Empty Buildings-Chuck Colson
NYC Kicks Churches Out of Schools
NYC Kicks Churches Out of Schools
February 17, 2012
It’s no secret that Christianity has
been unwelcome in public schools for a long time. But recently New York City’s
government took an unprecedented step by forcing around 60 churches to vacate
sanctuaries they pay to use.
Why? Because Monday through Friday, those
sanctuaries also happen to be classrooms.
This deadline was set back in
December, when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the 2nd
Circuit’s decision upholding the City’s crass discrimination against
communities of faith. New York at this time is the only major city in the
nation to ban religious services in its school buildings. But this precedent
does not bode well for what may happen in other cities.
The reasoning behind this decision
was ludicrous. In his ruling, Circuit Judge Pierre Leval claimed that renting
school property to churches implies “an unintended bias in favor of Christian
religions,” that makes public schools look like “state-sponsored Christian
churches…but not synagogues or mosques.”
New York City Department of Education
spokeswoman Marge Feinberg, agreed: “Public school space[s]… which are funded
by taxpayers’ dollars…cannot and should not be used for worship services,
especially because school space is not equally available to all faiths.”
Hogwash. The last I checked, Muslim
and Jewish groups weren’t standing in line waiting for a room on a Saturday or
Sunday morning.
But more than that, it’s
out-of-touch, both with history and reality. Public schools and churches in
this nation have always shared space, dating back
to the early, single-teacher schools that met in church buildings on the
frontier. And today around the nation, thousands of congregations meet every
week in public schools. If that’s a government endorsement of Christianity,
then what about the millions of Americans who will cast their ballots this
November in church buildings?
In addition to their blatant
discrimination, city officials are also shooting themselves in the fiscal foot
and harming the community.
By renting space, New York churches
help alleviate budget shortfalls — something which, according to Fernando
Santos of The New York Times — has hit the city’s schools hard.
Without religious tenants, schools will find themselves further in the hole and
may have to lay off more employees, including teachers.
Tim Keller, my good friend and
pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian, says, “Family stability, resources
for those in need, and compassion for the marginalized are all positive
influences that neighborhood churches provide.” He’s right. George Russ of the
New York Metropolitan Baptist Association noted that some churches have
“purchased furniture for the teacher's lounge; they've given video equipment to
the schools. They've done so many thank-you kinds of projects."
But all this apparently means nothing
to New York bureaucrats and the Circuit Court in their effort to expunge
religion from public life.
Christians introduced the virtue or
tolerance into Western civilization, and we cherish it to this day. But
apparently our faith is too much for the New York City government to tolerate
in its empty buildings — even long after the bell has rung.
