New York

Churches across New York City were preparing to hold worship services in spaces rented from public schools Sunday before discovering that a court order this week did not apply to them.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York had issued a 10-day restraining order Thursday as it waited to decide an appeal in a case that banned churches from renting space in public schools for worship services.

About 50 churches applied for permits after the decision. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg believed the decision applied to all churches, and the city approved the permits. more >>

New York Knicks' newest star Jeremy Lin quoted among one of his favorite Bible verse a most fitting passage in Romans on suffering and perseverance.

Perfectly describing his own journey thus far, he cited Romans 5:3-5, which read: "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

"The Bible talks a lot about how God takes bad situations and tough situations and he teaches us and he uses those times of suffering to draw us closer to him and that's what I try to focus on during those times," Lin said during an interview with GoodTV, a Taiwanese evangelical Christian channel. more >>

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced today that it has won a court order allowing churches in New York City to continue meeting for weekend services at public schools, citing a temporary victory against the Department of Education.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order for 10 days, which will stop church evictions form public schools for the time being. The court will now fully consider constitutional arguments about the city's unique-in-the-nation prohibition on worship services in vacant public school buildings on weekends before making a final decision on the matter.

After the New York City Department of Education (DOE) released regulations banning "religious worship services" in school facilities, ADF attorneys petitioned on behalf of the Bronx Household of Faith, hoping to seek a preliminary and/or permanent injunction against the ban. more >>

The cord attached to a crane hoisting a pile of steel beams hundreds of feet into the air snapped during construction at the World Trade Center site Thursday, causing about a hundred workers to scramble to safety. No one appeared to be seriously hurt.

What looked to be steel high-beams fell at about 9:56 a.m. at the WTC site in downtown Manhattan. The steel high-beams, attached to a crane perched on top of a new building under construction at the site, plummeted to the ground when the crane cable snapped. The accident occurred near Cortlandt Street, near the site of the 9/11 memorial. 

Fire trucks, emergency response vehicles and several police cars arrived on the scene within minutes, and the site of the crane collapse was soon roped off. The construction site was shut down for further investigation near Building 4. more >>

Good news may be near for dozens of New York City churches currently out of a building to meet and worship in on Sundays following an "optimistic" hearing on Tuesday.

Through the continued efforts of the Alliance Defense Fund, a new injunction may be granted by U.S. District Court Chief Justice Loretta A. Preska delaying the eviction of churches from city schools. A ban on churches using public school buildings for worship service in the weekends went into effect last Sunday.

ADF attorneys were back in court on Tuesday on behalf of the Bronx Household of Faith, hoping to seek a preliminary and/or permanent injunction against the New York City Department of Education's regulations banning "religious worship services" in school facilities. more >>

Although the New York State Senate has passed an amendment that would reverse the New York City Board of Education and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to evict nearly 70 churches from the public school spaces they have been renting, many of them for years, most of these congregations are already packed up and prepared for an exodus as the deadline for departure is this Sunday, Feb. 12.

The state Senate overwhelmingly voted Monday 52-7 in favor of Bill A8800A/S.6087A but the NY State Assembly also has to approve its own version of the bill to successfully block the City and mayor's attempt to evict these congregations, located across all five NYC boroughs, from the public school facilities they have been using as their ministry homes. These public schools, located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan, are used for private services by these small congregations when schools are not in session.

Among the estimated 68 churches now caught in a bind is the Bronx House of Faith, whose challenge of the Board of Education's policy was defeated in June 2011 in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that the board was allowed to enforce a policy that prohibits public schools from being used for "religious workshop services, or otherwise using a school as a house of worship." While affirming that the Board of Education can, if it chooses, prohibit "worship" at its public schools, the court also decided that churches are allowed to partake in other religious activities, such as prayer meetings and hymn singing. The Supreme Court refused in December to hear the church's appeal, so the ruling stands, as does the Feb. 12 deadline, despite efforts by lawmakers to reverse the enactment of the policy. more >>