Where to Worship: The Battle Continues

By Harrison Golden

For 17 years, members of the Village Church met every Sunday morning inside P.S. 3 at 490 Hudson Street.

"P.S. 3 provided us with such a strong place for our community to worship," said Pam, a longtime church member who requested to only give her first name. "The people inside were very friendly and gave us plenty of room to conduct services every week.”

But two weeks ago, when the New York City Department of Education began a citywide ban on religious services held in public schools, the Presbyterian church of 50 parishioners was forced to find a new location. And while the Village Church has since relocated to the Greenwich House on Barrow Street, members continue to express disappointment in the board’s decision.

"I think the department’s action against us and all the small churches is pure discrimination," Reverend Sam Andreades, the church’s head pastor, said. "It is a slap in the face to free religious practice."

The city's ban marks the culmination of a 16-year battle that began with a challenge by the Bronx Household of Faith to a Department of Education policy that prevented the use of school property for religious services or instruction.

After the department initially denied the Bronx-based church’s request to use the school as a gathering place, the church sued the school district for ignoring their First Amendment rights. Although the lawsuit proved unsuccessful, a federal court issued a ruled in 2002 that the Department of Education could not refuse to review rental space applications from religious organizations.

Representatives from the Department of Education refused to answer questions regarding their sudden decision to override the ruling.

Both the State Senate and Assembly have drafted a bill aimed at allowing the churches to continue operating from the school buildings.

“These churches provide more than religious freedom,” Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, said in a phone interview. “They unite people with similar goals and ideas. That is a simple human want and nothing that the city should take away.”

Steve Wilson, a church member who helped Andreades find the new location, remains hopeful that the congregation will continue to prosper in the years to come. But he understands that other churches are not so lucky.

"The way the public schools are just kicking these communities out to the curb is sickening," Wilson said. “So many of our fellow small churches are still looking for a new place to call home.”