Court asked to evict church from school

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NEW YORK -- Dozens of volunteers show up at 7 a.m. on Sundays at Christ Tabernacle to haul screens, banners and musical instruments to a school two miles away.

The evangelical, charismatic church on bustling Myrtle Avenue near several strip malls, brick row houses and cemeteries is growing so fast that there is no place to put its 2,500 members.

The resulting spillover into a local school mirrors what booming churches in New York's five boroughs do every Sunday morning. But a hearing slated for tomorrow could change that.

Federal District Court Judge Loretta A. Preska will hear arguments in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, which could lead to the eviction of all churches from New York schools.

The city is arguing that the use of a public school for religious worship violates the separation of church and state. But the churches say that if nonreligious groups can use public facilities, they should be allowed to do so as well.

Christ Tabernacle's brick sanctuary was converted from a 1920s movie theater and takes up a whole city block in Queens, but when membership grew too large for the building to accommodate, the church leapt at the chance in October to use the auditorium at Bushwick High School in north Brooklyn.

"We were bursting out of our seams," says Ralph Castillo, the church's chief marketing officer. "Real estate is at a premium here. The high school gave us 800 more seats and they had classrooms."

Now, 300 congregant meet every Sunday at the school, worshipping via video hookup from the main church.

New York's school board had forbidden religious groups from using public school facilities since 1978, when a state court said Buffalo high schools could not allow student Bible studies on their premises.

But when the state allowed nonreligious groups to use school facilities, numerous religious organizations sued, seeking equal access.