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A disproportionate number of churches that are affected by this prohibition are not wealthy, established communities of faith. They are ones who possess the fewest resources and many work with the poor. Redeemer has many ties with those churches and their pastors, and our church community invests time and resources to assist them to be good neighbors in their communities.

There is still time for things to change.  Lawmakers in the New York Legislature are moving a bill that would overturn NYC’s harsh policy.  Mayor Bloomberg could order school officials to lift the worship ban.  And there are other things happening as well that we will mention soon. My firm belief is that churches and other religious groups will be conducting worship services in New York City public schools on Sunday, February 19.  This unconstitutional and unwise policy must go.

After listening to pastors speak at a press conference in Albany, I now realize that there is another argument that shoots down the “subsidy” nonsense.  Factually, the churches are subsidizing the NYC schools, not the other way around!  The NYC school officials tell only part of the story, and do not admit or reveal that churches have voluntarily spent large amounts of money to help the public schools!

For example, churches have banded together to paint the interiors of at least 16 NYC public schools.  The churches brought in volunteer labor that painted classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, etc., during July and August when school was out of session.  These Christians volunteered hundreds, if not thousands of man hours for free to the public schools.  The improved appearance of the school maintains the physical facility, but also creates a better environment for students to learn.  I have never heard any NYC school officials talk about how all of this volunteer labor offsets the alleged “subsidy” the public schools “give” the churches by allowing them to pay the permit fee to meet in the schools.

And this is not the only example.  New Frontier Church, a predominantly Korean church meeting in a public school in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, donated computers and air conditioning units to the schools.  Another church in Staten Island leaves its musical instruments and sound equipment for the teachers and students to use during the week.  There are other examples like these of churches donating directly to the schools, not in some subversive way to “convert” students or officials, but to be good neighbors.  The Christians who painted the NYC schools during the summer were simply doing good deeds to bless the schools, without gaining any opportunity to “convert” kids (painting schools in July and August when the schools are closed means the kids are not there).  I commend the churches for doing this, and I chide the school officials for not mentioning any of this when they make their dubious claim that NYC is “subsidizing” churches.

Also, I listened on Monday to pastor after pastor describing what their churches do for the communities.  Rather than acting secretly to ”take over the public schools,” as conspiracy-minded secularists claim, these Christians move into neighborhoods full of crime, drugs, poverty, hunger and gang violence and reach out to those in need.  These churches do not take money from the government, but use their own money to help those in need – getting people off of drugs, teaching them to read, helping them to parent their children and strengthen their marriages, etc. And these church members send their kids to these schools, too, because they are part of the community.

Let’s imagine if those churches totally disappeared after the school officials evict them from the schools.  It would cost the NYC government millions of taxpayer dollars to duplicate the programs that these churches operate all with private donations and volunteers!  So NYC is getting a really great return on its alleged “investment.”   By allowing motivated Christians to meet in vacant school buildings, NYC and its people receive far more in return. And this is not even mentioning the intangible benefits the City receives by public schools that are easier to operate because of increasing numbers of people whose lives and familes have become stabilized and filled with hope by churches loving them and teaching them from the Bible.

When one looks at the complete picture, I think it is more accurate to say that the NYC churches are subsidizing the NYC public schools more than the schools are “subsidizing” the churches by allowing them to meet in the school buildings for their worship services.

The NYC school district is taking this bill seriously, because I ran into School Chancellor Dennis Walcott, who had been lobbying lawmakers to defeat the bill.  The NYC School Chancellor is not going to travel to Albany unless he is concerned that the bill would pass.  Unfortunately, Chancellor Walcott clings to the obsolete arguments that every other major school district and most courts in the nation have rejected, that schools must promote “separation of church and state” by singling out religious groups and banning their worship services from the empty school buildings.  The government does not endorse religion by simply allowing religious groups to meet in public schools on the same terms and conditions as every other community group.

We are praying for quick action by the state Assembly, so that the bill can go to Governor Cuomo and he can sign it into law, so the 60 or so churches will not have to leave the NYC schools after next Sunday, February 12.  This is not over yet.

This rationale seems to work fine in extreme cases like use of illegal drugs or human sacrifice. But it would also allow local governments to prohibit use of wine for communion if alcohol consumption was outlawed in a particular town or county. A neutral law could even require a church to refrain from discriminating based on sex when hiring clergy members.

So when a Christian school in Redford, Michigan fired a teacher who was a commissioned minister, the federal government sued the church. (You can learn more about the facts of the EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor Church case here). Government lawyers argued that a Christian school is no different than any other community group like the Lions Club or Jaycees. And as long as laws prohibiting discrimination based on disability or some other protected class neutrally apply to everyone, the fact that the Christian school is also bound by them doesn’t violate that school’s religious freedom. The federal government relied on the Smith peyote case to support its position, and a court of appeals in Cincinnati agreed.

But the Supreme Court reversed that opinion in a remarkable 9-0 decision. It severely limited the holding in Smith and said that even a neutral law violates the religious freedom of a parochial school if it results in “government interference with an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself.” Because the Christian school in that case treated its teachers as ministers responsible for the spiritual health of students, the government could not apply laws prohibiting discrimination to the school. Doing so would have affected the faith and mission of the church itself.

This is a very positive development for religious freedom and churches. Government officials have increasingly subjected churches and their various ministries such as schools, daycares, and homeless outreaches to more and more restrictions. They’ve attempted to enforce secular laws against churches in an effort to interfere with how they carry out their religious mission, who is responsible for doing so, and whom they will serve. For instance, a local government sued a religious homeless shelter in Idaho because it required those taking advantage of its free services to attend Bible studies and other religious activities. And New Jersey government officials are attempting force a church to allow its facilities to be used for same-sex “marriage” ceremonies.

Till now, government officials have relied on the Smith peyote case to support restriction of freedom because the laws they are enforcing neutrally apply to everyone. They can no longer do that now that the Supreme Court has handed down the Hosanna-Tabor decision. Any law that interferes with a church’s internal decisions about its faith and mission is unconstitutional as applied to that church. If your church is being subjected to enforcement of such a law, contact us here at the Alliance Defense Fund – 1-800-TellADF, or speakupmovement.org.

So it greatly surprised me to learn last Sunday that the NYC Department of Education rents Roman Catholic schools to hold public school classes!  On Sunday morning, I learned about P.S. 133 in Brooklyn, a public school that meets in a Catholic parochial school building.  I was so surprised to learn of this, that I walked over to the school to see it for myself. This building has large crosses extending from the edges of the roof, yet NYC public schools hold classes there for children of all faiths.  I talked to the priest at the Catholic church next door, St. Thomas Aquinas (I was there as Mass was ending on Sunday).  The priest told me that the archdiocese rents many Catholic school buildings to the NYC public schools because they need additional space to conduct public school.

During the march, I mentioned all of this, and a woman in the march said that she has worked as a substitute teacher in P.S. 182 in Jamaica-Queens, and that public school conducts classes not only in a Catholic school, but in a Jewish yeshiva!  I was not able to confirm that as I was with P.S. 133, but I have no reason to doubt her words.

I want to be clear that I think it is perfectly fine for the NYC public schools to rent private buildings, even from religious groups, to conduct public schools.  I do not object to that.

What I do object to is the school officials inconsistent reactions:  They oppose a church meeting in a school for a few hours on Sunday morning because a child who happens to be walking by might be confused.  These same officials have no problem with busing school children to a building with crosses on top of it (and who knows what other architechtural features inside that indicate it is a Catholic school).  I am sure the school officials explain to any “confused youth” that the public schools are merely renting the Catholic or Jewish buildings, and that the government does not endorse Catholicism or Judaism by meeting there.  Those children are required by state law to attend public school, which is far more significant than a child wandering by a public school on a Sunday morning when he or she is not required by state law to enter the building.

The school officials are blatantly ”straining the gnat, and swallowing the camel.”  And we could point to further inconsistency over the fact that NYC school policy allows students to conduct worship services in public schools during the school day when students are there.  NYC knows how to accommodate private religious expression in other context, and seems to forget all that it knows when a church seeks to rent a school building on the weekend.

Councilman Fernando Cabrera and several of the pastors held large yellow banners urging support for equal access to the government buildings, as they started down the hill towards the walkway across the Brooklyn Bridge.  The weather was sunny but cool, and the winds picked up as we walked across the bridge.  Curious joggers and strollers stopped to see this group chanting and holding signs saying things like, “Don’t Make My Church Homeless.”

The walk ended with a rally set up on a stage right next to City Hall in lower Manhattan.  A worship band led everyone in Christian songs.  People cheered as pastors and City Councilmembers spoke about how the churches have been good neighbors meeting in the schools and have helped both the schools and people in the surrounding neighborhoods.  One pastors explained how churches had preached the Gospel to gang members who came to Christ and left the gangs.  Whether one agrees or not that people need to give their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, all should agree that it is a good thing for the community when gang members leave their lives of crime and turn to become law abiding citizens.  The pastors and politicians told more stories of churches aiding the poor, helping children with their studies in after school programs, etc.  The government cannot duplicate with a tax-funded program a highly-motivated group of Christians that want to help their neighbors of the community where they meet.  It does baffle me why Mayor Bloomberg and school officials would prefer empty school buildings to allowing these Christians to help the City.

For much of the march across the Brooklyn Bridge, I walked with Bob and Jeannie Hall, one of the pastors of Bronx Household of Faith, and his wife.  They were some of the founding members of Bronx Household of Faith, who moved to the University Heights area of the Bronx 40 years ago to start the church.  As we gazed across the many marchers in front of us passing under the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, Pastor Hall commented that he never dreamed that his little church and the decisions that they made to pursue the lawsuit, would result in this effort that is affecting all of New York City.  We are still praying that on Sunday, February 19, churches and other religious groups will still be meeting in the public schools of New York City.

The Court of Appeals in the Hosanna-Tabor case made a similar argument (which was thankfully rejected by the Supreme Court). It opined that the teacher who sued the religious school wasn’t a minister because she spent six hours a day teaching secular subjects like math, social studies, and music.  Only an hour or so was spent on exclusively religious instruction. The fact that the teacher also lead weekly chapel services, taught a 30-minute religion class four days per week, lead prayer three times per day, and taught a morning devotional was considered to be largely irrelevant.  So the school was prohibited from firing the teacher, even though she violated church teachings regarding mediation of disputes among believers.

The appeals court (and the Associated Press) failed to recognize something even Christians sometimes forget – our biblical worldview and Christian principles affect all aspects of our lives.  That certainly includes how we teach our children all subjects – even those that don’t appear to be “religious” – such as music and social studies.  It even includes math, as demonstrated by the great mathematicians Sir Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes. And it certainly includes religious classes like Jewish Studies at a religious school that has as its purpose inculcating the religious theology and values of a particular religion.

Saying the Hosanna-Tabor case undermines the rights of teachers is like saying the desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education wrongly ignored the rights of teachers who wanted to only teach certain kids. The larger, more important, principle of elimination of racism – or protection of religious freedom in this case – is being missed. Thankfully, all nine Justices of the Supreme Court aren’t influenced by the misguided opinions of the Associated Press.

Consistent with the law against discrimination, chapter 49.60 RCW, no religious organization is required to provide accommodations, facilities, advantages, privileges, services, or goods related to the solemnization or celebration of a marriage unless the organization offers admission, occupancy, or use of those accommodations or facilities to the public for a fee, or offers those advantages, privileges, services, or goods to the public for sale.

Let me break down this legalese.  What this bill says is that if a church rents out its facilities for non-members to use for weddings, then it will be forced to allow a same-sex couple to use its facilities for a same-sex “marriage” ceremony.  Many, if not most churches, will rent their facilities to members of the public who want to use the church building to get married.  Most churches will generally ensure that the people who are using the facilities are not going to use them in a way that is inconsistent with the church’s religious faith and mission.  But the State of Washington is considering forcing churches to open their sanctuaries to same-sex “wedding” ceremonies.

Lest you think this is an isolated occurrence, a judge in New Jersey recently ordered that a church must allow its facilities to be used for same-sex “wedding” ceremonies despite the church’s religious beliefs against such relationships.  The Judge’s rationale in ordering the church to open its facility to same-sex “weddings” was that  the Constitution allows “some intrusion into religious freedom to balance other important societal goals.”

All of this might sound surprising and troubling – and it is.  But for those who understand the inherent and unavoidable conflict between the radical homosexual agenda and religious freedom, the Washington Legislature’s bill and the New Jersey church case are simply sad reminders that we face a culture and a society increasingly willing to trample religious freedom in the name of sexual liberty.  Consider Chai Feldblum, President Obama’s appointed head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC).  Ms. Feldblum heads the agency tasked with eliminating discrimination in the workplace.  When she was asked what should happen “when push comes to shove, when religious liberty and sexual liberty conflict,” she admitted, “I’m having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win.”  For those like Feldblum, the New Jersey judge, and the Washington State legislators in favor of SB 6239, the church’s freedom to follow its own religious beliefs simply do not matter.  As the New Jersey judge put it, the Constitution allows “some intrusion into religious freedom to balance other important societal goals.”  Put simply, religious freedom takes a back seat to sexual liberty.

It’s not too late to stop this radical attack on religious freedom.  As one court put it, the freedom of religion contained in the First Amendment is our “first freedom.”  The Washington State Legislators in favor of SB 6239 need to be reminded of this fact by a vocal populace that is tired of having sexual liberty foisted on society at the expense of religious freedom.  Speak Up now before it is too late.  And stand with ADF as we fight these battles in New Jersey and elsewhere.

- Pastors and other religious leaders are urging people to march with them across the Brooklyn Bridge this Sunday, Jan. 29 at 3:30 pm to urge the Mayor to repeal the policy and to allow the churches to stay in the schools. Even if you live outside of New York City, please consider coming and joining the march (I am going up from D.C. to participate).  If you can come, please assemble at Cadman Plaza Park on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge.  We will rally, pray and then walk across the bridge to nearby City Hall.  Pray for good weather, and that the Mayor’s heart turns toward the churches.

- The NYC City Council Education Committee will hold a hearing at 10:00 am on Thursday, Feb. 2 at the 16th Floor Committee Room at 250 Broadway in lower Manhattan on Resolution 1155, which urges the New York Legislature to approve legislation requiring the Department of Education to abandon its anti-worship service policy.  The City Council lacks the authority to order the Mayor to change the policy directly, but they can ask the Legislature to do so.  And that legislation is already moving through the process in Albany.

- Last Wednesday, the New York Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a bill that would compel New York City to repeal its anti-worship policy. The bill now moves to the Senate floor.  This bill has bipartisan support, both in the Senate and the New York Assembly.  The companion bill in the Assembly has not been heard yet by a committee, but should be soon.

- Please continue praying for this situation.  The New York City policy is a dangerous violation of religious liberty that we do not want to see spread to other states and cities.  Churches benefit communities and help people, and the churches in the NYC schools are examples to all of us how Christians can offer help and hope to their neighbors.  We want the Lord to change Mayor Bloomberg’s heart and repeal the policy.  If we can make it there, we can make it anywhere, its up to you, New York, New York!

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