The Unjust War on the Righteous

As part of an undeniable war on Christianity, New York City is set to evict 17,000 churchgoers who use schools as a place of worship. (As if eliminating any reference to Christmas was not bad enough.)

Despite the fact that Christians donate billions to charity (far more than their secular counterparts), spend countless hours helping the less fortunate, and espouse a message of unconditional love, there is an unjust war being waged on this righteous, good-intentioned majority.

In 12 days, more than 60 congregations in New York City will be thrown out of their Sunday worship sites. After a 16-year battle with the city, they appear to be at the losing end, forced to re-locate or, worse, close their doors permanently.

The battle began in 1995. At the time, the city allowed for groups to rent space in public schools as long as they were pertaining to the welfare of the community. Labor union gatherings, filming sessions for the show Law & Order, and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings were all permitted to take place in public schools. But the notable exception was the exclusion of religious worship services.

So, in 1995, the Bronx Household of Faith sued New York City. After winning an injunction in 2002, they, along with around 60 other congregations, began renting space in public schools for their Sunday services.

In June, the tides turned against them when the United States 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city, forcing the Bronx Household of Faith to take their case to the Supreme Court. But in December, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take up the case and let the former ruling stand, thereby barring religious worship services from public schools once again.

For some New York City-based churches, their rent costs will effectively double. For others, it will force them to close their doors completely. On Sunday, more than 1,000 Christians protested on behalf of the 17,000 Christians evicted from their places of worship.

Judge Pierre Leval, of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, said: Jews and Muslims generally cannot use school facilities for their services because the facilities are often unavailable on the days that their religions principally prescribe for services... This contributes to a perception of public schools as Christian churches, but not synagogues or mosques.

I cannot help but think Leval would have thought differently had Muslims or Jews been the primary users of public school facilities. It would have been politically incorrect to do otherwise.

My suspicions tell me he and the rest of the court might have come to a different conclusion -- that the ban violated the First Amendment, which guarantees the free expression of religion. But, given that the ban impacted Christian churches with only one or two exceptions, it stayed in place.

Jane Gordon, senior counsel for the New York City Law Department, said: We view this as a victory for the City's school children and families. But for financially strained schools, this will mean a loss of much-needed rent money. Just how the eviction of churches doing good work for both the schools and the community is a victory is simply incomprehensible.

This week, the State Legislature is considering taking up legislation that reverses the ban on worship services, which would be an actual victory -- for New York City churches -- and bring an end to a hard-fought battle.

Even so, the war against Christianity will continue. How long the battle will last is unknown. But what I do know is this: The righteous majority will prevail.

Kayleigh McEnany is a writer and political activist who graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and studied at Oxford University. She is the founder of www.RealReaganConservative.com. She writes every Tuesday for the International Business Times.