Cabrera, a councilman and a pastor, arrested for protesting a city ban
Fernando Cabrera. council.nyc.gov
11:07 am Jan. 5, 20124
New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera and others were arrested this morning while protesting the city's ban on religious institutions using public school facilities, according to sources.
Cabrera is a pastor who started a church in the Bronx before his election to the Council in 2009. He has been rallying religious leaders to help overturn the ban.
In June, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a church that sued the city in order to be allowed to use a public school after hours for meetings. Late last year, the Supreme Court refused to hear the church's appeal.
During Michael Bloomberg's annual interfaith breakfast last week, one priest stood up to plead with the mayor.
"We love you Mike, we love you," said the priest, Bill Devlin. "But please don’t kick out our houses of worship from our city schools."
Bloomberg responded: "I hear you—we'll be happy to talk about that."
UPDATE: "I just got out of the precinct," Cabrera just told me in a brief phone interview. "This is the first time I've been arrested for anything. This is a worthy cause."
Cabrera said 10,000 groups could be affected when the city requires religious groups to vacate space they're renting from public schools and the city housing authority. The deadlines for the religious groups to move out are February 12 and 22, respectively.
"Tell me one positive action he's taken toward the faith-based community," Cabrera said. "He's definitely becoming the anti-religious mayor."
Cabrera said more acts of civil disobedience were in the works.
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who joined Cabrera at the protest but did not get arrested, told me on a separate call, "The city should find a way to work with the churches."
This is sad. These guys should be allowed to rent the space from the schools. So ridiculous.
This is sad and ridiculous. What about separation of church and state? The state shouldn't have this kind of say. Any religious group should be able to rent space.
yes, i agree that they should, sometimes the only responses people get in times of trouble are from the religious groups, these groups are not thugs or gangs trying to take over governments or cities, these religious groups are people who are sincerely concerned with the state of the country, their cities, their towns, their neighbors, and sometimes, even their own families who are in need of food, shelter, clothing, financial assistance, education, and a helping hand during a tough time in their life, these religious outreach groups are not there for their own selfish ambitions, they are unselfish and sacrifice their own convenience to assist others in recovery and restoration to a more stable lifestyle. church services can and do encourage people in a positive way to live a productive life, to be more responsible, and ultimately, to give back to the community as well.
This is the start of ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT. Shut up the Houses of Worship, (groups of like interested persons), or any group that might oppose the Governmental Elite. The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance, don't let them get away with this.