Continuing the legal roller coaster for New York churches with few rental options, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the second time reversed a lower court's ruling allowing congregations to meet in public schools. Local churches following the ruling have said they will continue to meet at public schools until the city tells them to stop, in the hopes that new Mayor Bill de Blasio will change the city policy himself as he promised to do during his campaign. De Blasio indicated his continuing support on Thursday even though he hadn't read the ruling.
“I stand by my belief that a faith organization playing by the same rules as any community nonprofit deserves access,” he said. “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. But we’ll assess the court decision and we’ll look from there.”
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