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Court: NY Schools Can Ban Worship Services

A new court decision allows New York public schools to refuse churches access to their facilities for worship services. According to The Christian Post, the court called the exclusion of religious services “a reasonable content-based restriction” and that it was “reasonable for the board to fear that allowing schools to be converted into churches…might ‘foster an excessive government entanglement with religion’ that advances religion.” The court battle began 16 years ago when the Bronx Household of Faith attempted to rent a public school facility for its Sunday worship, and the church has been fighting the New York City Board of Education with appeals ever since. The Alliance Defense Fund, who is representing the church, says, “Religious groups shouldn’t be discriminated against simply because they want to rent a public building just like other groups can…” A dissenting judge commented on the new ruling, “The outcome of the case could have wide-ranging ramifications for churches throughout the nation who wish to meet in public schools.”