KIM LAWTON, correspondent: At FDR Public School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Abounding Grace Ministries held what could be one of its last worship services in the building. The nondenominational church has been renting worship space here for the last three years. Pastor Rick Del Rio says the reasonable rent was critical to his predominantly low-income congregation.
REV. RICK DEL RIO (Pastor, Abounding Grace Ministries): It’s the only thing we could afford. Two, it becomes that place where families can unite, and we really cultivate those relationships so that it is an oasis.
LAWTON: Del Rio describes his church as a source of stability in the neighborhood and says the city’s policy is unfair to the people he serves.
So Nanny Bloomberg did everything he could to promote the Islamic center near ground zero, but he sees major problems with letting church groups pay to hold services in the schools, at times when the schools are otherwise sitting unused. Gosh, I guess he will have a major existential crisis if he ever discovers that trans-fats are consumed at mosques.
This situation is best explained by the author of “Underdogma,”
[blockquote]For many people, it’s no longer enough to just stand up for the powerless, the underdog – they must also hate the overdog – or those who have more power. I gave this belief system a name – Underdogma – which is the reflexive belief that, if you have power, you can do no good, and if you’re a powerless underdog, you can do no wrong.
And here’s the key: when people choose which side to root for – underdog or overdog – it actually doesn’t matter which side is right or wrong. What matters is: which side has less or more power. If you have less power, you’re automatically good, and if you have more power, you’re automatically bad.[/blockquote]
I wonder how much longer Christians will have to be beaten down in society before they can claim the mantle of underdogs again.
It looks to me as if the New York City administration is absolutely terrified of what the Islamist cabal might do if they continued to allow churches to meet on school property.
I thought a while back the Supremes said that if the school rented to other groups they had to rent to religious groups.