CLS FILES BRIEF TODAY TO PROTECT CHURCHES' WORSHIP SERVICES
April 20, 2012 - Christian Legal Society filed a brief to protect the right of New York City churches to rent school facilities for their weekend religious worship services. The amici brief was joined by nine other religious organizations in support of the churches’ free exercise of religion. Joining Christian Legal Society on its brief are the Council of Churches of the City of New York, Brooklyn Council of Churches, Queens Federation of Churches, American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, National Association of Evangelicals, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, American Bible Society, and Christian Legal Society. CLS Board member Rick Claybrook and Bruce Zabarauskas of Crowell & Moring prepared the brief.
Many congregations rent school facilities for their religious worship services, either on a short-term or long-term basis, when they are just beginning to form, have outgrown their old facilities, or have suffered flood or fire. While most school districts welcome churches’ use of their facilities on weekends, for seventeen years, New York City’s Board of Education has tried to ban churches from meeting in the public schools on the weekends. In a recent decision, the Second Circuit allowed New York City’s Board of Education to target “religious worship services” for denial of access, even though hundreds of community groups rent school facilities for a variety of uses. The decision applies to New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, but could easily spread across the country.
Last December, the Supreme Court refused to review the Second Circuit decision, despite the urging of CLS and its amici to consider the churches’ free speech claim of equal access to government facilities. In January, however, the Supreme Court issued its robust decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School, which enforced the Religion Clauses’ protection of churches’ internal governance. In February, Bronx Household of Faith asked the district court to consider its free exercise claim, which had not been ruled upon earlier, particularly in light of Hosanna-Tabor. In March, the district court issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the New York churches and is now considering issuance of a permanent injunction, which the brief filed today urges the court to do.