Written by Andrew Wiseman

The Logan Circle churches may have a new argument in the battle over parking enforcement: religious freedom. The neighborhood echoed with calls of “newcomers” and a lack of respect this Sunday as local pastors and politicians addressed at least 100 churchgoers in the latest salvo of the Logan Circle parking controversy. Behind a banner saying “Rally for Religious Freedom, Saving the Soul of the City” pastors and parishioners from Logan Circle and Shaw churches (and other churches around D.C., according to buses parked on the circle) tried to get their voices heard. Being a (white, non-car owning) Logan Circle resident for about a year, I hadn’t heard about the rally, and just happened to stumble upon it about midway through. The event didn’t seem to attract many people besides those from the black churches, though there were a handful of white people, a couple of reporters and photographers, and a mounted police officer who left early.