April (Web-only) 2000

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Pierre Bynum, a Maryland pastor was threatened with arrest by the U.S. Capitol Police in November 1996 for leading a group in quiet prayer. Bynum sued, and a federal judge ruled Monday that the prayer was not a form of demonstration. "While there certainly are types of expressive acts that rise to the level of a demonstration, any regulation that allows a police officer the unfettered discretion to restrict behavior merely because it 'conveys a message' or because it has a 'propensity to attract a crowd of onlookers' cannot survive a constitutional challenge," wrote U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. (Read the decision in Adobe Acrobat or WordPerfect formats, and read more coverage by The Freedom Forum and The Washington Times.)

Despite warnings from the world's leaders of the Anglican Communion that ordaining homosexuals "threatened the unity of the communion in a profound way," Frank T. Griswold III, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church of America says it is "unrealistic" to think gay ordinations will stop. "I cannot imagine any diocese altering its present direction in the light of anything that has happened, either here or in Portugal," he told members of the denomination's House of Bishops.

Members of Congress are now calling on the fundamentalist school to sever its ties to Ian Paisley, leader of Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party. "Paisley has done his utmost to stir up sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics," wrote Peter King (R-N.Y.) in a letter signed by several other Congressmen. Paisley has visited the ...