A ghost of 19th-century bigotry haunts New York City

By GEORGE F. WILL
The Washington Post

HARLEM (or maybe not) — Asked whether his brownstone residence is in Harlem, the Rev. Michel Faulkner says, well, that depends. "When something bad happens, the neighborhood is called Harlem. When something good happens, it is the Upper West Side." Faulkner is trying to make something good happen, but is opposed by a U.S. speaker of the House who died 114 years ago but whose mischief goes marching on.

Faulkner, 50, is an African-American who played defensive line for Virginia Tech and, briefly, the New York Jets. Recoiling from what he calls "the social and community chaos" he saw growing up in Washington's Anacostia section, and that he blamed on Lyndon Johnson's Great Society welfarism, Faulkner served as vice president for urban ministry at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He left that sedate environment to minister to the down-and-out around Times Square, before its sinfulness had been scrubbed away.

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Fighting History In Harlem

George F. Will
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A29
Washington Post

Faulkner, 50, is an African American who played defensive line for Virginia Tech and, briefly, the New York Jets. Recoiling from what he calls "the social and community chaos" that he saw growing up in Anacostia, and that he blamed on Lyndon Johnson's Great Society welfarism, Faulkner served as vice president for urban ministry at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He left that sedate environment to minister to the down-and-out around Times Square, before its sinfulness had been scrubbed away.

Now he wants to create a charter school -- a public school enjoying considerable autonomy from, among other burdens, teachers unions. It would be affiliated with his New Horizon Church. But New York's constitution has a Blaine Amendment.


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Catholic charters a good idea

Editorial
By Michael J. Petrilli

The holidays are here just in time, because seven of the District's inner-city Catholic schools are in need of a Christmas miracle. Like their peers nationwide, they face a crippling financial crisis that threatens to bring their heralded work to an end.

Though indisputably a crisis, it's no surprise. The basic problem has been worsening for decades as middle-class families decamped for the suburbs, leaving weakened parishes and disadvantaged children behind, even as education costs rose. To its credit, the Catholic schools continued to serve students in the community, even though, by and large, their parents couldn't afford the modest tuition, nor did they share the faith.

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Sunday School for Atheists

Time Magazine

On Sunday mornings, most parents who don't believe in the Christian God, or any god at all, are probably making brunch or cheering at their kids' soccer game, or running errands or, with luck, sleeping in. Without religion, there's no need for church, right?

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The growing movement of institutions for kids in atheist families also includes Camp Quest, a group of sleep-away summer camps in five states plus Ontario, and the Carl Sagan Academy in Tampa, Fla., the country's first Humanism-influenced public charter school, which opened with 55 kids in the fall of 2005.

7 D.C. Schools Must Ponder Education Without Religion

Washington Post

At Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Catholic School in Capitol Hill, students attend Mass once a week and a crucifix hangs in the lobby. Before dismissal time, pre-kindergarten teacher Courtney Pullen lines up her students and leads them in the Lord's Prayer. Pullen said she took a teaching job there because she could pray with the children and talk to them about God.

"It gives us leverage" with students, Pullen said of having religion as an integral part of the curriculum. "They're going to miss being able to pray and talk about religion."

The announcement last week by the Archdiocese of Washington that it plans to convert seven District schools to charter schools has forced teachers, students and parents to begin contemplating something that seems unreal: what a Catholic school education would be without religion.

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Church Decides To Convert 7 Schools

Archdiocese Says Elementaries Have Deficit of $4 Million
Washington Post

The Archdiocese of Washington announced yesterday that it planned to convert seven D.C. Catholic schools to charter schools, a decision that angers some parents, students and teachers who worried over the fate of their parochial schools.

The schools are elementary-level, have nearly all-African American student bodies and are located in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods. To become charter schools, they would have to make changes such as ending school prayer and removing religious symbols. But as charter schools, which are independent public schools, they would receive operating funds from the District.

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Freedom of Speech: Clergy Deserve It, Too

Fox News
By Mark Joseph

A group called the Gotham Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit last week to repeal the Blaine Amendment, a little-known law passed in 1894 that, according to the group, was aimed at Catholic immigrants seeking to start parochial schools.

A century later, however, the practical result of the law has been that groups like the New Horizon Church in Harlem have been prevented from opening charter schools that reflected the church's beliefs.

Thanks to Gotham, relief for churches that wish to start charter schools may be on the way, but it may be time to take an even more comprehensive look at laws that restrict the rights of all Americans -- including those who are motivated by religious belief -- to participate fully in American public life.