There's been a court ruling in a church-state case affecting New York public schools:
A federal appeals panel ruled on Thursday that New York City can bar religious groups from holding services in school buildings, reversing a lower-court decision....Now, guess which side the commie radical Bill de Blasio is on, as opposed to the hero of conservatives everywhere, Mike Bloomberg:
The decision does not mean that the city must force religious groups out of the schools, but merely that a city prohibition on religious worship services in schools would comply with the Constitution.
The impact of the decision was not immediately clear; Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly said that he supports the right of religious organizations to hold worship services in public schools, in contrast with the policy of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.Oh, right, I forgot: True Patriots may be applauding Bloomberg now because he loved his fellow billionaires and supported charter schools, and they may think that the apocalypse became imminent immediately upon his departure from office, but they hated Bloomberg when he was actually mayor, for trying to ban Big Gulps and encouraging a bike-share program and backing the "Ground Zero mosque."
But, um, what's de Blasio's thinking on this church thing? Doesn't he
"I stand by my belief that a faith organization playing by the same rules as any community nonprofit deserves access," he said. "You know, they have to go through the same application process, wait their turn for space, pay the same rent. But I think they deserve access. They play a very, very important role in terms of providing social services and other important community services, and I think they deserve that right."I actually think that's a valid interpretation of what the First Amendment requires -- remember, it prohibits the establishment of a state-favored religion. If you provide access to government facilities to nonprofit groups in a way that really doesn't favor one religious group over another, or over nonbelievers, then I'd say there's no establishment, because the access is available to many groups. But I can see it both ways, and the court ruled otherwise.
"But we'll assess the court decision and we’ll look from there," he added.
We'll see what the mayor does now -- but I'm looking around and I haven't found any right-wingers praising him for being on the churches' side. Do you think right-wingers would restrain themselves if Bloomberg had defended the churches and de Blasio were on the side of driving them from school property? How many prime-time segments on Fox do you think that would generate?
I think de Blasio took this stance because it plays well with many New Yorkers, and because he sincerely believes it's the proper interpretation of the First Amendment. That's good, because if he were trying to curry favor with professional conservatives, he'd be wasting his time. They're never going to give him any credit for something like this. It would interfere with their ultimate goal of discrediting and destroying him.
