The Twin Cities Pride Festival cannot prevent an evangelical Christian from passing out Bibles and discussing his views against homosexuality at this weekend’s event, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Twin Cities Pride argued that its rights should take precedence because it’s paying $36,000 to lease Loring Park on the edge of downtown Minneapolis for the two-day event. The group also said Johnson contradicts the festival’s “message of celebration and pride in being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”

But the judge ruled that the 42-acre park is a public forum, so Johnson’s free-speech rights must be honored. Tunheim said Johnson is entitled to go ahead with his plans as long as he remains undisruptive.

Organizers of a gay pride festival in Minnesota have asked for a court order barring evangelist Brian Johnson from distributing Christian literature construed as anti-gay.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board refused to bar Johnson from handing out materials at the festival, saying it was his right under the First Amendment. Pride organizers say they barred Johnson from last year’s festival because in previous years he misled attendees and tried to entice them to repent for the “sin of homosexuality.”

While the LDS church did all it could to make sure Prop 8 passed, one group of Mormons worked for LGBT rights.

In many religious circles, the repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay members is considered practically a done deal. But Southern Baptists, who have many more active-duty military chaplains than any other denomination, are not giving up without a fight.

Dale Mcalpine was charged with a public order offence after speaking to a community support officer (PCSO) in Workington, Cumbria, in April.

The charge was later dropped by Cumbria Police, which said it respected freedom of expression.

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech.

Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived in Uganda to give a series of talks.

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

In most Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading “moral panic.”

More than 30 Islamic countries have laws on the books that prohibit homosexuality and make it a criminal offense.

Today’s Religion News Roundup includes stories about elves, a ship operated by a religious sect, mosques facing the wrong direction, and mosques possibly spied upon by the FBI.

Also: “I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed.” Yes, it’s about Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Further, the definitive book on the Columbine High School massacre. Germany’s main Neo-Nazi party faces collapse, and according to the Vatican the Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin.

A gay couple is suing the Christian owners of a Cornish hotel for discrimination after being denied access to a double bed.

The owners of the hotel state clearly on their website that double rooms are not available to unmarried couples, gay or straight.

The Christian Institute is funding the hotel owners’ defence costs.

The Westboro, Kansas hate group that masquerades as a church has threatened to picket a sixth form college in England during a staging of The Laramie Project, a play about an American youth murdered because of his sexuality.

Details of the group’s first picket in Britain was posted on their website with the slogan “God Hates England; Your Queen Is A W—-”.

In today’s RNB Roundup: Geert Wilders and more religion-motivated political correctness in England • What happened between a Mormon film maker and a lesbian priest • Church on fire (but not the right kind) • Religious Broadcasters (including the give-me-money-so-God-will-give-you-money-to-give-to-me scammers) tightening their belts • Church’s faith healing advertisement branded ‘irresponsible’ • The never-ending attempt to reconcile science and religion, and why it is doomed to fail. • A source guide to the Bahá’í Faith

Plus: Holocaust denier Richard Williamson on the subjects of Pink Floyd, women’s trousers and ‘The Sound of Music’

Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard‘s former church disclosed Friday that the gay sex scandal that caused his downfall extends to a young male church volunteer who reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard – a revelation that comes as Haggard tries to repair his public image.

The disclosure comes as Haggard, 52, is about to give a series of high-profile interviews to promote the cable documentary about his time in exile. He is scheduled to appear on CNN’s Larry King Live on Thursday, the date of the documentary’s premiere, and already has taped “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” [video]

Amsterdam played host Sunday to a Christmas celebration for its gay community that featured a Nativity tableau with a man in drag playing the part of Mary.

Frank van Dalen, chairman of the advocacy group Pro Gay that organized the event, known as Pink Christmas, said that it sought to raise Amsterdam’s profile as a capital for gays.

In news forums, countless homosexuals condemned the display.

In an HBO documentary set to air Jan. 29, disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says he never claimed to be heterosexual, as was once reported, and he continues to struggle with same-sex attraction.

But he’s committed to living a heterosexual life because he believes it’s better for children to be raised by a mother and a father.

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