JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A once-anonymous critic of one of the largest churches in the Southeast said he is filing a lawsuit against the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office for releasing his name.

Local blogger Thomas Rich is accusing Jacksonville police of violating his rights when one of their officers investigated his blog, uncovered his name and gave it to First Baptist Church -- the much-criticized topic of his blog.

Rich said he feels his first amendment rights and his right to privacy has been violated. That is why he's suing the sheriff's office and the state attorney's office.

The controversy started on Rich's blog called FBC Jax Watchdog. Rich started the blog because he was unhappy with things going on at the church after Mac Brunson took over as the church's new pastor.

"There was never anything threatening on the church. We were talking on the blog about issues," Rich said.

However, a lot of the things in the blog were critical of the new church leadership. So critical that Rich said the church asked a JSO detective, who was part of the congregation, to investigate the blog.

That has spawned Rich's lawsuit against the sheriff's office and state attorney's office because Rich said First Baptist essentially used law enforcement to out him as the blogger when he wanted to remain anonymous.

"I'm very troubled at the thought that a religious institution might be able to use our Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and our state attorney's office to settle a religious dispute," Rich said.

The lawsuit also states that after Rich was "outed" and the congregation knew his identity, he and his wife were given trespass warnings by the church.

"He's got three kids all members of the church. They have all been subject of ridicule. Snickered at ... he has become the pariah of First Baptist Church," Roberts said.

Both the state attorney and general counsel's office said they couldn't comment on the case specifically because they haven't been served yet. However, a member of the general counsel's office said the JSO officer involved was well within his rights to investigate who ran the blog.

"If a criminal investigator is conducting an investigation, that investigator can obtain a subpoena from a grand jury or a state attorney, what ever the case might be, to obtain information regarding the identity of a certain a person within the Internet," said Deputy General Counsel Howard Maltz.

First Baptist released a statement on Tuesday, saying, "First Baptist Church of Jacksonville appreciates the difficult responsibilities of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office as they diligently keep the people of public and private institutions in Jacksonville safe from serious and potential harm. Officer Robert Hinson, who serves on our security detail that is responsible for the safety of 8000 people each week, is a man of great character, integrity and ability. We continue, as always, to strongly support each of them."