editorial
Courts keep church
and state separate
The Supreme Court and a federal appeals court saw the
light. During this year, the courts have maintained the wall
of separation between church and state. After allowing a
Pawtucket. R.h nativity scene to slip through the cracks, and
ruling that parents of children attending parochial schools
can receive tax credits, the Supreme Court, to the dismay of
the Reagan administration and some church leaders, halted
the seepage of religion into public affairs.
An Alabama law that called for a moment of silence for
prayer or meditation in public schools was condemned by
the Supreme Court by a vote of 6-3.
Next, the high court ruled that states cannot force
private employers to allow employees to refuse to work on
their Sabbath day. This, the court decided, would give an
advantage to religious employees over their non-religious
counterparts.
The next two decisions eliminated programs in New
York City and Grand Rapids, Mich, in which teachers paid
by the taxpayers taught classes in parochial schools.
And a Louisianna law that required that creationism be
given the same emphasis in public schools as evolution, was
struck down by a federal appeals court Monday. The
dissolution of the law. which was the last of its kind, puts an
end to the use of public funds to teach creationism as a
science.
The rulings were based on interpretations of the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which piu
hibits the government from the ‘establishment of religion.”
However, the wall may start to crumble if Attorney
General Edwin Meese 111 is appointed to the Supreme Court ,
which he may be. if a vacancy arises during the Reagan ad
ministration. In an address to the American Bar Associa
tion’s House of Delegates Tuesday. Meese attacked the
Supreme Court’s decisions on religion. He said that the pur
pose of the Establishment Clause was to ’’prohibit religious
tyranny, not to undermine religion generally.”
Meese’s potential appointment is significant because
both rulings on whether or not teachers paid with tax dollars
should be allowed to teach in parochial schools were decid
ed by a slim 5-4 majority. If given the chance. Meese could
be instrumental in swinging the pendulum back towards the
right.
The rulings indicate that the courts, particularly the
Supreme Court. want no part of the Reagan administration’s
desire for “accomodation,” in which the administration has
asked that the government extend itself to cooporate with
religion. The Supreme Court will have the opportunity to
reiterate its rejection of the right-wing policy when it
decides during its next term whether or not high school
students should be allowed to meet in public school
classrooms to read the Bible and pray.
Keep up the good work.
Ban of weapons research
was wise committee decision
A University Campus Planning Committee decision
Tuesday to ban research at the proposed Riverfront Research
Park in which the results, direct or indirect, would serve “to
destroy human life or incapacitate human beings.” was a
wise one. The wording of the decision, even though it does
not prohibit classified research, eliminates military or
weapons research.
The decision appears to be a response to community
dissent expressed against the park during a city council
hearing Monday night. Many of those opposed to the park
feared that it would become a haven for military research.
We hope that the committee decides to include the deci
sion in its final recommendations, which are expected to be
presented to University administration in about 10 days, and
that the park, which could foster economic growth, will not
be tainted by military research.
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Some people, facing the over
whelming threat to humanity
posed by weapons technology
and by the massive applications
of other technologies, such as
pesticide spraying and nuclear
power, before their long term ef
fects are understood, feel that
science is a criminal activity.
They are right, but have rarely
thought through what it is that
is criminal, and in what sense.
Today more than half of the
scientists, engineers and techni
cians of the world are working
in some phase of weapons
development. Most of the rest
are working to enhance the pro
fits of various corporations.
This is not because weapons
and corporate profits are the
most interesting things around,
or the most socially useful, but
because that is where the money
lies. The scientific community
has sold itself to the merchants
of fear, greed and death. Even
those of us not working in
weapons development share in
this guilt insofar as we tolerate
this kind of work among our
colleagues, and allow them a
respected place in scientific
associations, and in our society.
Selling oneself has trad‘d
tionally been termed prostitu
tion. Today’s prostitution of
science is far more immoral and
damaging to society than is pro
stitution in the the usual sense.
it puts into the hands of weak.,
flawed, all too human. in
dividuals. and even into the
hands of error promt computers,
the power to exterminate
humanity, and render our
planet unfit for higher forms of
life — a power and responsibili
ty no one should have.
The most universal. mark, of
criminal activity is secrecy, or.
as we st> .euphemistically call it
in more sophisticated circles,
classification.
No scientist should even con-,
sider participating, in any
classified activity, whether
governmental or private. Those
who are doing such work
should be shown no respect by
their colleagues or anyone else,
As our power to change the
world and to destroy ourselves
increases, the necessity for con
ducting all major activities in a
completely open and ethical
manner becomes ever more
critical, as does the need to
restructure all authoritarian
power structures that operate
from the top down for the
benefit of elite minorities.
Science, as now practiced, is
the most criminal activity yet to
manifest itself among people.
Human attitudes are the all
important critical element in
the world crisis we face today —?
our attitudes towards ourselves,
towards others.
towards other .living things and ■ . I
towards the world we live In.
No technology can save a socks-'
tv riddled with pathological at* * fe
lit tides such as fear. haft*. «r:
rogance^ selfishness, distrust,
lack of concern for others and
jack of good- humor? and •pa
tient t* High technology will
only ^osunr a more prompt
destruction of such a 'society. * -V.
A society with heafthy at
titudes ctin Ik* a viable society
and a satisfying society With dr .*,,
without high-technology.' . .
■ Science, guided by( fear.*.ahd •
selfishness, and directed largely
toward pei^inal. corporate.'na
tional, ' or racial aggrandize- • . ; •
nient. will certainly destroy us
and forcloe®=fdrever the -dream,
of a good life on earth- .
-Science, guided by. love, pa
tience, good will and concern' 0 -°]
for the well being of all peoples
and all living things, by a sense,
of curiosity, adventure, wonder . -
and excitement, and carried on ■
in a completely free open man
ner, can liberate humanity from
most of the woes which beset it.
it can free the human mind and ; -1
spirit for adventures and
achievements now hardly /I
dreamed of.
By Bayard McConnaughey
Hayard McConnaughey has
beeti a biology professor at the ' •
f Iniversity for the past 35 years.
Oregon doily
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