But when his family sued Teen Challenge in 2012 hoping to uncover what had happened, they quickly hit a wall. When he was admitted to the program, at age 20, Mr. Ellison signed a contract that prevented him and his family from taking the Christian group to court.

Instead, his claim had to be resolved through a mediation or arbitration process that would be bound not by state or federal law, but by the Bible. “The Holy Scripture shall be the supreme authority,” the rules of the proceedings state.

For generations, religious tribunals have been used in the United States to settle family disputes and spiritual debates. But through arbitration, religion is being used to sort out secular problems like claims of financial fraud and wrongful death.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#29100049)

FTFY.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#29297413)

But seriously does xo hate arbitration?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#33101809)

Christians should not take their problems before “unbelievers,” Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians. Disputes should be resolved inside the church.

Centuries later, Paul’s writings inspired a group of lawyers in Los Angeles to develop the practice of Christian conciliation. The group’s work ultimately gave rise to Peacemaker Ministries, a nonprofit that devised a legal process that draws on the Bible.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#29100062)

That was in 2006, he said, not long after a federal appeals court upheld one of his rulings, establishing an important precedent for how Christian arbitration can trump secular objections.

The dispute involved Northlake Christian School in Covington, La., and Pamela Prescott, a teacher and principal for about 12 years who said she was fired with little explanation. She blamed her termination on a new school administrator, who she said had undermined her at every turn.

He also made her feel uncomfortable, she said. At one staff meeting, the administrator surprised Ms. Prescott by washing her feet, an apparent reference to Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet.

“It was creepy,” Ms. Prescott recalled. “I may be a Christian. But I am also a normal person.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#29100090)

An entrepreneur and a native of Madrid, Mr. Garcia said Scientology gave him the confidence to open a successful print shop and yogurt store in Orange County, Calif.

Mr. Garcia and his wife, Maria, dedicated years to Scientology, taking dozens of classes to try to reach enlightenment. He estimates that his family spent $2.3 million on courses, fees and donations.

In 2008, Mr. Garcia reached the highest level in Scientology, where he said all of one’s past lives are supposed to be easily recalled. “But that didn’t happen,” he said. “That’s when I began to question everything.”

Mr. Garcia said he sent an email criticizing the church management to hundreds of Scientologists in November 2010. The church declared the Garcias “suppressives” and excommunicated them, according to a legal brief submitted by his lawyers.

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Mr. Garcia said he wanted back the roughly $68,000 he had paid the church for training courses he never took and other expenses, according to his lawsuit. He also demanded that the church return $340,000 he said his family had given for the construction of a “Super Power” building in Clearwater, Fla.

Neither a spokeswoman from Scientology nor a church lawyer commented on the allegations in Mr. Garcia’s lawsuit.

Mr. Garcia said he repeatedly felt pressured to give money to keep officials from blocking his path toward enlightenment or writing him up for an ethics violation.

One night in Clearwater, a church official asked Mr. Garcia for $65,000 to pay for a large cross that would sit atop the Super Power headquarters, according to the lawsuit. “She said it would be the Garcias’ cross,” Mr. Garcia recalled in an interview.

Another former Scientologist, Bert Schippers of Seattle, said he was told the cross would be dedicated in his honor after he agreed to make a donation.

Scientology moved to force Mr. Garcia’s case into arbitration. The process seemed like a farce, he said. An arbitration run by a panel of Scientologists, his lawyers argued, could not possibly be impartial. As a declared suppressive, Mr. Garcia was considered a pariah. Church members who interacted with him risked being harassed, according to court papers filed by his lawyers.

“The hostility of any Scientologists on that panel is not speculation,” his lawyers argued. “It is church doctrine.”

A church official testified that the panel would be instructed to act fairly. In a statement, a lawyer for the church said that even though Scientology had never conducted an arbitration, the church had a set of procedures it used to resolve disputes with members.

In his decision, Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court in Tampa said the Garcias were bound by the terms of the contract they had signed with the church. While acknowledging that Mr. Garcia may have a “compelling” argument about the potential bias of the process, Judge Whittemore said the First Amendment prevented him from even considering the issue.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3034515&forum_id=2#29100096)