NYC Schools to Churches: Worship somewhere else

Apparently, weekend churches endanger weekday students.

At The Wardrobe Door today, I'm discussing the University of Buffalo restricting religious freedom in their on campus clubs and applying a standard that is nonsensical. But that's not the only matter concerning religious liberty in the Empire State.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeals of a group of churches that have been meeting in public schools challenging a New York City ban on renting the space to religious organizations. The churches have until February to find new gathering places.

The original ruling of the lower courts (and subsequent refusal to hear the case by the Supreme Court) that religious groups, specifically, can be refused when asking to rent public space is absurd and unconstitutional.

As it stands now, a white-supremacy group can rent the public school auditorium one weekend, the Black Panthers the next, and the American Nazi party at the end of the month, but a church body would be forbidden to do so because their gathering would be considered a worship service. According to the original ruling, having a church meet in the school could be seen as an endorsement of religion and violate the establishment clause of the Constitution. How about violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments of those American citizens, who are church members?

Would the school district and, by extension, the local government be endorsing the views of the political groups from the hypothetical situation I posed? Does any sane person believe the government supports and endorses white-supremacists, the Black Panthers and the American Nazis if they rent the school property on the weekend? Surely, the answer would be no. So why would there be some sense of endorsement with a religious group using the facilities, especially when they were open for rent to all different groups - every type of religious group and any type of non-religious, or even irreligious group.

This ruling gives state and local governments the right to specifically discriminate solely on the basis of religion. The only ones banned by New York City are those who would use the buildings for worship services. How are they even going to define "worship service"?

The refusal to hear the case by the Supreme Court provides a troubling conclusion and bleak immediate (and possible long term) future for religious freedom. Why is it so hard to understand "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"?