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McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality. The final rulings came Friday from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. Several previous rulings had also gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal. Eleven Virginia congregations...

The Vietnamese Americans for McCain-Palin Coalition will hold an endorsement rally for McCain-Palin at Marriott Hotel-Fairview Park, Falls Church, Virginia on October 11, 2008. Civic, business and political leaders will join hundreds of community members to express their strong support for Senator McCain to be the next President of the United States. As one of the largest ethnic communities in Northern Virginia, Vietnamese Americans will play an important role in determining the outcome of battleground Virginia.

A woman was found dead in her apartment in Falls Church Thursday morning, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Detectives are investigating 29-year-old Genevieve Orange's death as a homicide, police said. She appears to have died from blunt force trauma to the upper body. Officers found Orange's body after they were sent to her building, the Prestwick in the 6100 block of Leesburg Pike, to make a welfare check. Orange was a 2001 graduate of Virginia Tech. She was involved with the McLean Bible Church, according to a relative. "All of us here at the Futures Industry Association were...

A Fairfax County judge dealt the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia a third defeat in their efforts to retain millions of dollars of church property being held by 11 breakaway congregations. On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows ruled on whether the U.S. Constitution's contracts clause applies to the case and whether the breakaway churches had the right to invoke what's been termed the "division statute," an 1867 law that allows a majority of a breakaway church to retain the property. ... The diocese and the Episcopal Church had asserted in an Aug. 11 hearing that even if...

A Statement from the Virginia Annual Council of the United Methodist Church July 11, 2008 On June 27, 2008, the Circuit Court of Fairfax County declared constitutional—as applied to the case before it—a Virginia statute which gives ownership of church property to breakaway congregations of a church denomination, which for years had held the property in trust for the purpose of worship within the denomination, according to denominational doctrine. The statute, known as the “Division Statute,” was enacted by the Virginia legislature only a few years after the end of the Civil War, and was used then as a vehicle...

For years, the Dar al Hijrah mosque was an isolated, slightly mysterious presence in Falls Church -- a stark stone building hidden behind a row of trees, rarely visited by non-Muslims in the multi-ethnic Culmore neighborhood, and known mostly for traffic jams on Leesburg Pike as worshipers arrived for Friday prayers. These days, the mosque bustles with visitors chattering in Spanish and Vietnamese as well as Persian and Urdu. Immigrants from a dozen countries gather there each Thursday, many with toddlers and baby strollers, to pick up donated chicken, bread, fruit and vegetables. On weekends, the doors are thrown open...

"The Court agrees that it was major divisions such as those within the Methodist and Presbyterian churches that prompted the passage of 57-9. However, it blinks at reality to characterize the ongoing division within the Diocese, ECUSA, and the Anglican Communion as anything but a division of the first magnitude..."

Even before the 2001 terrorist attacks, American-born imam Anwar al-Aulaqi drew the attention of federal authorities because of his possible connections to al-Qaeda. Their interest grew after 9/11, when it turned out that three of the hijackers had spent time at his mosques in California and Falls Church, but he was allowed to leave the country in 2002. New information later surfaced about his contacts with extremists while in the United States. Now, U.S. officials are saying for the first time that they believe that Aulaqi worked with al-Qaeda networks in the Persian Gulf after leaving Northern Virginia. In mid-2006,...

9/11 Panel Questions Two Hijackers' Help Sept. 11 Commission Wonders Why Two Hijackers Got Help From Two Muslim Men When in U.S. The Associated Press WASHINGTON June 27, 2004 — The FBI long has contended that not a single al-Qaida operative in the United States collaborated with the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet the commission investigating the attacks has identified two Muslim men who may have had advance knowledge of the plot. The commission found that two hijackers got substantial help from Mohdar Abdullah and Anwar Aulaqi after settling in California in 2000. The bipartisan panel created...

Two University of Virginia students snatched a man off a street corner in the Tysons Corner area, tied him up in a Falls Church motel bathroom and demanded a $500,000 ransom, police said yesterday.

But for Julia Duin of the Washington Times, [and here's the link to her latest with lots of great details], and BabyBlue, none of us Episcopalians would know a thing about any of this. Thank God for bloggers and the Internet and this reporter. I will be emailing out the stories to all of my Episcopal friends, and I hope others will too. . . . Because . . . they sure won't learn the details from ENS or a friendly diocesan newsletter. And you know, I don't have any idea who will win in this lawsuit -- and it...

It was the perceptive Aldous Huxley who wrote that the greatest discovery in life is to learn that you’ve always been exactly where you are supposed to be. Behold, in Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, I am supposed to be in Falls Church, where I launched my weekly newspaper almost 17 years ago, and I am not supposed to be in nearby Herndon or Prince William County. That’s been confirmed for me by the radically different approaches the aforementioned jurisdictions, all relatively close by, have taken on the matter of immigration. To me, such an...

RICHMOND -- Two Republican state legislators are accusing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other Democrats of embracing radical Islamic organizations that support terrorism, an allegation that has outraged the governor and Muslim leaders, who say the GOP is resorting to fear-mongering to win votes. As Republicans work to retain their majorities in the General Assembly, the two delegates from the Shenandoah Valley say they are conducting an investigation into Democrats' ties to the Muslim American Society and Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center, both in Falls Church.

As you may have heard, we had a preliminary hearing on Friday, August 10, in court, at which the court heard arguments on our demurrers and pleas in bar. (Our demurrer asserted that even if everything The Episcopal Church claims is true, they still would have no case. The plea in bar argued that vestry members are immune from suit for actions taken in an official capacity as volunteers). After extensive argument over the plea of statutory immunity, the court was prepared to rule but suggested that the parties work out an agreement. After recess, the Diocese of Virginia and...

From NBC12 News A federal appeals court in Richmond is set to hear arguments in the case of a convicted Al Qaeda supporter. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is a U.S. citizen born to a Jordanian father. He was raised in Falls Church. He was convicted in November 2005 of conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to hijack an aircraft and providing support to Al Qaeda. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Hundreds of Islamic centers in the United States have become a hot-bed of extremist activity; they promote violence, terrorism and hatred against America. "Our initial investigation has concluded there are between 400 to 500 radical Islamic centers in the U.S.," said David Gaubatz, the director of counterintelligence and counterterrorism for the Society of Americans for National Existence. "In those places, they preach an extreme version of Islam that says America and the West is the enemy. They espouse violence, hatred and the need for terrorism." Sporting a beard and Muslim dress, Gaubatz said he went on May 18 to the...

TO THE FAMILY OF THE FALLS CHURCH: If you read the local paper, you know that there have been regular articles featuring the group of TFC parishioners who felt they could not go along with our decision to sever our ties with The Episcopal Church. You might be interested in my most recent letter to Bill Fetsch regarding the request they made of me to have use of the Historic Church, several classrooms and fellowship space for a portion of Sunday mornings. I've attached that letter. As you probab ly know, at a recent Tanzanian gathering of all Anglican primates,...

One of the things that makes Titusonenine the amazing blog that it is, is our amazing commenters. One of our Virginia readers, William Sulik, has compiled a great list of links with background and various legal precedents that may be of interest to those following the developing legal battle in the Diocese of Virginia. This is posted in the comments below, but at Kendall’s request, we’re highlighting it here on the main blog As mentioned yesterday, here is my “Compendium of Posts regarding the Law in Virginia.” ¶ Set forth below, is a collection of the most relevant posts, in...

The Diocese of Virginia has filed suit in various legal jurisdictions regarding real and personal property claims made by 11 congregations where the majority of the membership recently voted to leave The Episcopal Church. The 11 new complaints seeking court action with respect to the real and personal property now held by the 11 congregations were preceded by legal filings last week in which the diocese objected to any transfer of property, citing both Virginia law and the canons of the diocese and the General Convention. Following the votes to separate, eight of the congregations initiated proceedings in their respective...

The Episcopal Church, in consultation with the Diocese of Virginia, regrets the recent votes by members of some congregations in Virginia to leave this Church. We wish to be clear, however, that while individuals have the right and privilege to depart or return at any time, congregations do not. Congregations exist because they are in communion with the bishop of a diocese, through recognition by diocesan governing bodies (diocesan synods, councils, or conventions). Congregations cannot unilaterally disestablish themselves or remove themselves from a diocese. In addition, by canon law, property of all sorts held by parishes is held and must...

VA Churches Respond, Urge Return to Negotiating Table Anglican District of Virginia leaders urge Episcopal Bishop and Diocese to return to negotiating table FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jim Pierobon, 301-520-1758 FAIRFAX and FALLS CHURCH, Va, Jan. 19 - Two leaders of the Anglican District of Virginia today urged the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and its bishop, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, to cease both his divisive rhetoric and his march toward the courthouse and instead return to the negotiating table. "It is still not too late for Bishop Lee and the leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to...

January 18, 2007 Diocesan Leadership Declares Church Property ‘Abandoned’ For release: Thursday, January 18, 2007 Contact: Patrick Getlein 1-800-346-2373 x 30 Today, January 18, 2007, the Executive Board of the Diocese of Virginia took a step forward in preserving the mission and ministry of the Diocese and the Episcopal Church for current and future generations of Episcopalians and adopted a resolution concerning the property of 11 Episcopal Churches where a majority of members – including the vestry and clergy – have left The Episcopal Church but have not relinquished Church property and have continued to occupy the churches and use...

VirtueOnline reported last night that the Diocese of Virginia may be reneging on its protocol for departing congregations and may pursue litigation after Jan. 17, 2007 against The Falls Church, Truro Church, and other churches that voted to depart TEC and join CANA in December 2006 parish votes. The Diocese will not renew a thirty-day standstill on litigation or property transfers. The announcement followed a meeting between Diocesan leadership and David Booth Beers, chancellor of The Episcopal Church. TEC has indicated that it will intervene on behalf of the Diocese. From The Episcopal Church & The Diocese of Virginia: Jan....

I mentioned some time back that my church-- The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va.-- was breaking away from other Episcopal Churches in what amounts to a pretty big shake-up for the Anglican Church. I'm not a member, but I attend regularly, along with about 2,500 other worshippers, including Alberto Gonzales, Fred Barnes, and Porter Goss. It's a conservative, Bible-based church that thinks Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life," and doesn't cotton to the "evolving" teachings of the Episcopal Church that aren't so sure about that whole Jesus thing, which is the entire basis of our faith....

As The Episcopal Church (TEC) finds itself cracking apart, the question on everybody's mind is: "Can departing churches keep their property?" The answer: It depends. Courts differ in how they handle church property disputes. State corporate laws governing property ownership, deeds, and trusts are far from uniform and may be subject to conflicting interpretations. So, as litigation looms, attorneys on all sides are busy researching case law and assembling briefs. Many denominations have clauses declaring that property owned by congregations is held in trust for the denomination: A church is free to leave, but not with its property. For many...

December 17, 2006 A Statement from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia Today a small number of congregations in the Diocese of Virginia announced that they have voted to separate from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Church of Nigeria and Bishop Akinola. I am saddened by this development. The leadership of the Diocese of Virginia has labored for three years to seek another course that would have maintained the integrity of the church and the spirit of inclusiveness that has been a hallmark of the Diocese and the Anglican Communion. The votes...

The Falls Church and Truro Church in Northern Virginia announced the results of their week-long votes this afternoon: an "overwhelming" number (90% at The Falls Church and 92% at Truro) voted to sever ties to TEC and The Diocese of Virginia AND retain parish property. Excerpts from VirtueOnline coverage:"In packed parishes, with standing room only at both services, the two churches were told that they had voted overwhelmingly to leave, with Falls Church parishioners voting 90 percent to leave the denomination and a second vote of 97 percent to retain the church properties. The Rev. John Yates made the announcement...

Truro Episcopal Church, which once included George Washington among its vestrymen, and The Falls Church, two of the oldest Episcopal churches in Virginia and the country, have both decided that they've had enough: In a congregational meeting Sunday afternoon, Nov 12, the Vestry of Truro Church, Fairfax, announced to their parish that they unanimously recommend that Truro should sever its ties to The Episcopal Church (TEC) and remain as full members of the Anglican Communion by joining the Anglican District of Virginia Anglicans in the Convocation for Anglicans in North America (CANA). On the following Monday, Nov. 13, the Vestry...

Gunfire at McLean Home Followed Fight With Wife A former Bush administration official, after arguing violently with his wife Thursday night, shot and killed his 12-year-old son inside their McLean home, then turned a shotgun on himself and committed suicide, Fairfax County police said. William H. Lash III, 45, was an assistant secretary of commerce from 2001 until last year, then returned to teach at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, where he had begun as a professor in 1994. His wife, Sharon K. Zackula, fled the house before the shootings, and police said yesterday they were not sure...

(CNSNews.com) - Fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol, a basement-run organization with alleged ties to Hamas and al Qaeda is a crucial link in the planning of any future terrorist attacks against the United States, according to several terrorism experts who analyzed documents and other information obtained in a CNSNews.com investigation. The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), based in Springfield, Va., is publicly identified as a Muslim think tank but has multiple ties to the terrorism underworld, according to the CNSNews.com sources, who are both inside and outside government. "UASR is a front organization for a terrorist group,"...

By Daniel McGrory No 10 rejects calls for inquiry into bombings as evidence emerges of extremists’ role in global terror network BRITISH agents are operating in the United States to trace links with Islamic extremists from England who recruit Muslims to fight for terrorist groups abroad. The British-led investigation has played a part in identifying a number of US-based terrorists and helped the authorities in Washington to break up an al-Qaeda cell operating in Falls Church, Virginia. The agents are particularly keen to discover if the visitors included Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the July 7 suicide bombers, who is...

“Si se puede. Yes we can,” the signs read. This short phrase meant a lot to students of Falls Church ’s J.E.B. Stuart High School who walked out of their classrooms to protest a recent bill that may or may not be passed by congress. This bill would make it a felony to allow illegal immigrants in the United States . Furthermore, the bill will force new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and will put up fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border. It was on March 27 when some Stuart students walked out of classrooms. For some,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A U.S. citizen accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush said in a videotaped confession that he was motivated by hatred of American support for Israel. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali also said on the tape, played in court for the first time Tuesday, that a top al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia "made it clear I became one of them and that I could speak in the name of al-Qaida." The 13-minute confession was videotaped in 2003 by authorities in Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali attended college. His attorneys want the confession thrown out....

Al Qaeda High - Alleged Bush Assassin a Graduate of Local Saudi Madrassa Stella Jatras, who normally follows the Balkans for us, reports on efforts to establish yet another Saudi Madrassa outside Washington, D.C. Nestled snuggly in the Northern hills of Virginia, lies the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), better known as Al-Qaeda High. ISA's most notable graduate - so far - is Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. Ali was arrested recently for plotting to assassinate President Bush. Ali was born in Houston and later moved to Falls Church, Va., where he was valedictorian of his class at ISA. After graduation, a...

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a U.S. man convicted of plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush and conspiring with al Qaeda to 30 years in prison. In November, Abu Ali was found guilty of all charges in a nine-count indictment, including conspiracy to assassinate Bush, conspiring to support al Qaeda and conspiracy to hijack aircraft.

FAIRFAX, Va. - A CIA worker was arrested and charged with being a serial burglar responsible for more than a dozen incidents near the spy agency's headquarters. Fairfax County police said Tuesday that George C. Dalmas III had been charged with 17 burglaries in McLean, Va., between October and last month. Dalmas, 44, of Falls Church, faced numerous counts of burglary and grand larceny, and investigators said other charges were possible. Investigators said Dalmas was tracked down after a Jan. 24 robbery at the home of Lori Myer, who was able to give police information from the license plates of...

Wearing a brown golf cap against the cold drizzle, Rocky Omary stood outside Walima Cafe in Falls Church, where he and about 50 other men of Middle Eastern descent had just watched the Tunisian soccer team take a drubbing from the Nigerians. That trouncing was bad enough. But Omary had other, more disturbing, insults on his mind: specifically, the recent publication in European newspapers of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. (Nikki Kahn - The Washington Post) "I've been getting a lot of e-mails about it, and I'm distributing them all," said Omary, a Damascus native who sells...

(CNSNews.com) - Fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol, a basement-run organization with alleged ties to Hamas and al Qaeda is a crucial link in the planning of any future terrorist attacks against the United States, according to several terrorism experts who analyzed documents and other information obtained in a CNSNews.com investigation. The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), based in Springfield, Va., is publicly identified as a Muslim think tank but has multiple ties to the terrorism underworld, according to the CNSNews.com sources, who are both inside and outside government. "UASR is a front organization for a terrorist group,"...

Virginia's largest Episcopal parish, in a letter to the church's 2,200 members, yesterday called on Virginia's the Rt. Rev. Peter J. Lee to "repent and return to the truth" over supporting the ordination of the openly homosexual bishop of New Hampshire. Leaders of the Falls Church Episcopal said in their eight-page, single-spaced letter that "no compromise on this issue is possible," although they refrained from specific threats. In the past, the parish's rector has threatened schism. "A Christian leader does not approve of sin, or purport to declassify it," the letter said to Bishop Lee, who backed the 2003 consecration...

A Falls Church notary public was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to 33 months in prison for helping thousands of undocumented immigrants from out of state illegally obtain Virginia driver's licenses and state identification cards. Jennifer Wrenn, 58, was convicted in August of identification document fraud, encouraging aliens to live in the United States illegally and money laundering. Click here for rest of story

Tough times for Prozac Democrats By Gary J. Andres Published December 22, 2005 While visiting a Starbucks in suburban Washington last week, I picked up a copy of a small, liberal weekly newspaper called the Falls Church News Press. Somewhere between its regularly featured reprints of New York Times columnists Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman, its own editorial titled "More Worry Than Hope" argued Americans are "stressed out" this holiday season. The war in Iraq, Katrina and gas prices all contribute to malaise and victimhood.     Even the haven of bankruptcy, it writes, is less of an option for "people who...

Associated Press FORT LEWIS — After logging thousands of miles during their first two years in Iraq, the Army's Stryker vehicles are getting an overhaul before being sent back with soldiers. The eight-wheeled, armored vehicles are being worked on by mechanics from General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., which made the Strykers and has a $69 million Army contract to restore them. Maintenance is taking place at this post south of Seattle and at a company yard in Auburn. The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October. They were used for a year in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The United States has deported a Saudi man who was director of a Muslim charity after his conviction for conspiring to commit immigration fraud. Abdullah Alnoshan of Falls Church, Va., was returned to Saudi Arabia during the weekend after he pleaded guilty to one count of immigration fraud last month. Alnoshan, 44, had been working as director of the Virginia office of the Muslim World League, one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world, the Washington Times said Tuesday. He was arrested in July after a raid by immigration and FBI agents on his...

A Saudi national who served as director of the Virginia office of the Muslim World League (MWL) has been deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on immigration charges. ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said Abdullah Alnoshan, 44, of Falls Church, was returned to Saudi Arabia over the weekend. He was arrested in July by ICE and FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. A criminal complaint charged Alnoshan with conspiring to commit immigration fraud by using fake employment documents to enter, exit and live in the United States. Alnoshan also was accused of seeking to deter...

ASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — Federal law enforcement authorities said in court documents unsealed on Friday that they suspected a group of Islamic charities in Northern Virginia of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more from Saudi Arabia to help finance terrorist attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.The authorities said in documents that they suspected that the network of charitable and educational institutions known as the Saar group in Herndon, Va., used an elaborate system of domestic and overseas financial transactions to "blur the trail" of its revenues and disguise the fact that it was sending money to aid...

Terror Suspect: 'Everyone Makes Mistakes' Thursday November 3, 2005 12:01 AM By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - After confessing to FBI agents that he joined al-Qaida and discussed plans to assassinate President Bush, an American student wrote a letter to his parents saying that ``everyone makes mistakes.'' ``I know this will be difficult for you ... but I've been detained here in Saudi Arabia for some charges of terrorism,'' wrote Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is on trial in federal court for conspiracy to assassinate the president, providing support to al-Qaida and other charges. ``It...

Although the results of Iraq’s constitutional referendum were almost immediately cast into doubt by fraud allegations, Reza Aslan, whose bestselling book No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam predicted a bright future for democracy in the Islamic world, remained optimistic: “Even before Iraq’s constitution was ratified, dire predictions were being made that it would pave the way for the creation of an Islamic theocracy. But whatever problems the new constitution poses for the future of Iraq, the role of Islam in the state is not likely to be one of them.” Aslan maintained this even while...

A Falls Church man charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to kill President Bush told Saudi interrogators that he dreamed up the plot on his own but that it never got past the "idea stage," prosecutors say in court documents unsealed yesterday. Abu Ali, 24, also said during the same interrogation that he "wanted to be in al Qaeda so bad that I decided to go to Afghanistan for jihad." He said he was unable to get a visa to travel there but did join an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia. Abu Ali is charged in U.S. District Court...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush was indicted Thursday on additional charges that could bring life in prison, and prosecutors now say he also planned to establish an al-Qaida cell in the United States. Prosecutors say Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, of Falls Church joined al-Qaida in 2002 while studying in Saudi Arabia and that he discussed possible terrorist operations, including a plot to kill Bush either by shooting or by a suicide bombing.Prosecutors also allege Abu Ali discussed plans to assassinate members of Congress and to hijack aircraft and fly them into...

FAIRFAX, Va. -- The mother who allegedly abandoned her toddler on the Capital Beltway then hit him with the car as he tried to get back in was ordered held without bond Friday. Channoah Alece Green, 22, of Newport News, will stand trial Aug. 26 on felony child endangerment charges. Authorities said that on Tuesday night, Green got angry with her 4-year-old son and left him on the side of the highway near the Lee Highway overpass in Falls Church. She was arrested hours later in Hanover County, about 90 miles south, following a traffic accident there, Virginia State Police...