Group Asks Supreme Court to Allow Religious Services in Schools
A Bronx evangelical church and its supporters have petitioned the United States Supreme Court to hear a case on whether New York City can bar religious services in its public schools.
The Alliance Defense Fund filed the petition Tuesday on behalf of the Bronx Household of Faith, which has been trying for 16 years to get the city to drop a rule forbidding religious services in school buildings in after-school hours. The new petition argues that the government cannot keep religious services out of public buildings that are open for other meetings.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has definitively ruled that the government cannot limit access to generally available public spaces merely because government officials disapprove of a form of expression,” said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund. “Equal access means equal access, and that