A Good Arrangement

I have had several friends who started churches renting public school facilities that went unused on the weekends. The church benefits because it provides them a place to meet for worship without having to build a facility they cannot yet afford. The schools benefit because they increase their revenue without having to make any changes to their weekly operation. And there is no blurring of the line between separation of church and state.

Apparently, this arrangement may come to an end. Some of our friends on Capitol Hill are using a stipulation in the much discussed stimulus bill to refuse federal funds to any school that rents its facility to churches (or any religious groups, for that matter) on weekends. This would mean that schools right here in Homestead would be forced to choose between kicking out the renting churches or losing funding. Churches in our own backyard could suddenly be without a place of worship.

Let's make this a matter of prayer and make sure our representatives know that this is an arrangement that does not need to be federally terminated.