BOULDER - A Christian group departed from its normal mission of protesting abortions to march on the offices of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill on Tuesday.

About 100 members of Operation Save America gathered at CU's Ketchum Building, where Churchill has a basement office, to pray for his salvation.

"That's the power of Christ, to set the captive free from the lies and from those demons that are inhabiting Ward," the Rev. Flip Benham, of Concord, N.C., told the gathering.

About 300 members of the anti-abortion group, formerly called Operation Rescue, are holding a convention this week in Denver.

A contingent traveled to Boulder to protest at two clinics that perform abortions. They changed direction after lunch, driving to the campus in a white and yellow church bus to make the impromptu call on Churchill, who wasn't in his office and couldn't be reached for comment.

Churchill became a national lightning rod in January after a 2001 essay came to light in which he appeared to condone the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A CU faculty committee is investigating allegations that Churchill plagiarized and manufactured historical facts in some of his essays. An administrative committee ruled in March that his opinions on the terrorist attacks are protected by the First Amendment.

Benham cited both the Sept. 11 comments and the alleged academic violations during his talk on Churchill.

"This man has been a blight and a disgrace throughout America," Benham said.

He was also critical of the university for employing Churchill.

"We're going to bring the news of Jesus Christ to the gates of hell," he told followers as they set out on the march across campus to Churchill's office, carrying signs depicting aborted fetuses.

Most students ignored the marchers. A few shouted four-letter words.

Campus police asked Benham to move after professors inside the Ketchum Building said the amplified rally was disrupting classes. Before leaving, Benham said a prayer for Churchill outside the student union.

Earlier in the day, the group protested outside the Boulder Abortion Clinic and the Boulder Valley Women's Health Center.

Dr. Warren Hern, who runs the Boulder Abortion Clinic, said later in a statement that the protesters don't understand that his patients are couples who have decided to terminate a wanted pregnancy because of "catastrophic medical complications."

"Operation Save America is an arrogant, bigoted, hate-mongering, demagogic attempt to destroy the idea of an America that tolerates different ideas, beliefs and cultures," Hern said in his statement. "It's hard to tell who their leaders don't hate."