Dear Lucas,
I thought you might be interested in my op-ed piece (below) about religious worship in public schools that appears in this week's Our Town, The West Side Spirit, Our Town Downtown, The Westsider, and Chelsea Clinton News. In case you haven't been following this issue, you can learn more in the New York Times story here .
If you're persuaded by my op-ed, and I hope you are, please speak out in support of the separation between church and state by signing the ACLU petition here .
Sincerely,
Jessica Lappin
Schools Shouldn't Double as Houses of Worship
Separation of church and state is too important to tamper with
How would you react if you found out that our public schools were being regularly turned over to far-right churches that believe, and argue, that gay and lesbian Americans are less than equal? Or that exclude people who haven't been baptized?
You might be, as I am, stunned and outraged.
Yet this is precisely what has been going on, almost unnoticed, over the past decade here in New York City.
In 2001, a federal court ruling forced the city to open public school doors to religious groups, not simply for an occasional meeting, or a youth group, but for regular religious services. Since then, a growing number of our public schools have been doubling as churches on nights and weekends. And most pay little, if anything, for the privilege, often nothing more than the custodial fees.
Many of these religious organizations are part of a "church planting" movement whose stated goal is to see a church in each and every school in New York City. And they are well on their way. Ten years ago just a handful of churches were using our schools as houses of worship. Today, that number is about 160.
But that is all slated to end shortly. Last June, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit ruled that worship services could be excluded from public schools and that subsidizing houses of worship risks violating the Constitutional ban on the establishment of religion. As a result, the city gave these churches a February deadline to move out.
Now they are fighting back with state legislation, State Senate Bill 6087-A and Assembly bill 8800, which would explicitly authorize religious worship on public school property. What's more, the state legislation is so broad that it would "prohibit the adoption of restrictions to exclude or limit speech during non-school hours, including speech that expresses religious conduct or viewpoints."
What would that mean?
It would mean that the Bronx Household of Faith, the lead plaintiff in the court case and the church behind this legislation, could continue to use PS 15 to rail against marriage equality for lesbian and gay New Yorkers. It would mean the Heritage Baptist Church could continue to use M690 High School in Queens to condemn our public schools (while preaching inside them!) for teaching tolerance of homosexuality.
It would leave the Department of Education powerless to block a controversial pastor like John Hagee from using our schools and arguing, as he has, that the Holocaust was part of God's plan to relocate Jews from Europe to Israel. And it would potentially put our tax dollars to work subsidizing, and thereby supporting, all kinds of radical "religious" views--from rolling back equality for women to fomenting hatred of other faiths and peoples.
I appreciate the great work that so many religious institutions do for our city, and have worked alongside many on issues of common concern and purpose. Yet the wall separating church and state is a critical component of our successful democracy. Nowhere in America is that wall more important than in 21st century New York, a city more culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse than any in history.
On February 2nd the City Council held a hearing on a resolution, which has been signed by 35 Council Members, urging the state legislature to pass this measure. Given the testimony that we heard I hope that a solid majority of the City Council will join me in strongly opposing it.
As a graduate of New York City's public schools, and the mother of a son about to enter kindergarten, I believe strongly that our public schools should remain schools, not become houses of worship.
Jessica Lappin is a New York City Council Member representing the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. She is a member of the City Council's Education Committee