Should Churches be Alowed to Meet in Public Schools?

The Christian Post > U.S.|Tue, Nov. 01 2011 06:43 PM EDT

Ore. Pastors Speak Out About Churches Meeting in Public Schools

By Jeff Schapiro | Christian Post Reporter

Many churches, especially start-ups, rent public school facilities on weekends in order to house their worship services. While opponents to these arrangements say that religious organizations have no business holding services in a government institution, the pastors of these churches say their presence is in the best interest of the community.

Willy Burns, pastor of Southside Community Church in Newberg, Ore., said his congregation met in a public elementary school for three years, and during that time they had a few “scares” from school board members who complained about the church's presence but had a good experience overall.

“To say that churches that are renting the facilities are being supported by the schools is nonsensical,” Burns said in an email to The Christian Post. “If any group wants to come in and rent the facility they may, and I think that is a real win for the school district, especially given the harsh economic times we live in where schools are being hit hard and teachers are being cut.

Meanwhile, Michael Gaffney, pastor of Ascent Christian Church in Prineville, Ore., said his congregation meets in a local high school auditorium because the cost of rent is a good alternative to being “handcuffed” to a mortgage payment. Renting from the school allows his church to reserve more of its money for ministry, he said, and all of the rent money goes toward the high school's auditorium and theater program.

Gaffney doesn't want the church to have a mortgage, because, "like it does in a marriage, it becomes a stressor on the church, and then sooner or later, usually sooner, the church finds itself in a position where it has come to serve the building rather than the building serving the church.”

Eight out of 10 of Oregon’s largest school districts are currently renting their facilities to religious groups, but not everyone is happy about it, according to The Associated Press.

In September, Gladstone, Ore. resident Wilford Bearden became upset after he received a flyer inviting him to a church service at a nearby middle school. He later contacted the school district's officials to complain.

"I don't think it's something that schools should be doing," said Bearden to AP. "I think the general public would probably be appalled as I am that my tax dollars are promoting religion."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a group of non-theists out of Madison, Wis. that fight for church-state separation, says it is unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme Court has rendered decisions that continue to allow churches to meet in schools.

“Start-up churches often take advantage of low school rental to establish themselves,” says an article on FFRF's website. “They obtain a prominent site for a new church, collect church donations on public property, and use their savings to eventually buy their own tax-free buildings. No wonder many taxpayers are concerned!”

But Steve Crampton, general counsel and vice president of legal affairs for Liberty Counsel, told The Christian Post Monday, “It is a sad commentary on the state of our nation and our so-called 'tolerant' society, that when churches seek to exercise the same rights as any other community group to use the facilities at our public schools – on the same basis, same terms as other groups – they are singled out for this kind of hostile treatment.”

The Liberty Counsel, founded in 1989, is a non-profit legal group dedicated to promoting religious freedom and defending religious rights. Crampton said, under a pure interpretation of the law, churches in American shouldn't fear being excluded from public schools, but said they should be concerned about a growing hostility toward Christians in our society.

“It's as if we've gone from sort of a privileged status, as the First Amendment religion clauses make clear, to really being almost second-class citizens because we belong to a Christian church today,” he said.

He also said he is afraid that some school districts might close off access to their facilities for all community groups, in order to avoid lawsuits from both churches and organizations like the FFRF. When that happens, he said, “the whole community suffers.”

"Groups like ours exist to, on the one hand, protect the churches free of charge, but on the other to render defenses to school districts, free of charge, when they're sued by the left on these baseless grounds,” said Crampton.

Patrick Bowler, lead pastor of Valley Life Church in Lebanon, Ore., told CP via email that, despite what others argue, his church is not an opponent of the state. His congregation has volunteered to help the local school district with tasks like landscaping, trash removal and providing food to hungry children in the district.

He said his church, which has met in Lebanon High School for the last five years, has given the district tens of thousands of dollars in rent and doesn't expect to receive any preferential treatment.

“As believers in a God who humbled Himself and set aside His glory to live among us and to die for us to close the gap between himself, a holy God, and ourselves, a broken people, how could we posture ourselves as entitled to anything?” he asked.

“Jesus would have us love the city, and that is increasingly what we want to do.”