Regarding Access To Churches

 The first church I pastored presented something of a “Don Lemon” question. 

There was a member (or not; his status vis a vis the church is really irrelevant, as “church member” was always a vague and floating category with no real boundaries). He was, IIRC, the divorced husband of another member, who really didn’t want him showing up on Sunday mornings.

So she went to the paterfamilias of the church to get him to tell me to bar the ex-husband from the premises. I explained I couldn’t do that since: A) I considered the church a place open to all, and B) I was not about to take on the role of bouncer.

I left that church within a year. Far worse things than that happened (like the member who told me to quit preaching from the Bible so much. He’d read it as a young man, and didn’t need to hear anymore about it). But I was reading a legal analysis (purportedly) about how journalists can commit trespass by attending a worship service without church permission, and I wondered what “permission” looks like. I understand the Mormons have some services open only to members (like part of the marriage ceremony (so I guess that could qualify).  But attending a worship service open to the public?

Lemon has not been charged with trespass (a state crime), but violation of the FACE Act, which requires the use of force by the defendant. “Force” is a legal term of art, defined by case law. I don’t know what it means in this case, but it means more than attendance in a space and a function generally open to the public. And attending in order to report on the actions of a group which may or may not have criminal intent, is not grounds to charge a conspiracy. 

There’s some speculation this will be rebutted with a malicious prosecution defense. I doubt the defense lawyers need to work that hard. This case sounds as ludicrous as the paterfamilias telling me to stand in the church door and decide who’s allowed in.