In response to a federal district judge’s decision today to issue a temporary order that will allow churches to continue holding worship services in New York City public schools for the next 10 days, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement, which is attributable to NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman:

“The 16 years of litigation around the issue of regular church worship services in New York City public schools shows how complicated this issue is and how difficult it is to simultaneously protect religious freedom while prohibiting against the appearance of government endorsement of religion.

“But the facts in this case are clear: Churches in New York City are holding worship services Sunday after Sunday, year after year, sending a message to both students and the community at large that the government favors these churches. They are overwhelmingly Christian churches as the vast majority of schools are only regularly available on Sundays, they pay below market rents (as little as $2 an hour to use a classroom), they tend to dominate the schools on the day they use them, and some use the school address on their letterhead and website, while others blanket the neighborhood with postcards listing the school as the church’s address.

“Unless and until these problems are resolved, churches should not be allowed to conduct their regular Sunday worship services in the city’s public schools.”

Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision upholding a New York City Department of Education policy prohibiting worship services in public schools. In upholding the ban, the Second Circuit explained:

“When worship services are performed in a place, the nature of the site changes. The site is no longer simply a room in a school being used temporarily for some activity. The church has made the school the place where it performs its rites, and might well appear to have established itself there. The place has, at least for a time, become the church.”