N.Y. Church Wins Challenge Against School Rule

by Glen on 2001-02-12 00:38:03

Crosswalk.com reports…

“You can meet here, but don’t do anything religious,”
was the cold message a church in Watertown, N.Y., got
when it asked about renting a school building for a
Christian concert.

Pastor Stephen Bryant said the school district told
the church it could have a Christian concert, but that it
couldn’t pray. “I said, ‘Well, that’s what you do at a
Christian concert.'” The church decided to challenge the
school district in court, and the church won.

“They were basically violating our constitutional
rights by saying, ‘We allow you to say this, but you
can’t say that,'” Bryant said. Stuart Roth, with the
American Center for Law and Justice, stated that “They
had let secular music concerts take place under this
brand new policy, so it was very much a viewpoint-based
discrimination. The Watertown school district now
hopefully understands they cannot discriminate against
religious speech while renting out or leasing out the
school facilities.”

Roth expects the school board to appeal.