Witness: Osteen displayed racial bias

HOUSTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Jurors at the "air rage" civil trial of Texas megachurch co-pastor Victoria Osteen heard allegations of racism during testimony in a Houston court.

Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown, who is black, is seeking 10 percent of the net worth of Victoria Osteen and her husband Joel Osteen, who are Christian evangelists and pastors of Houston's 42,000-member Lakewood Church. Brown says Victoria Osteen physically assaulted her on a 2005 flight to Vail, Colo.

A fellow flight attendant, Maria Johnson, implied during testimony Thursday that Victoria Osteen acted in a racially biased way during the incident because she sought help from her, the only white attendant on the airplane, during her confrontation with Brown, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Osteen and Brown allegedly engaged in a heated argument on the plane prior to takeoff, stemming from Osteen's complaint that her first-class seat had liquid on the armrest. Brown says she lost her religious faith and suffers from hemorrhoids because of the anxiety and trauma from the incident, the newspaper said.

Osteen attorney Rusty Hardin, however, then questioned Johnson and accused her of playing the "race card," the Chronicle reported.