Sam Levin

Pastor Sal Sabino, left, will be allowed to lead worship inside schools this Sunday.

​Thank God!

That's what Pastor Sal Sabino did today when he heard the news that he and other churches may be able to worship in schools this Sunday after all.

The drama around religious groups renting public school space reached new heights today when a federal judge decided to block the city Department of Education from enforcing its ban on churches using schools for worship services. Federal Judge Loretta Preska officially granted a 10-day injunction to the Bronx Household of Faith, which has opposed the city's evictions -- alongside around 60 other churches that would be kicked out under the ban.

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​New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan has arrived in Rome, NY1 reported, after leaving from JFK International Airport last night. The flight was the first set in Dolan's journey to be elevated to cardinal. The New York Daily News caught Dolan as he was leaving his St. Patrick's residence yesterday evening. "I can taste the pasta already," he said. Aside from eating, Dolan has official duties to attend to in Rome before the ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica Saturday. According to the New York Post, he will speak Friday at the Vatican on the subject "the topic of new evangelization to ensure people living in European countries steeped in the Catholic tradition remain faithful." He will also be "interrogated by the pope -- in Italian -- in front of all current cardinals."

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Sam Levin

Pastor Sal Sabino, left, will not be allowed to lead worship services in school spaces.

​Next Sunday, Pastor Sal Sabino, from Heavenly Vision Christian Center, will conduct his worship services on the street.

That's because this coming Sunday is the last time he and his congregation can use the church's current location -- I.S. 52, a public school in upper Manhattan.

Last month, we wrote about the battle between church groups and the city as Mayor Mike Bloomberg has pushed a policy to stop allowing churches to use school space. The loud protestors bugged Bloomberg in the rain outside his State of the City speech and marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to bring attention to the issue. And the New York Civil Liberties Unionsupported the city in this effort, arguing that these kinds of arrangements between religious organizations and the Dept. of Education turn schools into churches every Sunday and violate the principle of separation of church and state.

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​After several religious groups, most notably the Catholic Church, took issue with a new federal regulation requiring organizations to provide contraception coverage to its employees, the Obama administration has announced a new compromise that it hopes everyone will be happy about.

"If a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge," the White House said in a statement earlier today. Obama hopes that this compromise will respect issues of religious freedom while still allowing women to access the healthcare that they need.

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​Today in "Religion vs. Medicine," two parents from Queens are asking a judge to overturn a rule that allows public schools to send unvaccinated children home when there are illnesses going around.

While children are required to be vaccinated in order to attend public school, there is a legal exception to this rule if parents oppose vaccinations on religious grounds. However, city principals can still choose to send unvaccinated children home if there are other students at school with common communicable diseases such as measles and chicken pox. This is what happened to Fabian Mendoza-Vaca's children at P.S. 107, and he's suing in the Queens Supreme Court to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"It is my opinion that resorting to vaccinations demonstrates a lack of faith in God, which would anger God and therefore be sacrilegious," said Mendoza-Vaca.

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Sam Levin

City Councilmen Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez disagree with the NYCLU's push to ban churches from using public school space.

​The fight to block churches from using public school space got support today from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which says the policy is a threat to religious freedom.

The Civil Liberties Union is arguing in testimony today that these kinds of arrangements between religious organizations and the Dept. of Education turn schools into churches every Sunday, violating the principle of separation of church and state. This latest move pits them against a group of loud protestors made up of electeds and religious leaders, who have been rallying to keep worship services inside school buildings.

In this case, the NYCLU is going up against a handful of pols whose views are typically aligned with those of the civil rights group.

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Sam Levin

Protesters earlier this month speaking out against Bloomberg's plan to ban religious institutions from public schools

​They're back! And a bit louder this time.

Elected officials and religious leaders rallied yesterday to protest Mayor Mike Bloomberg's ban on religious institutions using public school space. Runnin' Scared last saw them in the pouring rain earlier this month, making a scene outside of Bloomberg's State of the City speech in the Bronx.

We didn't get a chance to get in on the fun yesterday but chatted this morning with a representative from the office of City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who has been a leader in the the campaign against this policy. Apparently, more than 2,000 marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to call on the mayor to allow religious institutions to stay in school -- a definite jump from the hundred or so we saw on that rainy day weeks ago.

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​New York already has a rep for being filed with a bunch of scary, godless liberals -- you know, the kind of un-American scumbags that ride subways, rent apartments and -- perhaps worst -- work in THE MEDIA!!!

Still, you might wonder: Is New York actually a good place for non-believers to live?

The Secular Coalition for America -- basically, an atheist-rights group -- has an answer for you.

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​The rain didn't stop a group of religious leaders and elected officials from rallying outside Morris High School in the Bronx today before the mayor's State of the City speech. Around 100 protestors were fenced in a block away from the school chanting under a sea of umbrellas. They had trekked to the Bronx to speak out against the city's ban on religious institutions using public school facilities. (In June, it was ruled by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that the city could "bar any religious worship in the schools because it appears to promote a particular faith.")

"We've been good neighbors. We're not here to ask for a favor. We're here to ask for fairness," shouted Councilman Fernando Cabrera, a pastor who was arrested last week protesting this cause. "What about religious equality?...Our soldiers have died for our religious freedom. We're not going to allow one mayor [to stop that]."

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Alex Aizenberg

​As recently sighted by Alex Aizenberg on the R train between the Atlantic and Union Street stops in Brooklyn, the above, added in magic marker to a posted sign, is an exhortation to pray on the subway. (But don't smoke, litter, or blast your annoying boombox, please.) Also, don't put your feet on the chairs, or you might get arrested. Don't run, or eat, or hold the doors open, or subway surf or skylark. And, please, don't do yoga, because that's obnoxious. Praying, though...praying is O.K... Right?

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