{"id":823,"date":"2007-07-08T19:47:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-08T19:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/site\/2017\/2\/1985\/can_public_schools_ban_churches_from_renting_space\/"},"modified":"2007-07-08T19:47:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-08T19:47:00","slug":"can_public_schools_ban_churches_from_renting_space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=823","title":{"rendered":"Can Public Schools Ban Churches from Renting Space?"},"content":{"rendered":"

That was the question that headlined a recent (July 3) Christianity Today weblog roundup. We’ve since seen the news story in question referred to on several other blogs, so it seemed like it would be good to post on T19. Here’s how Ted Olsen of Christianity Today summarizes the story in his weblog entry<\/a>:<\/i><\/p>\n

A messy decision, ripe for the Supreme Court<\/b><\/p>\n

Bronx Household of Faith<\/a> wanted to rent space for Sunday morning worship at Public School 15 in New York City. The city refused, saying allowing church services would suggest endorsement of that church. Like many cases of this kind, it’s had a long, messy history<\/a> in the court system. Monday, it got messier. The three judges on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals each reached very different conclusions.<\/p>\n

“Our disparate views of this case leave us without a rationale to which a majority of the court agrees. While two judges who disagree on the merits believe the dispute is ripe for adjudication, the court cannot decide the merits of the case without the vote of the third judge, who disagrees as to ripeness,” the court ruled<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fractured judgment “could provide the U.S. Supreme Court with its next big establishment clause case,” The New York Sun<\/a> concluded. “The case likely prompted such division because of the question, more theological than legal, at its center: What is worship?”<\/p>\n

In its 2001 case Good News Club v. Milford Central School<\/i>, the court said a school district couldn’t discriminate against an extracurricular Christian club if it allowed other extracurricular clubs. But “the federal high court appeared to draw a distinction between religiously oriented lessons and outright worship,” the Sun notes, so Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York<\/i> would allow the Supreme Court to go into more detail on what’s acceptable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s the opening of the New York Sun article:<\/p>\n

Appeals Panel Splits Three Ways on Church-State Suit<\/p>\n

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
\nStaff Reporter of the Sun
\nJuly 3, 2007<\/p>\n

The city’s policy of barring churches from holding Sunday services in public schools could provide the U.S. Supreme Court with its next big “establishment clause” case, given the fractured judgment rendered by a federal appellate court in Manhattan yesterday.<\/p>\n

The three judges on the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel who heard a Bronx congregation’s challenge to the policy each issued a separate opinion. One judge of Bronx House hold of Faith v. Board of Education ruled in favor of the church; another decided in favor of the Board of Education’s anti-church policy; a third found the case was not yet ready for review. As a result, the church may continue to use the school building pending further appeal.<\/p>\n

The case likely prompted such division because of the question, more theological than legal, at its center: What is worship? The legal significance of the question hangs on a 2001 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the court held that schools allowing use of their campus after hours by secular groups could not then exclude religious groups from conducting religious instruction or discussion on school grounds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The full article is here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was the question that headlined a recent (July 3) Christianity Today weblog roundup. We’ve since seen the news story in question referred to on several other blogs, so it seemed like it would be good to post on T19.…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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