Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Judge to decide on ‘necessity’ of prayer: Group says other anti-war tactics failed
(This isn’t on their website . . . it is now.)
Today was originally supposed to be our trial, and since we mailed out many announcements some of us went to morning mass and the federal building in case some supporters hadn’t heard about the change. Two folks did show up.
During the vigil Ken went into the federal courthouse to see if he could get a permit to hold a prayer service inside the courthouse for an end to the Iraq War. You may recall that at the pre-trial hearing the Assistant US Attorney said that not only can you get a permit for this, but that it would likely be issued for even more extreme things. I can tell you that none of the defendants had heard of such a thing as we were planning our prayer service.
After being sent between different offices, Ken found the person presumably in charge of these permits, who said that he’d never heard of such a thing. He will get back to us in the next few days, after looking into the matter.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to hold a monthly religious service inside your local federal building on behalf of the cause closest to your heart?
(On an unrelated note, Ken also learned that the men guarding the lobby aren’t marshalls. I hope to find out what their exact law enforcement title is.)