MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD. OREGON
THURSDAY, MAY , 1963 " n n
on Prayers
Retired Episcopal Bishop Reviews Court
Decision
(Editor't not - The U.S.
Supreme Court loon will hand
down a decision on iha con
stitutionality of prayar and
Bibla reading in public
schools. In the following die
patch, one of America'i moit
respected church leaden die
cusiet what the court il like
ly to rule and why. and he
suggests wayi in which the
anticipated decision may be
uied as a lever to bring about
general strengthening of re
ligious education of America.
(The author is the Rt. Rev.
Angus Dun, who retired last
year after 18 years as Episco
pal bishop of Washington.
Since retiring, he has con
ducted an extensive study of
the religion-in-schools prob
lem as chairman of a commit
tee on church and state ap
pointed by the National Capi
tal Area Civil Liberties Caption.)
By The Rt. REV ANGUS DUN
Written for
United Press International
The decision of the U.S.
Supreme Court in the New
York regents' prayer case and
the cases having to do with
Bible readings and the use
of the Lord's Prayer in pub
lic school, now awaiting deci
sion, have focussed attention
on fundamental questions re
garding the place of religion
in American education.
Our society is committed by
the Constitution to two prin
' ciples of church state rela
tions. On the one hand there is
the negative principle which
provides that Congress and
the authorities of states shall
make no laws or binding de
cisions respecting an estab
lishment of religion. This
principle bars our federal gov
ernment and state authorities
from giving special privileges
or support to any particular
religion or religious institu
tions. Positive Principle
On the other hand there Is
the positive principle which
provides that Congress and
the states shall make no laws
prohibiting the free exercise
of religion. This principle is
designed to guard the free
dom of al individuals and
groups to profess and witness
to their religious faith or lack
of it; to worship according to
their convictions and alle
giances; to provide for the
religious education of their
children and youth; and to
carry on other activities and
good works expressive of their
faith.
We accept these principles
as fundamental to the main
tenance of justice and free
dom. But it does not require
much reflection to conclude
that they cannot work them
selves out without presenting
difficult problems and real
conflicts of interest.
Religion Accepted
' Education is our most de
liberate undertaking as a so
ciety to pass on to our chil
dren what we consider most
important In our cultural in
heritance. From the stand
point of any serious faith, re
ligion has a central place in
the total educational process.
There is an empty place in
any scheme of education
which fails to offer a faith to
live by, a central devotion
and an object of final trust.
For Christians and for believ
ing Jews, God as apprehend
ed by faith is the object of
central devotion and the ob
ject of final trust. To leave
God out of any total educa
tional experience is to teach
effectively that he does not
count.
The family has a primary
role in education, particular
ly in the areas of religion and
morality. Humanly speaking,
parents determine for good
or ill the intimate exposures
and contagions shaping a
child's life in the earlier years.
In this sense, religion and
morality are generally "home
made."
Parents Lack Skill
Although religious educa
tion begins in the family, it
does not end there. Few par
ents have the knowledge and
skill to provide for their chil
dren a religious education
which will' keep step with
their schools.
If a child's religious and
moral education is to be car
ried forward outside the fam
ily, the primary responsibili
ty rests with the churches and
synagogues. Churches and
synagogues have sought to
carry out their distinctive ed
ucational role by Sunday
schools and in other ways,
with markedly varying edu
cational effectiveness.
Some 85 per cent of Ameri
can children attend our pub
lic schools. We must acknowl
edge that as things are now,
the time in the lives of chil
dren and youth which most
churches and synagogues can
command, and the education
al skills and resources they
muster, are heavily outweigh
ed by our public educational
system.
It is this situation which
has led the Roman Catholic
church in a massive way, and
synagogues in a substantial
way, to set up systems of paro
chial and synagogue schools,
parallel to our public school
system. These provide over
all elementary and secondary
education under religious aus
pices and pervaded with reli
gious beliefs and influences.
Into Focus
So we come to the particu
lar issues brought into focus
by recent and anticipated de
cisions of our Supreme Court.
Can or should we expect
our public schools to take any
part in the religious teaching
and nurture of the children of
religiously committed par
ents? The question would not
arise if it were not for the
fact that some modest reli
gious observances have been
widely included in public
school practice in the past.
The churches had a large
part in the beginnings of
American schooling. Despite
the fact that our country has
from the beginning been a
land of many denominations,
there were in the past many
areas where evangelical Protestantism-
was heavily domi
nant. In that situation it was
quite natural for Bible read
ings and Christian prayers to
be an acceptable part of pub
lic school practice. By the
middle of the last century,
the number of Roman Cath
olics and Jews in our popu
lation had greatly increased.
Questions began to be raised
as to what translation of the
Bible might be used in pub
lic schools. In the past 20
years, problems arising from
religious practices in the pub
lic schools have been steadily
mounting. Obviously, these
problems do not arise in the
courts. They arise out of the
American community in
which people of many reli
gious beliefs and of none have
been increasingly mingled.
Beliefs Differ
It is surely understandable
that faithful Jewish parents
do not wish their children to
be asked to listen to a reli
gious reading of Christian
scriptures or to lake part in
a religious or semi-religious
observance of the birth of
Christ. It is understandable
that parents who are consci
entious agnostics or atheists
do not want their children to
be asked to join in or even
listen to a prayer to the God
of Christian faith, or be put
in the position of publicizing
their dissent. Once these ques
tions have been raised, it is
difficult to see what decisions
the Supreme Court could
make save the ones it has
made or seems likely to make.
Those of us who are believ
ing Christians have mixed
feelings concerning the direc
tion in which these court de
cisions have been , moving.
Many Christians have wel
comed for their children in
their public school experience
even a small reference to God
and to Christ. Some believe
that even a relatively exter
nal act can in time come to
have inner meaning. But we
know that faith cannot be en
forced. It Is free. We know
that the Bible was written
from faith to faith, and can
only be read religiously in a
setting of faith. We know that
public prayer belongs in a
community of faith. And a
public school cannot provide
that setting. The same can be
said with equal force of the
religious reading of Jewish
scriptures and the offerings
of Jewish pcayers.
Accept Removal
Most of us who have re
flected on these issues, and
not simply reacted emotion
ally, conclude that in com
mon justice and in conformi
ty with the principles of our
Constitution we must accept
the elimination of the vestigi
al remains of religion from
our public schools. We do this
with some sense of loss but
likewise with a sense of lib
eration. If this be the outcome, it
will be all the more important
that our public schools, in
their task of providing our
children an understanding and
appreciation of our Ameri
can heritage, do full justice
to the large place of the Jew
ish and Christian tradition in
that heritage. Our history
and our political and - social
thought can not be dealt with
faithfully without an objec
tive interpretation of the part
played by religious convic
tions, motives, movements,
and institutions. Our litera
ture and music and art and
communal observances can
nrt be understood apart from
the religious ' content and
leaven found in them.
We hope that with the elim
ination of official religious ob
servances from our public
schools there may be a gen
erous and imaginative explor
ation of ways in which young
people in our public schools,
especially at the high school
level, might be encouraged to
express voluntary their re
ligious interests and concerns,
outside regular school hours.
Their school associations arc
a major part of their experi
ence, and offer a natural
framework for such activities.
Such voluntary activities
would help to offset the im
pression that this period in
their lives is one from which
religion is rigorously exclud
ed.
The exclusion of religious
observances from public
schools will have the advan
tage of clearly placing respon
sibility for religious educa
tion where it belongs, on par
ents and on the churches and
synagogues.
It is likely that this will
stimulate further the estab
lishment of church-controlled
schools, to the possible detri
ment of the public schools
and perhaps to the detriment
of the quality of all educa
tion. We hope that continuing
study and experimentation
may go forward In the direc
tion of cooperative relation
between the religious commu
nities nd the public schools.
. For example, the type of
arrangement commonly called
"shared time" might free pa
rochial schools from . the
heavy financial burden of
teaching subjects of only re
mote religious significance,
and at the same time enable
the churches and the syna
gogues to provide a far mors
substantial religious and mor
al education for children
whose parents desire this for
them.
NIXON'S FUTURE HOME-A New York real estate firm has
confirmed that it sold a cooperative apartment on the fifth
floor of this building on New York's Fifth ave. to former
vice president Richard Nixon. A spokesman said the Nixons
plan to take possession of the 12-room, five bath suite June 1.
New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller has an apartment on
the 12th floor of the same building and his former wife has
a penthouse and 13th floor apartment there. (UPI)
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