Let’s not overthink this. The Department of Education’s policy precluding churches and other religious organizations from worshiping in city schools is discriminatory and impractical.

Like tens of thousands of groups, from Alcoholics Anonymous to the Boy Scouts, churches like Bronx Household of Faith in University Heights pay rent and use school facilities for a few hours every week during off-hours when no students are present.

The city’s main argument in arguing to keep the policy in place (despite vigorous opposition from Bronx Household’s lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund, which took up the case in the name of religious freedom), is that students who attend schools where there is religious worship during off-hours will get confused. They might feel the government, which controls the schools, favors a certain religion.

Even if this notion didn’t appear condescending to students, who see religion everywhere in our society, we would argue that the premise is faulty to begin with.

We went to PS/MS 15 back in June to find out how Bronx Household used the school and to see if it, in fact, “transformed” the school into a state-sponsored church (as an appeals court judge argued in upholding the city’s policy).

What we found is that on a Sunday morning, there was no sign of church or anything else going on inside the building.

When you do manage to find your way into the building, you’ll find a security guard or custodian, not a preacher or an evangelist. Nobody will tell you you’re going to hell if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your savior. They will give you directions to the auditorium where you’ll find a few dozen people listening to a man talk about God or the Bible. People will sing songs. After an hour or so, they will invite you to drink coffee and eat cookies with them. But remember, you didn’t have to be there in the first place, unless, of course, you are a reporter or extremely curious about the inner workings of a school.

But we didn’t stop there. We went to PS/MS 15 on a school day to ask parents what they thought about churches worshiping in the buildings where their children received their education. Not one parent we spoke with knew that a church used the building on Sundays. And when they learned that was indeed the case, we found no objections.

In fact, some parents thought it was a great idea.

Ed. note: This editorial appeared in the Dec. 15-28, 2011 issue of the Norwood News.