NEW YORK — An evangelical Christian church has been told by New York City officials that it can no longer rent a community room in a federally funded housing project named after Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. An attorney representing the Bronx Bible Church said the congregation was notified that Christmas Day would be the last day they could worship at the housing project.
“It does present a very ugly picture of the state of religious liberties in New York City,” said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. “It’s the height of irony that the housing authority would violate the First Amendment at a place named after a Supreme Court justice.”
Lorence said the New York City Housing Authority based their decision on a recent court case that said New York City has a constitutional right to bar churches from renting schools during nonschool hours for worship services. The Supreme Court declined to review the case — meaning that dozens of Christian churches are being forced to find other places to hold their services.
A spokesperson for the NYC Housing Authority declined to comment but did offer the following statement: “The terms of this lease have expired and the New York City Housing Authority is reviewing the renewal of all of its leases.”
However, Lorence told Fox News & Commentary there is no expiration date on the lease and when the pastor of Bronx Bible Church was contacted by the NYC Housing Authority there was no mention of the end of the year expiration of the lease.
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