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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

NYC pastor fears 'agenda' against churches


New York's ban on churches meeting in public schools, which went into effect Feb. 12, is about "far more than meeting space," according to a Southern Baptist pastor in the area who believes broader religious freedom is at stake.

Beginning Sunday, Crossroads Church will no longer be able to meet in Public School 52, seen here. The church is trying to rent a theater, but it will cost at least $6,000 more a month.

"More and more, this just smells like there's an agenda. My concern -- and this is why I'm asking for people in our denominational world to be praying about this -- I think this is just the beginning of what they want to do to the religious freedoms of churches in New York," Ray Parascando, pastor of Crossroads Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Staten Island, N.Y., told Baptist Press.

Crossroads, which met in Public School 52 for more than four years, held its last worship service in that location Sunday, joining about 60 churches -- mostly evangelical congregations -- in being evicted from meeting space they rented from the city's schools. Keep reading

Related article: The pain of church eviction day on Staten Island

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