A large church outside Boston wants to open a new school, but it is facing off with a local government committee it says is hostile to its religious beliefs. Vida Real church in Somerville, Mass., says the committee is prepared to reject its proposal for a Christian school because of its views on creationism, among other things.

A large church outside Boston wants to open a new school, but it is facing off with a local government committee it says is hostile to its religious beliefs. Vida Real church in Somerville, Mass., says the committee is prepared to reject its proposal for a Christian school because of its views on creationism, among other things.

At a meeting on Monday evening, the school committee did not take a vote on the matter, but it requested additional material from Vida Real. The committee plans a vote for its next scheduled meeting on April 25. School committee officials say the review will be fair, but the church’s lawyers say there is evidence of anti-religious bias.

In Massachusetts, elected local school committees are responsible for approving private schools that wish to instruct students ages 6 to 16. Vida Real, a large, predominantly Hispanic, multisite church northwest of Boston, contacted the Somerville School Committee in September 2021 about its desire to open a private Christian school this spring. After several delays, a subcommittee presented the church with a battery of 35 questions to be answered at a February 2022 meeting, during which the church said several members expressed hostility to its religious beliefs.

A subsequent report issued by the subcommittee contained some troubling statements, according to a March 30 letter sent to the school committee by First Liberty Institute and the Massachusetts Family Institute.

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