November (Web-only) 2000

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What if they threw a protest and nobody came?
The Indianapolis Star reported yesterday that there was a good chance the U.S. Marshal's Service wouldn't show up to seize Indianapolis Baptist Temple (which the IRS says owes about $6 million). And sure enough, they didn't. "Where are the federal marshals?" asked a frustrated Greg Dixon, pastor of the church. "They're supposed to be here at high noon. Now they're not going to come when the people are here. They are going to slip in at night." The Star reports that 600 to 700 people—including 100 or so from out of state—showed up at the church to stand against the marshals. But as the day wore on, the crowd dwindled. The Marshals Service says it's in no hurry. "We don't want to jeopardize the safety of anybody involved," Frank Anderson, local head of the service, told the Star. (Over the last few months of covering this story, Christianity Today Weblog has been pointing to a rather weak page for the Indianapolis Baptist Temple. It turns out there's actually a rather decent site, which includes a lot of information about its battle with the IRS.) See more coverage from WRTV, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. One of the poorer headlines comes from the conservative-bias-and-proud-of-it Washington Times, which jumps the gun with "U.S. marshals seize church property." Didn't they learn anything from election night?

Late breaking follow-up:
This morning, word followed that the protesters are down to a few dozen, and that the U.S. Marshals Service had seized the church's parsonage.

What if they threw a protest and it didn't make much sense? The U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops is meeting in Washington, D. C. this week, and at will address such issues as immigration, ...