Church is like a rodeo? A court ruling says it is

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a stunningly wrong decision June 2 denying the First Amendment rights of churches and other religious groups to meet in government buildings on the same terms and conditions as other community groups.

In the Bronx Household of Faith decision, the judges by a 2-1 vote upheld a New York City school board policy that bans religious worship services from meeting in the city's almost 1,200 public schools at times when school is not in session. The school board allows private community groups to meet for any purpose "pertaining to the welfare of the community," yet explicitly singles out religious worship services for exclusion.

Thousands of community groups meet in the schools each year. About 60 or so churches meet weekly in NYC public schools, according to school officials. Many other religious groups, including Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim groups, meet in the schools on a less regular basis. These religious groups have been meeting under an injunction won by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys nine years ago in 2002. But the Second Circuit overturned that and reinstated the policy that bans worship services, but allows all other forms of private expression (speeches, debates, recitals, meetings, ceremonies, etc.)

The majority opinion finds constitutional significance in the fact that the school board is banning the "conduct of an event or activity that includes expression of a point of view, and excluding the expression of that point of view." The majority opinion explains that although the school board could not ban religious expression, it could ban activities, or events, such as "marital art matches, livestock shows and horseback riding," A church service is like a rodeo, the majority reasons, so it can be banned!

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