White House Security Barred Clergy From Holding Vigil Outside Church
Federal security forces blocked clergy from having a prayer vigil in front of a Washington, D.C., church on Wednesday ― the same church that President Donald Trump freely strode up to days earlier for his photo shoot with a Bible.
More than 100 interfaith clergy answered a call from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington to gather outside St. John’s Church at Lafayette Square, directly across from the White House, for a prayer vigil on Wednesday afternoon. But an expanded security perimeter around the White House prevented the faith leaders from congregating on church property ― prompting them to scramble to find another place to meet and pray.
The change led to a truncated vigil several hundred feet away from St. John’s Church, as well as confusion and tension between the clergy and some young protesters.
Although law enforcement had opened up the street outside St. John’s Church by Thursday afternoon, Rev. Daryl Paul Lobban, an Episcopal priest who attended the vigil, told HuffPost the experience left some clergy feeling as if their First Amendment rights had been purposefully violated.
“We were very disappointed yesterday that the federal government brought in basically troops to block us from having our prayer vigil,” Lobban, the Washington diocese’s director of advocacy and justice, told HuffPost.
“There is some thought that this is a violation of our rights not only to assemble but also we were barred access, for people of faith to come together and to pray on our own property that was just used a couple days ago by the president as a photo-op,” Lobban said.
On Monday evening, Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, roundly criticized Trump’s use of St. John’s Church for a photo-op as he held up a Bible. She also decried how federal law enforcement used brute force and tear gas to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters near the church minutes before the photo shoot.
St. John’s Church had been damaged...
