S6087 (Golden) / A8800 (Castor)

The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it would not review a lower-court decision backing New York City's decision to ban the Bronx Household of Faith, an Evangelical congregation, from holding its Sunday services at Public School 15, where the church has held worship services since 2002.

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As a result, the 2 to 1 decision of the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York will stand. The Court decided that church services were prohibited in public school buildings, citing New York State Education Law 414, Section 1.

The New York City Board of Education is now in the process of evicting hundreds of churches that currently rent public school facilities for weekend services. The New York Times found that at least 160 churches rented public schools during the 2010-11 academic year. The City has ordered all churches out by February 12, 2012.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms contends that barring church services from public school buildings is a violation of both the U.S. and New York State Constitutions.

– First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

– Article 1.3 of the New York State Constitution

Church services in the U.S. Capitol were common throughout the 19th century. At one point, nearly 2,000 people assembled for church there each Sunday comprising the largest Protestant church in the U.S. at the time.

Thomas Jefferson faithfully attended church services in the Capitol building throughout his presidency including one just two days after writing his famous "wall of separation between church and state" metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists.

Although regular church services ceased around 1880, about 300 Congressmen attended a special church service on Sunday, March 28, 2010 in the Capitol building.

Church buildings are routinely used by local, state and federal governments for various functions. Many polling places, for example, are located in church buildings. This sharing of facilities is mutually beneficial for both churches and the state, and there is no reason to assume that this would change if the practice was allowed to continue.

Available and affordable real estate property is a rare commodity in New York City and extremely difficult to come by. If this decision is allowed to stand, the planting of new churches would become almost impossible. Many existing City churches would simply close.

Although today the case impacts New York City churches meeting in City schools, some feel that opponents of organized religion could be emboldened to make a move banning churches from meeting in schools or other public places anywhere in the state.

S.6087 (Golden) / A.8800 (Castro) would simply amend the New York State Education Law to authorize the use of public school buildings and school sites for religious meetings and worship when not in use for school purposes.New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the approximately five thousand churches it represents urge all legislators to sign on as co-sponsors of this bill, and actively work to assure its passage before the February deadline.

To view NYCF's position paper supporting this bill, please click here.