Government Discrimination Against Religion
By Tom Barrett (04/05/05)
Churches meet in schools all across our nation. In fact, another minister and I have teamed up to start a church in a public school here in Loxahatchee, Florida. So I was understandably interested when I discovered that New York City is trying to throw churches out of their public schools.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." The New York City School District is interpreting this principle as requiring that their facilities to be religion-free zones. But the Constitution requires schools to be neutral regarding religion. They can neither endorse nor discriminate against churches.
There are several important principles that must be understood in order to determine whether the School District is right or wrong. First, the District looks at the schools as its property. Government at all levels makes this fundamental mistake. The New York City Schools, as well as all government property at all levels, belongs to “We, the People.” Yellowstone National Park belongs to us. The Statue of liberty belongs to us. And our local schools and libraries belong to us. Government is our servant, and is only the steward, or caretaker, of our property.
The second principle is that the New York City schools regularly rent out their facilities to all kinds of organizations. These include everything from political organizations to self-help groups. When did people of faith become second-class citizens in this nation? When did it become OK to welcome literally everyone except for people who worship God? Who decided it was acceptable to violate our First Amendment rights?
Finally, many of the organizations that New York City welcomes with open arms (while trying to exclude Christians) are actually religious organizations. Witches are welcome. Secular humanists are welcome. And atheists are welcome. Yet all of these are religions. Witches worship Satan. Humanists worship man. And the atheist’s religion is that there is no God. So apparently New York City’s position is that it is OK to rent to religious organizations unless the religion is Christian.
And that is the scary part about this whole story. Remember the First Amendment? "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." One could argue that no one in the New York City government is a Member of Congress, so this clause does not apply to their actions. But they use it to say that if they allow churches to use government facilities, the City is guilty of “establishing” a religion. Such logic is patently fallacious.
But let us assume for a moment that their argument is valid. If so, then they are indeed “establishing” the religions of witchcraft, secular humanism, and atheism by encouraging their use of school facilities, while at the same time trying to use the courts to throw out Christians. In effect, they are establishing an anti-God City religion, while stating by their actions that the City disapproves of Christianity.
According to Fox News, the City issued the following lame statement: "Given the diverse backgrounds of all children attending public schools, the city is concerned about having any public school identified with a particular religion or congregation." If that is indeed the City’s concern, they should be much more concerned with the schools being associated with Satanism.
As I have stated many times in these editorials, the Founding Fathers had only one concern about religion when the First Amendment was written. Most of them had come from England where the Episcopal Church was the State religion. It was known as the Church of England. They didn’t want that. They wanted everyone to be free to worship as they saw fit. But they certainly didn’t want the State to persecute religious people. After all, they were all religious people themselves.
It doesn’t surprise me that New York City, arguably the most liberal city in the nation, would be mounting such an attack against Christian churches. But unless the people of the City act quickly and tell their politicians to back off, a city already sliding into depravity will disintegrate even more quickly than it already is. In a city where anything goes, where every perversion known to man is available if you have enough money, lighthouses are needed. The churches of New York City are those lighthouses.
In a time when real estate prices are rising faster than most people’s incomes, it is getting harder for people to afford homes. Likewise it is getting harder for churches, particularly new churches, to be able to afford property or even commercial rent. So it is important for our communities to make facilities that we all own available at reasonable rental fees to churches that help keep those communities safer by raising the moral tone. Schools are not used on Sundays. Why not make them available to folks whose only goal is to do good in their communities?
Fortunately for our fledgling church, Good News Fellowship (www.FindGoodNews.com), Palm Beach County is not New York City. The God-haters haven’t taken over here, and churches are welcome in our schools. But we need to be vigilant, as do Christians all over the nation. As you read the articles linked below, you will see that forces are at work all over the nation to duplicate what New York City is attempting.
As I conclude, please let me take a personal moment to recommend Gospel Crusade Ministerial Fellowship (www.GCMF.org). Both my co-pastor, Jerry Erickson, and I are ordained through the Fellowship, and Good News Fellowship has applied to be affiliated with GCMF. If you are part of a non-denominational church that is not affiliated with a larger organization, visit the GCMF website and click on the “Affiliation” button. Likewise, if you are a minister who was ordained by a local church, but would like to be part of an international organization, click on the “Credentials” button. In either case, you and your church will be joining a family of thousands of ministers and churches who are working effectively for Christ all over the world.
INTERNET RESEARCH:
NYC Fights Churches' Use of Schools
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148162,00.html
Supreme Court Ruling is Good News for Equal Access
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/010/14.24.html
Rented Schools are a Sanctuary for Growing Congregations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16956-2004Nov27.html
Legal Views on Rental of Public Schools by Religious Groups
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ps_pra7.htm
New York Times Article on Church Meeting in Bronx School
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/nyregion/06church.html?ex=1112673600&en=196b23ab0efb6951&ei=5070&oref=login
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