This Friday “Parents Night Out” program uses non-religious crafts and games, which is important because the Presbyterian flock’s leaders insist that it’s open to parents of any “creed, color, party or orientation.” It helps to know that this evangelical church is located in New York City’s Greenwich Village and meets in rented space in Public School 3.

“We’re New Yorkers and we know all about the incredible diversity of life in the Village,” said the Rev. Sam Andreades, a former computer professional with a New York University graduate degree. “We’re trying to be part of that diversity. We live here.”

The question, however, is whether the Village Church will get to stay where it is, pending the resolution of an old church-state clash that is probably headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is one of 60 churches that rent space — outside of school hours — in New York City’s nearly 1,700 schools. About 10,000 non-religious groups take advantage of the same opportunity.

The question that vexes some educators is whether it’s acceptable for churches to worship in their buildings. This is currently allowed under equal-access laws that have become common nationwide in recent decades.

At the heart of the debate is a 2001 Supreme Court decision — Good News Club vs. Milford Central School — that instructed educators to offer religious groups the same opportunity to use public-school facilities as secular groups. School leaders can elect to close their buildings to secular and religious groups alike, thus avoiding discrimination.

Now, the Second Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals has challenged this status quo. In a 2-1 decision, it backed New York City school board attempts to ban regular worship services in its facilities, while allowing for some other forms of religious expression by religious groups.

“When worship services are performed in a place, the nature of the site changes,” wrote Judge Pierre N. Leval. “The site is no longer simply in a room in school being used temporarily for some activity. … The place has, at least for a time, become the church.”

The implication is that a “mysterious transformation” literally takes place during these worship services, noted Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, a lawyer who has been involved in equal-access cases in New York City and elsewhere for a quarter of a century.

“There isn’t some kind of architectural alchemy at work here that suddenly turns a school facility into a dangerous place,” he said. “Allowing unions to rent space in schools doesn’t turn them into union halls. Allowing Alcoholics Anonymous to use a school doesn’t turn it into the Betty Ford Clinic.”

However, this ongoing conflict is evidence that many New Yorkers are spooked by the thought of people — especially evangelicals — worshipping in spaces created for secular education. The bottom line: What if believers dared to pray for the students and teachers who occupy those spaces on school days?

In a New York Times essay, activist Katherine Stewart explained why she fiercely opposes having a church meet behind the red door of her local school on the Upper East Side. She also attacked the Village Church by name.

“I could go on about why my daughter’s photo should not be made available for acts of worship, or why my P.T.A. donations should not be used to supply furniture for a religious group that thinks I am bound for hell,” concluded the author of the upcoming book, “The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.”

“Maybe it’s just that I imagine that that big red door is about education for all, not salvation for a few. Sometimes a building is more than a building.”

The most disturbing theme in these arguments, said Andreades, is the frequent claim that his church and others like it are somehow aliens in their city. Renting space in PS3, he noted, allows his small flock to invest 10 percent of its budget into Village charities — from an AIDS research center to programs for shut-ins, from arts projects to soup kitchens.

“This church has been in the Village for 16 years,” he said. “We’ve had members attend that public school and teach at it. … We know who we are and where we are and we think we belong here.”

Consider what happened recently after a staged emergency at Burlington Township High School in New Jersey. The police script for the drill called for armed men to crash the front doors, shoot several students and barricade themselves in the library with hostages. This document, according to the Burlington County Times, described the intruders as part of “a right-wing fundamentalist group called the ‘New Crusaders’ who do not believe in the separation of church and state.” The two gunmen attacked because a child had been expelled for praying.

For some reason, evangelical pastors became alarmed. Thus, local officials and educators released a statement saying they regretted “any insensitivity that might have been inferred” by this scenario, including any offense taken by those who “inferred” that the mock terrorists were Christians.

I have no idea why pastors “inferred” that organizers of this tax-funded drill had in any way suggested that “right-wing” fundamentalists in a “New Crusaders” army opposed to the “separation of church and state” and angry about a “school prayer” dispute might be conservative Christians.

No way. Why would anyone “infer” something like that?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Boredom is rarely a problem for journalists on the religion beat. That’s why I mark this column’s anniversary every year — this is No. 18 — by offering a grab-bag collection of strange stories that I didn’t have the chutzpah or the time to cover during the previous 12 months. So hang on.

* During holiday seasons, I get all kinds of email and often it’s hard to tell when people are joking. For example, I received an copy of “The Two-Minute Haggadah: A Passover service for the impatient.” It condensed the rite’s pivotal four questions to this:

(1) “What’s up with the matzoh?” (2) “What’s the deal with horseradish?” (3) “What’s with the dipping of the herbs?” (4) “What’s this whole slouching at the table business?” The answers? “(1) “When we left Egypt, we were in a hurry. There was no time for making decent bread.” (2) “Life was bitter, like horseradish.” (3) “It’s called symbolism.” (4) “Free people get to slouch.”

* No joke. The KFC restaurant chain did ask Pope Benedict XVI to bless its new “Fish Snacker” product, which the company said would be “ideal for American Catholics who want to observe Lenten season traditions while still leading their busy, modern lifestyles.” Apparently, the pope declined.

* Try to imagine the media response if President George W. Bush ended a United Nations address with a call for the second coming of his Messiah and pledged to help this apocalypse happen sooner rather than later.

Would this make headlines? Thus, I was surprised when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drew little fire when he ended his fall U.N. speech by saying:

“I emphatically declare that today’s world … above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet. O, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return.”

* Candid religion quote of the year? Asked by Vanity Fair if she is a Christian, columnist Ann Coulter replied: “Yes, sort of a mean Christian.”

* Church PR efforts are getting edgier. An Episcopal parish in New Jersey issued a “Message to Disaffected Roman Catholics” proclaiming that many “whose spiritual lives are grounded in the Mass and in the sacraments are, nevertheless, unable to concur with the Vatican’s position on issues such as the role of women in the church, contraception, remarriage of divorced person, homosexual relationships, or abortion. … If you are among them, you may find a comfortable spiritual home at Grace Church in Newark.”

* In a list of 100 men and women who are “transforming our world,” Time editors included 27 “artists and entertainers,” 16 “scientists and thinkers” and many other powerful people. However, the list included only three religious leaders. This is the planet earth we are talking about, right?