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The Bronx Household of Faith will now be allowed to meet for worship on Sundays at Public School 15 in New York City, according to a ruling by Judge Loretta A. Preska of Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The New York Times reports on the long-running case:

Judge Preska's new ruling is virtually the opposite of one she wrote in the same case in 1996, when she agreed with the school board's decision to bar the group from meeting in a public school building for "religious worship." Judge Preska has now brought the case into line with a 2001 decision by the Supreme Court, which found that religious teachings on school premises were no different from other secular lessons about "morals and character development."

Law.com notes that the change came when the Supreme Court decided the Good News Club v. Milford Central School. Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, saying, "What matters for purposes of the free speech clause is that we can see no logical difference in kind between the invocation of Christianity by the club and the invocation of teamwork, loyalty, or patriotism by other associations to provide a foundation for their lessons."

So Judge Preska ruled that the church service was not "mere" religion. The church conducts activities beyond the religious, which, Preska wrote, "are clearly consistent with the type of activities previously permitted in the forum and consistent with activities expressly permitted."

"The government may not treat activities that are similar to those previously permitted as different in kind just because the subject activities are conducted from a religious perspective," Preska wrote, according to Law.com.

The judge also rejected the school board's argument that the church's presence in the middle school would amount to an unconstitutional establishment of religion.

Still, the city remains opposed to the church renting its facilities. "We are concerned about having any schools in this diverse city become identified with any particular religious belief or practice," Lisa Grumet, senior counsel in the city's law department, said yesterday in a statement, according to The New York Times.

"This ruling is big news because New York has fought this concept of equal access and is one of the last government entities resisting what the Supreme Court has said," said Jordan Lorence, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund.

More Articles

Church & state:

• "Let us pray" | Organizers of a rally supporting local government leaders who pray in the name of Jesus Christ say they are fighting to preserve a bond that helps hold the community together. (Anderson Independent-Mail, S.C.)
• Barrett: If you don't like the prayer, leave | His bill would allow open prayer at public meetings (The State, S.C.)
• Can religious groups exclude non-believers? | Universities fight lawsuits over issue (Religion News Service)
• Lincoln's words, our pledge | The Pledge Of Allegiance has been in legal jeopardy for years, all because it contains the words "under God" — a phrase Abraham Lincoln stamped on the American consciousness when he used it on Nov. 19, 1863, 142 years ago, in the Gettysburg Address. (David Gelernter, Los Angeles Times)
• Upstate in crosshairs of prayer battle | Residents rally for elected officials' freedom of speech (The Greenville News, S.C.)
• The IRS declares war on churches | Richard Nixon lives on in the person of George W. Bush, only more evil than ever. At least Nixon only sicced the IRS on his political enemies. Bush has turned the tax cops loose on at least one religious leader simply for expressing his opposition to the war in Iraq. And he won't be the last. (Editorial, Fitchburg Sentinel, Mass.)

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November (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49