The Experts Speak is the testimony of five expert witnesses who testified on behalf of Witness Lee and the local churches in Alameda County Superior Court on May 28 and 31, 1985. The final expert, Dr. Edwin S. Gaustad, was not asked to testify at the trial but wrote the included article entitled, “Libel and the First Amendment.” (For a detailed background of the court case, see the introduction.)
The testimony of these experts, as contained in this book, remains the same as that of the public court transcripts; however, minor changes were made to complete thoughts and sentences based on a comparison of the transcripts with the audio tapes of the trial. The experts have reviewed the edited transcripts presented in this book, and any corrections that they felt were necessary are included.
The book takes this basic form: The questions asked by the attorney representing the local churches, Mr. Charles Morgan, are followed by the answers given by each of the experts. Judge Leon Seyranian takes an active role in the interchange. The questions and comments by the attorney and the judge are italicized to distinguish them from the testimony of the experts. Whenever the judge is addressed or speaks, the speaker’s name has been indented. The style is meant to reflect the format of the original court record.
Throughout the trial, references are made to four versions of The God-Men: (1) The God-Men I, or The God-Men: Witness Lee and the Local Church (80 pages); (2) the Duddy manuscript; (3) the German edition, or Die Sonderlehre des Witness Lee und seiner Ortsgemeinde; and (4) The God-Men II, or The God-Men: An Inquiry into Witness Lee and the Local Church (156 pages).
Copyright © 1995 Living Stream, Anaheim, CA, USA. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission.