Within hours of the United States Supreme Court declining on March 30 to review the Bronx Household of Faith case, a lawsuit challenging New York City’s ban on private worship services in empty school buildings, Mayor Bill de Blasio responded with what appears to be a decisive move of reconciliation.

The religious groups meeting in the city’s public schools could remain, and he repeated his administration’s commitment to the principle “that religious organizations are able to use space in city schools on the same terms provided to other groups.” This brought immediate relief to Christian churches who feared they might lose their meeting places with Good Friday and Easter only days away.

Easter has come and gone, and we await the mayor’s ultimate decision. His helpful action immediately after the Supreme Court’s denial shows at least two things: He is standing by his word to let the churches meet, and he apparently understands that religious groups meeting in the schools have demonstrated that they function as part of the greater community striving to work together for a better New York.

One way to view the lawsuit brought by the small and intrepid Bronx Household of Faith church is that it subjected New York City to a 12½ year experiment of equal access, which required city schools to allow religious groups to meet just like all other community groups. Federal District Judge Loretta Preska issued an injunction against the policy that took effect in the summer 2002, and it remained in effect until the Supreme Court’s order on March 30.

When it looked like Mayor Bloomberg would evict the churches during a window in the litigation in early 2012, then-Public Advocate de Blasio attended the rallies led by City Councilman Fernando Cabrera and city pastors to show his strong support. His support for equal access never wavered when he rose in the polls and won election as mayor.

It may be because he saw all of the good the churches and other religious groups were doing in neighborhoods across the city. The religious groups did not infiltrate the schools or close their meetings only to some favored chosen, but fanned out to help their neighbors and join as full participants in their communities. During that 12½-year period, how these dedicated believers worked together to bear one another’s burdens and to help their neighbors with food, clothing, rent money, emotional support, counseling, or whatever else they needed was on full display.

The old policy singling out worship services for exclusion from the schools finds its roots in an obsolete fear that religious people and their houses of worship constitute a “threat,” that they want to “take over” and stifle human flourishing by “imposing” their narrow beliefs.” Of the 50 largest school districts in the United States, only New York City retained a ban on worship services, a policy the other districts had abandoned long ago. Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities understand that equal access for religious groups sustains and cultivates diversity and a more vibrant community, and does not diminish it.

Mayor de Blasio stated that his administration would develop new rules to govern religious use of the open forum in the empty public schools. He should make one change: delete the prohibition on “religious worship services or otherwise using a school as a house of worship.” There is no need to adopt special rules for religious groups meeting in the schools. The policy contains a host of regulations that apply to all community groups meeting in the schools. The principle of equal access means they apply across the board to everyone.

To subject religious groups to unique restrictions would violate that principle and retain lingering effects from an unnecessary fear of local religious groups that meet in their neighborhood schools outside of class time. The mayor has an opportunity to honor his word and do good for the many communities that benefit from these diverse congregations.

Mr. Lorence, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, has represented Bronx Household of Faith in its lawsuit against the New York City Board of Education for 20 years.