Baptism Ban
Legal challenge threatened if baptism blocked
The Associated Press
WFLS News
Date published: 6/3/2004
(Richmond-AP) -- Free-speech advocates are warning today that
they will file a federal lawsuit if officials at a Fredericksburg
park block a baptism planned for this weekend in the Rappahannock
River.
Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Virginia, said he has prepared a temporary restraining
order against the park if officials try to interfere with an
Episcopal pastor's plans to hold a baptism there on Sunday.
Officials at Falmouth Waterfront Park just outside
Fredericksburg asked a group of Baptists to leave the park last
month following the baptism of 12 new church members in the river.
Brian Robinson, head of the Fredericksburg-Stafford Park
Authority, said the group needed a special permit to use the river.
But church members said nobody else using the river that day was
asked to leave.
The Reverend John Reid, pastor of New Generation
Evangelical Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, says he's been
planning Sunday's baptism for six month and plans to go through
with it, despite the park's recent action.
Robinson says he has NOT gotten a permit from Reid for Sunday's
baptism, but says he will likely allow it.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Date published: 6/3/2004
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