Bronx Household of Faith won a permanent injunction June 29 allowing private groups to conduct worship services in empty public schools during non-school hours.  Judge Loretta Preska issued the order, ruling that New York City’s ban on worship services in the public schools violates the church’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  This excellent decision rightly found that when the government uses religion as the factor that disqualifies a community group from using a school building, the government violates the unique protections the First Amendment grants to religious liberty.

New York City will likely appeal the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  It may be more challenging to convince the Second Circuit to agree with the District Court’s ruling in favor of religious liberty, because the Second Circuit has ruled both for and against the policy in the past.  The Second Circuit in February said that it would rule before school starts in early September.  If the Second Circuit reverses and upholds the ban on worship services, Alliance Defending Freedom will likely appeal again to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This means that religious groups will continue to meet in NYC public schools on the same terms and conditions as other groups, at least for the remainder of the summer.

Please continue to pray that this ruling is upheld and support the Alliance Defending Freedom as we continue to fight.

Hope renewed: Weekend worship services will continue at NYC schools
6/29/2012 News Release Federal court issues permanent order protecting equal access rights

NEW YORK — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys won a permanent injunctionFriday that allows churches and other faith groups to continue to meet in New York City public school buildings for worship services after hours.“Churches that have been helping communities for years can continue to offer the hope that empty buildings can’t,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence, who argued before the court on June 1. “The court’s order allows churches and other religious groups to meet for worship services in empty school buildings on weekends on the same terms as other groups. ADF will continue to defend this constitutionally protected right if the city chooses to continue using taxpayer money to evict the very groups that are selflessly helping the city’s communities, including the public schools themselves.”

Churches meeting in New York City public schools for worship services have fed the poor, have assisted in rehabilitating drug addicts and gang members, have helped rebuild marriages and families, and have provided for the disabled. The churches have also helped the public schools themselves by volunteering to paint the interiors of inner-city schools; donating computers, musical instruments, and air conditioners; and providing effective after-school programs to help all students with their studies.

“There is no reason to exclude worship services from these empty school buildings, especially when the school allows all other community groups to meet,” Lorence explained. “Why exclude churches that are helping their neighbors in so many significant ways?”

In February, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary order that allowed Bronx Household of Faith and other religious groups to conduct worship services in schools while the ADF lawsuit against the city proceeded. The new order makes the preliminary order permanent.

The permanent injunction is part of a 17-year legal battle in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York. The city has been trying to eject worship services from their public school meeting places under the claim that their presence violates the U.S. Constitution, but the court Friday disagreed with the city’s policy, Chancellor’s Regulation D-180.

“Having considered the latest evidence and the parties’ respective arguments, the Court determines that its reasons for granting Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction were sound and that implementation of Ch. Reg. D-180 violates both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause…,” the court’s order states. “Defendants are permanently enjoined from enforcing Ch. Reg. D180 so as to deny Plaintiffs’ application or the application of any similarly-situated individual or entity to rent space in the Board’s public schools for meetings that include religious worship.”

Jesus commanded his followers to go to the entire world, and make disciples of all nations.  Our call is to baptize the new believers, and teach them everything Jesus taught us.  But people often forget that the neighborhood park is a part of “the entire world.”  People who shop at the same grocery stores we shop at, and who play ball at the same playgrounds, need to hear the gospel message as well.  God’s command includes that we reach out to those living just down the street.

A great way to reach those in our communities is to utilize public parks and other public meeting places.  The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that Christians have the same right to access public spaces as non-Christians.  Whether it’s to picnic, play ultimate Frisbee, or even assemble with others to engage in public discussions, Christians have equal access to public sidewalks.

While it might be difficult to bring the unsaved into our churches, there is no law stopping us from going out into our communities with the Gospel message.  Well – at least there should be no law.  Some of our clients at ADF have found out that at times, Christians are not given the same equal access to public sidewalks as others.  Voices of Mercy Outreach Ministries is one such client.

VOM held a Sunday school program for at-risk youth in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.   They obtained permission from the East Baton Rouge Recreation and Park Commission to use Cadillac Street Park for its Sidewalk Sunday School ministry outreach in 2005.  This ministry impacted many young lives with not only a message of hope, but also food for the stomach as well.   Five years after granting permission to use the park, the commission notified the ministry that its outreach events violated a policy that prohibits all religious use of parks the commission operates. The Park Use Policy states, “Under no circumstances can a public park be used for…religious…purposes.”

VOM has not been permitted to use the park since then. This prevents the group from ministering to the youth living in the low-income communities surrounding Cadillac Street Park and has greatly diminished the ministry’s outreach.

The Alliance Defense Fund recently filed suit in federal court to protect their constitutional rights to spread the gospel. Faith-based groups shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination–especially a group like this that has provided such selfless service to at-risk youth and their parents for many years.  The Sidewalk Sunday School program has the same constitutionally protected right as any other community group to hold its activities at a public park. There’s no constitutional basis to throw them out, and it’s a mystery why the commission would even want to do so in light of the valuable work this group does for the community.

If you are a Christian ministry, rest assured that you have the same access to sidewalks as other groups.  If you are denied this right, please contact us at ADF so we can assist you in spreading the Good News.

The IRS warned pastors attending a faith leader’s summit in Washington D.C. recently not to speak from their pulpits about candidates or elections.  As reported by OneNewsNow, IRS official Peter Lorenzetti attended the summit and told pastors that prohibited activities include anything that supports or opposes a candidate for public office.  Mr. Lorenzetti’s statements are not surprising or even noteworthy given the fact that IRS officials have been interpreting the Johnson Amendment in this way since its addition to the tax code in 1954.  So why should we be concerned about these statements?

Well, for starters, Mr. Lorenzetti’s statements follow a long pattern by the IRS of intimidating pastors and churches into silence on the issues surrounding candidates and elections.  The Johnson Amendment operates as a direct restriction on the speech of pastors and churches.  There is no denying this fact.  And there is no denying the fact that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional.  It is never permissible to allow a government agency the power to punish a church for something its pastor says from the pulpit.  Where did America’s churches ever get the idea that it was okay to invite IRS officials into the process of sermon preparation and allow them to wield the power of censorship over what your pastor says from the pulpit?  Such a regime is not okay, and indeed, it is unconstitutional.

That’s why ADF started Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008 – to restore a pastor’s right to speak freely from the pulpit and to remove the pen of censorship from the hand of government officials.  Because we believe that the Constitution protects the right of a pastor to speak freely from the pulpit and that government should hold no sway over a pastor’s sermon preparation or delivery.  It is for every pastor and church to decide for themselves what is said from their own pulpit.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday is October 7, 2012.  If you are a pastor, please sign up to participate to exercise your constitutional rights on that day together with hundreds of other pastors  from across the country.  If the IRS wants to continue to enforce the Johnson Amendment against pastors and churches, then it will continue to take a sustained and united effort to remind the IRS of the constitutional rights of pastors and churches.  If you are not a pastor, please send every pastor you know to www.pulpitfreedom.org to learn more and to sign up to participate on October 7, 2012.

There’s been quite a bit of talk recently about ObamaCare and the federal regulation requiring employer health care plans to pay for abortion inducing drugs, as well as contraception and sterilization. The good news is churches are exempt from this requirement. The bad news is some and many church ministries and para-church organizations will be required to provide things like abortion-inducing drugs to their employees – even if it conflicts with the religious beliefs and teachings of the ministry. Any non-church ministry that provides services to people of other faiths (instead of just those who agree with their religious beliefs) will be subject to this requirement. Those who offer insurance that does not comply with ObamaCare will be fined $100 per employee per day.  And those who drop insurance coverage altogether will be subjected to fines of approximately $2,000 per employee, per year. This is effectively a Conscience Tax.

Obviously, many faith-based schools, food pantries, hospitals, and other community service organizations are threatened by this disregard for religious freedom because they minister to everyone. Some commentators have opined that this isn’t a very big deal, and is just about making sure women have access to contraception. But if the federal government can force these ministries to act in a way that is completely contrary to their religious beliefs, they can tax all of us when we act according to our religious convictions by doing such things as refusing to participate in abortions, objecting to sexual immorality, or raising our children according to our faith.

Pastors need to be very aware of how this new mandate will affect all aspects of their ministry, as well as the lives and businesses of their parishioners. You can learn more about it here. And if you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us here at ADF by logging on to SpeakUpMovement.org/church, or calling us at 1-800-TellADF.

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