Johnny Hunt’s lawsuit is over. The SBC’s abuse crisis isn’t.

(RNS) — This week, a federal judge dismissed the final claim in an ongoing defamation lawsuit filed by former Southern Baptist President Johnny Hunt. Hunt, a former megachurch pastor in Georgia, was seeking over $105 million in damages and lost wages .

Hunt filed the suit after he was named in a 2022 report commissioned by the SBC on cases of abuse or mishandling of abuse claims by the Executive Committee of the SBC.

The report detailed allegations that Hunt sexually assaulted another pastor’s wife in a beachside condo in 2010, then denied the allegation and helped cover it up with church leaders. After the release of the report, Hunt stated  that he engaged in “only kissing and some awkward fondling,” but denied it was assault or abuse.

RELATED: Johnny Hunt’s last defamation claims rejected by federal judge

The final claim in his defamation suit centered on a social media post made by then-SBC president Bart Barber expressing that Hunt failed to prove the malice required to constitute defamation. The judge also rejected Hunt’s claim that he — one-time president of America’s largest Protestant denomination, former megachurch pastor, frequent speaker and author…