Why does Mayor Bloomberg welcome the mosque and fight small churches?

By Tom Minnery
Monday, August 23rd 2010

Mayor Bloomberg...was eloquent in his defense of religious freedom when he spoke up for the mosque near the World Trade Center site. We wish his fervor extended to the small church congregations that only want to rent vacant public school auditoriums in New York City for Sunday services.

For 15 years now, the city has been fighting the tiny Bronx Household of Faith, a small Christian congregation that has been having a difficult time finding a place to meet. It wants, consistent with its reading of the U.S. Constitution - and mine - to meet in a vacant public school space on weekends, just as all other community groups are allowed to.

The city flatly says no. It keeps losing this battle in court, but it won't quit. This is an astonishing situation given the mayor's declaration that "Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God's love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us can attest." the rest

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