free institutions may have been divinely inspired, but they are rooted in mortal instruments--the rule of law, the common defense, a written Constitution. Faith in our Creator is a thing apart, a matter of personal conviction, not of public policy. Before we drift toward some quasi-state-sanctioned establishment of religion, let us have a long moment of meditative silence. ATTACHMENT D [From the Washington Post Aug. 12, 1982] WHEN THEY PRAYED IN SCHOOL (By Samuel Shaffer) The continuing controversy about restoring public shcool prayers brings back memories of religion in the public schools of the District of Columbia in the 1920's, when I was attending grammar and high school here. This was the compulsory procedure in the schoolroom before instruction began: first, we had to extend the right arm and hand, in a gesture afterwards adopted by Benito Mussolini, and pledge allegiance to the flag. Then came the religious part of the morning's activities. Whether it was due to a rider on a D.C. appropriations bill slipped through Congress or a ruling by the D.C. school board was never explained to us. First, the teacher had to lead the class in a recitation of the Lord's Prayer. This resulted in tension between the Protestant and Catholic children because the latter refused to say the concluding words: "For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen." After class, this led to taunts and occasional fistfights. The first sentence of the prayer presented a curious difficulty for some of us who said, in our blessed ignorance: "Our Father who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name." It wasn't until years later, when I discovered H. L. Mencken, that I learned the Creator's name was Yahweh, not Harold, and that I should have said "hallowed." This was followed by a reading from the Bible. The teacher could select any passage, but that passage had to be an entire chapter. My section chief in high school was Carlos Blume, a German teacher, who, incidentally, was never seen to eat anything for lunch but cold fried egg sandwiches that he brought from his boarding house. By his own admission, made privately to some favored students, Carlos Blume was "a village atheist." And so day after day he read the same chapter-Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis-thus obeying the letter of the law while utterly violating its spirit. My memory is still haunted by some of the verses: "And Seth lived a hundred and five years and begat Enos: and Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Seth were nine hundred and five years: and he died." And so we learned about the extraordinary life expectancy and conjugal vigor of Cainan (who began Mahalaleel) and Jared and Enoch (who begat Methusaleh). Always there came the dying fall: "And then he died." We knew when those words would come and, spontaneously with Carlos Blume, we chimed in. Thus inspired, we faced our scholarly tasks with renewed vigor and hope. PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOANNE T. GOLDSMITH Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, my name is Joanne Goldsmith, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Public libertarian, educational and religious organizations, all of which Our member organizations are dedicated to preserving religious liberty and the principle of separation of church and state and to maintaining the integrity and viability of public education. Our primary interest is in protection of the guarantees of the First Amendment to the Constitution which speak to the basic right of all Americans to practice religion without government coercion, involvement or interference. We believe firmly that separation of church and state is good for schools and good for religion. Thus we oppose mandatory, organized prayer in the public schools. We think that prayer without a faith content deliberately planned to be inoffensive would be meaningless. Children are quick to notice that a prayer without faith is like cake without icing and would be certain to aid in alienating children from real commitment to faith On the other hand, sectarian prayers lead to different problems. There are alot of communities in this country where a non-Christian, a religious humanist, an agnostic or atheist, would find his children subjected to religious exercises and prayers quite at odds with his own beliefs. What happens in the Catholic community to the Baptist child, in the Jewish community to the Muslims children. We are fortunate in this nation to have a diverse religious community. In that diversity is strength. Respect for the differences in our religious community is not going to be taught thru mandatary organized school room prayer, rather the conflict between classroom teacher and student will be the focus and the results less than desirable for both religion and for public schools. It is inappropriate to ask or require our public school children to respond to the symbolism of public prayer. Public schools have been asked to do many things, surely the teaching of religion should not be one of its duties. Several years ago, Leo Pfeffer, retired legal counsel to this organization, spoke on the issues now before this Committee. I would like to take just a few minutes to repeat a few of his reasons for opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment. Fiction I. Public school Bible reading and prayer recitations have been going on for a hundred and fifty years without objection. Opposition to these practices is a recent occurrence. ง Fact: Strong and consistent efforts to eliminate devotional Bible reading in the public schools have been carried on for practically as long as there have been public schools in which devotional Bible reading was conducted. Formal opposition to the practice can be traced at least to the year 1840, when the Fourth Provincial Council of the Roman Catholic Church was held in Baltimore. Fiction 2. There is only one Bible and all prayers are addressed to the same God. Therefore, it makes no difference which version of the Bible or what form of prayer is used in the public schools. Fact: No controversy in human history has caused more persecution, oppression, and bloodshed than the question of what is the true word of God and which is the correct way to worship Him or Her. The victims of the Inquisition were persons who revered the same Bible and worshipped the same God as the Inquisitors; they suffered only because they worshipped in a different way. Unfortunately, it cannot be said that human nature has changed so dramatically in the intervening hundreds of years as to make religious persecution now unthinkable. It might now be less blatant; less brutal; but subtle persecution is persecution nontheless. Fiction 3. If a child has the right to be excused from participating in Bible reading or prayer recitation, there can be no valid objection to the practice. Fact: This is the delusion of "voluntariness". It is belied by history and recognized as a fiction by countless educators and other persons who know how children think and act. There is nothing voluntary about compulsory school attendance laws. Fiction 4. The Supreme Court has forbidden the mention of God, or the Bible or religion in the public schools. Fact: The most effective way of disproving this fiction is to look at the Supreme Court's decisions and see what the Court itself has said. I simply refer to the Committees attention relevant sections of the Engel and Schempp-Murray cases. In the Engel decision the Court's opinion states: There is of course nothing in the decision reached here In the Schempp-Murray case, the Court said: It is insisted that unless these religious exercises are The First Amendment is based on the premise that the separation of degree of esteem, reverence, and influence anywhere in the world. It was the First Amendment which brought this about. The author of that Amendment, James Madison, placed himself firmly in opposition to any impairment of its basic principles, no matter how slight, "because," he said, "it is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution." Retaining this "prudent jealousy," the American people have treated the Bill of Rights as unamendable. They have viewed it as a declaration of fundamental principles of government that must remain inviolate if our country is to remain free. By rejecting the proposed amendments that are the subject of this hearing, this Committee will protect from challenge the basic liberties that promise freedom to all Americans. PARTICIPATING . American Association of School Administrators |
