Forty-three pastors and church members were arrested by New York City police last week for protesting Mayor Bloomberg’s banning of churches from using public schools for worship services.
More than 200 people gathered to sing and listen to the protest leaders. They later broke into small groups and prayed in front of barricades at a school in the Bronx. Police arrested them for disorderly conduct.
The city banned the use of public school facilities for church services, displacing 150 congregations. Many of these congregations are danger of folding if the city doesn’t reconsider its policy.
According to Jordan Lorence with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), “Churches and other religious groups should be able to meet in public buildings on the same terms as other community groups. These churches offer the people in hurting communities hope and help for their daily needs. To drive out the churches based on a discredited, extreme notion of ‘separation of church and state’ benefits no one and harms people who need help most.”
More on this story is available at The New American.
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