson of Gateway Church during a roundtable discussion at Gateway Church in June 2020.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Elders at the Gateway Church also told The Christian Post that Morris confessed to “moral failings” and has since been pardoned. Morris has not yet faced criminal charges, but the statute of limitations in Texas does not apply to sex crimes against children.
“Pastor Robert has spoken openly and frankly about the moral failings he made more than 35 years ago when he was in his 20s, before he started Gateway Church. He has spoken publicly from the pulpit about the biblically appropriate steps he has taken during his long process of recovery,” the paper reported.
Still, the church has tried to keep Morris out of public view, and church officials said he did not lead the church’s Saturday services. Dallas Morning News, The church declined to give any further interviews or issue any statements.
Kremischer is Dallas Morning News Despite Morris’s protestations to the contrary, her family never tolerated Morris returning to the pastorate.
“We believe that someone who did something like this should not be in charge of anyone in any industry, especially in the church,” Klemischer said.
As for whether Morris’ public apology was sincere, Klemischer denied it.
“Calling a 12-year-old girl a ‘little girl’ and trying to dismiss what happened as just rough fondling is not repentance,” Klemischer said. “I don’t think that’s repentance. No child on earth should do this. It’s completely unacceptable. There’s no excuse for it.”
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