Some 65 antiwar activists were arrested outside the White House on March 26 in a show of civil disobedience organized by religious peace groups

Christian Century, April 19, 2003

* Some 65 antiwar activists were arrested outside the White House on March 26 in a show of civil disobedience organized by religious peace groups. They were arrested after they crossed a barricade and refused to leave Lafayette Park. The demonstrators were charged with assembling without a permit, given court dates and released after the carefully choreographed rally.

Among those arrested were United Methodist Bishop Joseph Sprague of Chicago and Jim Winkler, head of the Methodists' social policy agency. "This war is wrong, it is sinful, it is killing," said Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit before he was led away in plastic handcuffs. While small in size, the protest was the most direct confrontation with the White House by religious groups opposed to the war.