Colo. School District Forced to Ban Evangelical Church Following Teacher Complaint

A Colorado school district has been forced to ban a local evangelical church from worshipping at its school building following a complaint from a local teacher.

Florence High School in Fremont County, Colorado has agreed to a settlement with teacher Robert Basevitz regarding the evangelical Cowboy Church at Crossroads and the church's use of school grounds.

The church had previously been able to use school grounds for Sunday worship services and weekly Wednesday lunchtime meetings before Basevitz reportedly filed a complaint saying the church events were inhibiting his job as a teacher because he had to use a side door instead of the school's main door during morning flagpole prayer ceremonies held by the church.

The lawsuit, filed by Basevitz earlier this year with the help of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, voiced its disagreement with the "insertion of religion into school activities."

The lawsuit settlement also prohibits the district from providing its buildings for meetings "by any group that impairs the district's ability to carry out its educational mission, including groups that create a reasonable risk of liability for violation of constitutional mandates."

Pastor Randy Pfaff, head of the Cowboy Church at the Crossroads, told The Christian Post in an interview last week that he believes many of the arguments made in the lawsuit were 'lies."

"They were lies. That is exactly what they were," Pfaff said. "I have never met the man. He said that I was preaching at him and doing things and that I was offensive to him, but I have never met him and never had any communication. I don't even know who he is. I couldn't pick him out."

"He was certainly welcome to join us around the flagpole or come and get a piece of pizza on Wednesday and leave," Pfaff said. "All kinds of faiths did that but for some reason he didn't want to."