COMMENTARY | In a direct confrontation between church and state, the New York Department of Education has enacted a ban upon local church congregations utilizing space in the state's public schools for services. The fight between churches and the DOE has gone on for several years and went into effect on Feb. 12, meaning that next weekend, churches that have rented space in public schools in NYC will be homeless.
The Blaze reported on the ban taking effect and the outcry from local pastors and churchgoers who have maintained that the eviction will leave thousands of people in the city without a place to worship. On the flip side, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a spokeswoman from the Department of Education have stated that allowing the churches to rent public school space is a conflict between church and state and is a use of taxpayer dollars to "subsidize religion."
According to The New York Daily News, the New York state legislature has introduced a bill that would allow the churches to continue renting space but that legislation has not moved as quickly as the ban date.
Churches in need of meeting space found that renting spaces at public schools in the city was cost effective as other locations charged substantially more in rent.
With public schools struggling financially across the country, the rent monies paid by the churches in question would certainly have created a beneficial and symbiotic relationship between the churches and schools. The schools would benefit from extra financial compensation and in some cases, churchgoers stepped up to help with graffiti removal and a drive to save a drama program at one school.
In my own home state of Illinois, my local public school has a multi-purpose room that is available for rent by the public. The room has been rented by churches and religious groups for services, fundraisers and events as well as other non-profit organizations for community events and meetings. There has never been an issue with such use of the public school in my town as the groups have always paid their rental fees and have utilized the building without issue.
In these instances, there has never been any question as to whether or not the school was advocating or subsidizing any church or religion. The school was simply allowing use of a public community room and collecting the stated rental fee without any further involvement.
Is the fair use of public school space a mixing of church and state or is banning churches an infringement upon the right of assembly and practice of religion? It will be interesting to watch what comes of this case as it has far-reaching implications for other states and other organizations that depend upon rental of public school space for services and functions.
15 comments