Schools Push Back Against This Attorney Fighting To Ban Churches From School Property

n Loudon County, Virginia local school boards are coming under fire for renting the use of school buildings to churches during non-school hours.  According to Christian News Network, Attorney John Flannery has complained that 34 of 87 schools in Loudon County rent space to churches.  He finds this problematic and unconstitutional.

Via Christian News Network:

“It’s time to declare that religious worship is an impermissible use of our public schools,” he said. “In Loudoun County, the churches that use public school space are holding ‘church services’ and collecting ‘donations.’ This use advances religious worship, and thus religion. The government is plainly entangled when it’s hosting religious worship not in one or two schools but in 40% of all the county’s public schools.”

Flannery opined that society is ripe for dialogue about the matter as it has not generally been a topic of discussion. He said that renting the space after hours when school is not in session does not rectify the situation.

“The gyms, cafeterias and libraries in our public schools have served as the nave and transept for various church denominations going back 12 years or more,” he stated. “We’ve had these religious services without a murmur of inquiry or dissent, and now suffer from an inertial indifference to question what’s become an unquestioned practice—‘don’t rock the boat]’—‘after all, the services are not during regular school hours’—‘the churches pay to lease the space you know’—even though the established practice appears wholly unconstitutional.”

“It’s past the time when we should have stopped this unconstitutional ‘establishment’ of religious worship in our public schools,” Flannery said.

But Loudoun school board member Bill Fox told reporters last week that he sees nothing wrong with renting to churches on Sundays and the community at large doesn’t either.

“We’ve never had any complaint at all about this,” he said. “We rent out to numerous different community groups and non-profit organizations, including churches, and a variety of churches.”

The question comes down to who should have access to public buildings.  Since the citizens of a community pay for schools via their taxes, shouldn’t they have equal access to these public buildings? 

Church attenders pay the same kinds of taxes as school teachers, administrators, and other school employees.  Why should any group be denied public access to a public building simply because they are exercising their First Amendment right to freedom of religion?