"Rebellion Against the Law Is in the Nature of Treason. the Law Deserves

VOL. 63, NO. 3 May-June 1968 25 CENTS

1LIGOIDILIPS FREE01130

"Rebellion against the law is in the nature of treason. The law deserves our obedience; it alone can reconcile the jarring interests of all and blend into one harmonious union the discordant materials of which society is composed."—Judge William Gaston (see page 13). WILLIAM H. HACKETT Assignment: Washington

An interpretative report of church, state, and politics on Capitol Hill.

■ On several occasions in this column I licly for we realize that those in public have referred to the attitude among many office often hesitate to do so, knowing Members of Congress to the effect that they might be accused of 'attacking the churches are getting more deeply involved church.'" in politico-economic matters than they are The message was signed by M. H. Reyn- in the primary purpose of winning souls for olds, Jr., president of the American Coun- the kingdom. cil of Christian Churches, who announced Now we witness the war of the churches his group was simultaneously staging a over the war. In February a group calling counterdemonstration at the Capitol Bap- itself "Clergy and Laymen Concerned About tist church. Vietnam" announced a series of demonstrations in Washington and visits to Congres- ■ The Office of Economic Opportunity sional offices. What happened is now his- (OEO) is channeling millions of dollars tory, with Martin Luther King climbing back through church organizations, as I re- into the limelight. The clergy group was ported in a previous Liberty. To give you squelched in its attempt to include a demon- some idea of the organizations to which the stration in Arlington National Cemetery money is going, and the amounts, here are but accumulated its share of publicity a few recent OEO handouts: over its protests and other activities. Alabama: $1,767,542 for Archbishop Meanwhile the American Council of Toolen's antipoverty committee, Arch- Christian Churches sent each Member of Con- bishop Toolen's Project Headstart, and gress a letter disclaiming any connection Archbishop Toolen's Neighborhood Youth with the movement, saying, "We want you to Corps. know that these men do not speak for the Arizona: $1,647,269 to the Arizona 'Church' although a number of our prominent Council of Churches, $57,161 to the Central church leaders are included in their mem- United Presbyterian church of Phoenix, and bership. In fact, thousands of pastors and $112,414 to the Southminster Presbyterian church members resent the activities and church of Phoenix for the State's total of pronouncements of these radical churchmen $1,816,844. who often succeed in giving the impression Georgia: Emory Methodist University, that the 'Church' is against the war in $248,926. Vietnam and in favor of encouraging young Indiana: University of Notre Dame, men to burn their draft cards and refuse $276,680. military service." Nebraska: Midland Lutheran College The letter added: "It has always been at Fremont, $7,393. the position of our council that the church New York: St. Augustine church of Erie should not become a political lobby nor be County, $25,744, and Bethel AME Zion used as a political tool in any way. We be- church, $143,880, for the State's total lieve you were elected to represent your of $169,624. constituents, not the church. We are not Oklahoma: Salina Indian Methodist coming to Washington to exert pressure on Mission, $6,700. you, but rather as church leaders we want Tennessee: Carson-Newman Baptist Col- to make it clear these radical clergymen lege, $137,554. cannot and do not speak for the 'Church.' Wisconsin: Parochial Education Proj- We are compelled to raise these issues pub- ect of Menomonee County, $21,603.

VOLUME 63, NO. 3 MAY-JUNE, 1968

25 cents Washington a copy LIBERTY D.C. A MAGAZINE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

EDITOR ARTICLES Roland R. Hegstad

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Marvin E. Loewen 8 The FCC and Pollution of the Airwaves Elvin Benton W. Melvin Adams James V. Scully 13 Judge William Gaston, Catholic Crusader Calvin Jarrett ART EDITOR Terence K. Martin 16 Before You Teach About Religion in Your Public CIRCULATION MANAGER School Thayer S. Warshaw S. L. Clark

FIELD REPRESENTATIVES 19 God Sued in Florida Court! Roland R. Hegstad C. H. Willis Clifford Okuno 20 The Christian Amendment Donald E. Brown CONSULTING EDITORS W. P. Bradley, Neal C. Wilson, M. V. Campbell, R. L. Odom, Cyril Miller, Theodore Carcich Darren Michael

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS W. L. Emmerson Kenneth Holland C. Mervyn Maxwell Warren L. Johns FEATURES

LEGAL ADVISER Boardman Noland 2 Assignment: Washington William H. Hackett

EDITORIAL SECRETARY Thelma Wellman 4 From the Editor's Desk

LAYOUT ARTIST Alan Forquer 5 "Dear Sir"

22 Voices in the Ecumenical Wind RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 24 Editorials: Religion and the Presidency . . . Spanish Registration Resisted ... Human Rights Award ... Indian Bill Causes Concern Declaration of Principles . . . The Bogeyman Will Get You if You Don't Watch Out . . . We believe in religious liberty, and hold that U.S. and Human Rights this God-given right is exercised at its best when there is separation between church and state. We believe in civil government as divinely 26 World News ordained to protect men in the enjoyment of their natural rights, and to rule in civil things; and that in this realm it is entitled to the re- 34 The Launching Pad C. Mervyn Maxwell spectful and willing obedience of all. We believe in the individual's natural and inalienable right to freedom of conscience: to worship or not to worship; to profess, to practice, and to promulgate his religious beliefs, or to change them according to his conscience or opinions, holding that these are the essence of religious liberty; but that in the exercise of LIBERTY: A Magazine of Religious Freedom is published bimonthly for the Religious this right he should respect the equivalent Liberty Association of America by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, rights of others. Washington, D.C. 20012. Second-class postage paid at Washington, D.C. Address We believe that all legislation and other gov- editorial correspondence to 6840 Eastern Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. 20012. ernmental acts which unite church and state LIBERTY is a member of the Associated Church Press. ore subversive of human rights, potentially per- THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA secuting in character, and opposed to the best was organized in 1889 by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Dedicated to the preservation of interests of church and state; and therefore, religious freedom, the association advocates no political or economic theories. that it is not within the province of human President, M. V. Campbell; general secretary, Marvin E. Loewen; associate secretaries, government to enact such legislation or per- W. Melvin Adams, Roland R. Hegstad, James V. Scully. form such acts. • We believe it is our duty to use every lawful COPYRIGHT: The entire contents of this issue are copyrighted © 1968 by the and honorable means to prevent the enactment Review and Herald Publishing Association. All rights reserved. of legislation which tends to unite church and state, and to oppose every movement toward SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One year, $1.25; one copy, 25 cents. Slightly higher in such union, that all may enjoy the inestimable Canada. Subscription rates subject to change without notice. All subscriptions must blessings of religious liberty. be paid for in advance. Except for sample copies, papers are sent only on paid subscriptions. We believe that these liberties are embraced in the golden rule, which teaches that a man CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Please enclose address should do to others as he would have others label from magazine or wrapper. Allow one month for address change. Write: Review do to him. and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C. 20012.

MAY-JUNE 3 from the editor's desk

Objective Bible Study in Classroom?

BJECTIVE study of the Bible in the public jection to its scholarly study; rather we opt for it, for O school classroom is difficult to achieve, as several nowhere in His Word does God place a premium upon articles in LIBERTY have shown. Classes about the ignorance in any sphere of constructive study. Con- Bible range from thinly disguised circumventions of trary to general misinformation, the decision seems the United States Supreme Court rulings to carefully consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court decisions on circumscribed courses that make a candid attempt to Bible reading and prayer, decisions LIBERTY supported. acquaint the student with historical and cultural back- The clergymen raise one perplexing question that grounds or literary excellence. Even its critics would we are not inclined to dismiss lightly: Does not "ob- admit that the University of Washington's English 309, jective" study of the Bible tend to influence students "The Bible as Literature," belongs in the latter cate- toward acceptance of a liberal, or even humanistic, gory. What two of them would not admit, however, point of view? Does not studying the teachings of is that the Bible is proper subject for "scholarly" study. Christ simply as the sayings of a wise teacher—rather The two Bible Presbyterian ministers, the Reverend than as the instruction of God incarnate—exercise a Thomas W. Miller of Seattle and the Reverend Har- subtle influence against evangelical and fundamental- old Webb of Tacoma, brought suit against the univer- ist postulates? In other words, has not objectivity its sity, charging that the course would influence students own slant? by the religious ideas presented. Here were no atheists The United States Supreme Court has itself, in re- insisting that religious influence was detrimental, but cent decisions, added substance to this question by rather that the Bible as an "infallible revelation from broadening its definition of religion. A pious atheist God to man" could only suffer at the hands of secular may today, to his horror, find himself under the seman- scholars, whose teaching would predispose their stu- tic umbrella once reserved only for believers in a Su- dents toward the liberal, or even humanistic, point of preme Being. So there is a religion of humanism. Are view. In an 8 to 1 decision delivered early this year English 309 and its sister courses—there are more than the State supreme court upheld the university, declar- 50 at the University of Washington—its "preaching" ing that English 309 did not violate the constitutional services? prohibition against establishment of religion, is not Thayer S. Warshaw, a teacher who has sparked slanted in a particular religious direction, and does not one of the nation's finest innovative programs* in a promote a particular theology for purposes of religious Newton, Massachusetts, public high school, probes the instruction. issues with eight challenging questions. His "Before Not having studied the case, we resist the tempta- You Teach About Religion in Your Public School" tion to pontificate. In general terms, while holding (page 16) should be required reading for all superin- with the Bible Presbyterians that all Scripture is in- tendents and teachers who may wish a passing grade deed given "by inspiration of God," we raise no ob- before the courts. Aaia

" See "We're Studying the Bible in Our High School," March-April, 1964, p. 12; and "How High Schools Are Using the Bible as a Textbook," March- April, 1968, p. 8.

4 LIBERTY, 1968 Spain, Colombia, et cetera), has rejected true ecumenism, not to mention mere tolerance, for most of the past 450 years. It is of interest to note that in another portion of his interview (not quoted by you) Reverend Durgin stated that his group had in mind no provision for membership of Jewish groups in "dear sir:" the proposed new organization, even though Jews comprise probably one third of the population of New York City. Ecumenism indeed! As to Mr. von Dreele's satiric poem, it is ironic that he used Dr. Peale as his symbol of ecumenism carried ad absurdum. Dr. Peale, whom I know well in his role as president of the VOICE AGAINST THE ECUMENICAL WIND Protestant Council, and for whom I have the profoundest JIM LAWBAUGH respect as a true Protestant leader and statesman, is about the Colon, Nebraska last person that I would expect to lose his Protestant identity or give up his Protestant heritage. As a Catholic who cannot understand some of the antics If the ecumenical enthusiasts have their way, Mr. von being staged in our once dignified churches in the name of Dreele's prediction as to the resulting "ecumenical goo" may ecumenism, please allow me to apologize for such idiotic well come to pass—but people like Reverend Durgin and not pastors who allow such affairs as pictured at the "sing-in" at Dr. Peale will be dissolved in the "goo." St. Marie Goretti church, Arlington, Texas. I am an organ builder, and while Rome has always insisted on the traditional pipe organ as the official instrument of the PARABLE OF A PASTOR church, I'll bet that St. Marie Goretti does not even have a real organ, but a juke-box type affair. G. MC CRILLIS Eagar, Arizona [Along with Danny Boy we know "the pipes, the pipes are calling," but we're not sure of the tune.—En.) The first issue of LIBERTY this year is the finest I have read in many a moon. "Parable of a Pastor," by Bob Brown, the Baptist brother from Kentucky, ought to inspire some second CANDOR APPRECIATED thoughts among certain progressive educationists who are even STEWART R. MARKS now nibbling at that far ( ? ) Federal dollar. Most provocative Dresden, Ontario, Canada article on Sabbath observance by the early church, but how about emphasizing the fact that the seventh day of the week I wish to commend LIBERTY as one of the frankest published is the "Lord's day." Nothing brings my spiritual hackles erect by Seventh-day Adventists. I was reared in this church, and like Protestant piety referring to the day of the sun as the find that the questions that have arisen in my mind as a result Lord's day. One may keep his Sabbath on any day of the week of circumstances, maturing years, and university education are but no one can hallow the Lord's day during any portion of the seldom appreciated by the laity or clergy of the church. In week [other] than that which the Lord Himself made holy fact, I fear the most popular subject of conversation among and claimed as His day. members of the church is not theology at all. Therefore again I wish to express my appreciation for what seems to me the absolute candor, fairness, and honesty of your magazine as ELVIN BENTON well as its well-reasoned articles. Takoma Park, Maryland As a history teacher familiar with and interested in United States history and government I was very interested in "Assign- I've often dreamed of developing an allegory so devastating ment: Washington" in the November-December issue, but that no reader would ever be tempted to seek government could not see it as very interpretative. It seemed the reader was support for his church-related institution. required to do the interpreting, and I am not sure how it Bob W. Brown, in his "The Parable of a Pastor" in your should be interpreted. January-February issue, has come close. With the skill of an Orwell he has left me wondering how it could possibly be ECUMENICAL GOO made any plainer. When churchmen encourage the courtship of government, the ultimate end will be the shame of the HARRY F. REISS, JR. church. New York, New York Were it not symptomatic of so serious a threat to Protestant- ism, I would have been amused at the juxtaposition in your PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION January-February issue (page 23) of the quotations from the FRANK C. HUTCHINS New York Times regarding the demise of the Protestant Mountlake Terrace, Washington Council of the City of New York (of which I am proud to be treasurer) and of Mr. von Dreele's poem in the National After reading Donald A. Erickson's article "Storm Front: Review in which he compares Dr. Peale to a nun. State Regulation of Nonpublic Schools," I wished very much It is tragic that Reverend Durgin in his interview with the that it could have been written by a Seventh-day Adventist New York Times showed so little knowledge of, interest in, school administrator or teacher. It is an excellent presentation or respect for, the great heritage of Luther, Calvin, Knox, Huss, of what we Seventh-day Adventists ought to be demonstrating and the host of other Reformers who left us the legacy of the as the only justification for our insistence on a school system various branches of Protestantism. He chose instead to be en- of our own. raptured by the ecumenical will-o'-the-wisp conjured up by an The aptness of a comparison between educational dicta institution which, despite all of our approaches (such as in and patent medicines is tragic enough. Even more tragic is the

MAY-JUNE 5 eagerness with which Seventh-day Adventist educators snapped It is merely accidental that "Pacem in Terris" is a complete up the product as soon as it became financially feasible to do phrase that could stand alone; but the construction is tied in with the sentence to which it belongs, and it happens to put so. With the postwar enrollment surge came a burgeoning of "Pacem" in an accusative construction.—JULIA NEUFFER, As- education departments, education facilities, education build- sistant Book Editor, Review and Herald Publishing Association.] ings, and advanced education degrees, all demonstrating the assumption that the new fashions in methodology and psychol- ogy could be integrated into Seventh-day Adventist educa- CHURCH-STATE UNION DANGER tion without violence to our unique philosophy. ALBERT R. DILLEY, Attorney We now have, instead of a group of department heads and Grand Rapids, Michigan instructors on an ideological binge, an entire generation of educators and students settled comfortably in the delusion I enclose a contribution and the names of two persons who, that the accretion of certificates and accreditations from secular I am sure, will enjoy receiving LIBERTY. We in Michigan are authorities is a guarantee of success in meeting our peculiar facing much the same onslaught which New York defeated spiritual objectives. Are we not guilty of neglecting our own in the November election. It is important that we educate the "pursuit of diverse goals . . . through attention to false con- general public to the dangers of church-state union. Yours siderations"? is, indeed, a persuasive voice on the side of freedom. The author credits Seventh-day Adventist education with introducing the work-study combination "decades ago"—note well this key phrase! In too many of our institutions the attrac- HIPPIES tion of affluence via the student loan and government largesse has established a cash orientation in which neither school nor C. H. SCHOLFIELD student notices the decline of work-study opportunities. Glen Ellyn, Illinois If we postulate the possibility of evaluating an educational Your editorial and article on "hippies" miss or evade the philosophy and method by its products, then surely Seventh- real issue. The hippies, actually a very small group, are merely day Adventist education ought to have been the first arena the expression of the deep doubts of the young people, most for a court test of the validity of diverse objectives! Instead, of whom are not activists—doubts that penetrate and challenge we have been shamed by the Amish in the dedication they the church itself. Instead of berating and ridiculing (the show in preparing their children for a life other than urban cartoon on p. 4 will cause amusement among college stu- conformity. dents but for reasons not intended) hippies, the church should direct its efforts toward the college student body. Dr. Heppen- CATHOLICS OUT OF LINE? stall says it very well, albeit inadvertently, when he says, "Modern man needs a modern code." Devising such a code M. W. (and the church has failed miserably here) is the problem, Edgartown, Massachusetts not the hippies. Found a copy of your interesting magazine in our post I believe LIBERTY does very well in the separation area— office wastebasket. perhaps it should stay there. We lived on Maui, Hawaii, for six years, until 1959. As of the time we left, there was a direct invasion by the Catholic Church into non-Catholic fields. For example, the small or- PAUL RICCI phanage near Kahalui was run by Catholic sisters, et cetera, Anaheim, California entirely using government funds. Most of the children were "herded" down the road on Sunday to attend Catholic serv- Before commenting on your . . . [hippie coverage] let ices regardless of their religious background. This was not me make it clear that I am not a hippie (this would be diffi- compulsory, but the pressure to attend was there. Many other cult even if I were so inclined, since I am over thirty). How- ever, as an instructor in philosophy I have made it a point examples. If you have a reliable correspondent out there who can look to learn something of those you term ". . . unwashed, unshod, into current practices, he might turn up some interesting facts. unkempt, and uninhibited . . . misfits." My observations and interpretations of this movement do not quite accord with yours. . . . [He's turning.—En.) Why so many "modern" Christians crucify the hippies for their unusual hair styles, dress (or lack of it), withdrawal WHY "PACEM"? from society and other habits similar to those of many religious JOSEPH B. MOHR founders and monastic groups is not only odd but even borders Brooklyn, New York on inconsistency, especially when one considers that hippies and Christ would be nearly indistinguishable in appearance Will you please explain the usage of the accusative singular and quite similar in attitude. However, the reason hippies do of "Pacem" on page 11 of the recent LIBERTY issue? have long hair, beards, and often lack shoes is not because they wish to imitate Christ, nor is it because they wish to imitate ("Pacem in Terris," the opening phrase of an encyclical Indian gurus (as many think) but simply because it is un- letter of Pope John XXIII, is not a title, strictly speaking, but comfortable and more expensive to shave and dress as do the serves as the designation of that encyclical. All such documents male members of cur society. are known by the opening words, regardless of the grammati- cal construction of those words in the opening sentence. But the main contention of your article ( after the name- The Review and Herald library has a number of encyclicals calling abated) is that freedom involves a commitment to in pamphlet form and in collections. A glance at the titles society, a submission to the law. In apparent agreement with will show any number of cases and constructions, for example: Dr. Heppenstall's article on freedom, you seem to view freedom Return Novarum; Ubi Primum; Caritas Quae; Quas Primas. Two encyclicals of the present Pope, Paul VI, are: Mense as submission and obedience, specifically, to the will of God. Maio and Ecclesiam Suam. This is analogous to the Red Guard of China who claim that

6 LIBERTY, 1968 the "real" freedom of its people is submission to the laws and involves himself in useless destruction of property, people, or ideals of Chairman Mao Tse Tung. A perversion of the word person (except, occasionally under the influence of unpre- "freedom" if ever there was one! Perhaps, however, you are dictable drugs). Many hippies will not even involve themselves implying a different kind of freedom, a more profound kind in demonstrations, since they think it pointless to try to influ- at that. Not one which restricts us from without, but determines ence society in this way. us from within so we can attain a maximum happiness in a This brief defense of hippiedom is not to be understood euphoric condition. This comes about through commitment to as an unqualified acceptance of their ways, beliefs or goals. a personal ethic which may or may not be related to belief I can't condone their carelessness about the use of drugs, their in God. Actually, true freedom seems to come about when (apparent) lack of concern for methods of disease prevention, men personally—by their own efforts, without supernatural or their general reluctance to rely upon the ability of reason assistance—learn who they are, what their needs really are, and the methods of science to resolve their problems and and how to satisfy them. Hippies need rely on no predigested strengthen their values and goals in life. But to fail to see morality which they are told they must follow in order to that the hippies are genuinely oriented toward the spiritual find salvation. Instead, they practice a new ethic (sometimes life ( however ill-advised), to a rejection of a materialistic called situation ethics) which may lead to more immediate society that has lost sight of man's spiritual needs, to a belief difficulties than other ethical systems because it is self-spun, in the power of love and the simple life, is to be either blind but teaches them the important virtues of self-reliance and self- toward spiritual values wherever they may be, or else to be correction. This, from their point of view, is a far better solu- insecure in one's own faith. tion to their problem of practical ethics than the stifling and Once again we have the notorious example of a group of esoteric doctrine of obedience to the will of a God of dubious people who, because they have committed the unpardonable existence. sin of being different from us, are judged to be morally in- Further, the prevalent confusion of linking riots, violence, ferior to those self-righteous devotees of a dying faith who and licentiousness with hippies is inexcusable. The "true" could, with just as much logic and Christian humility, judge hippie is oriented toward pacifism (as was Christ) and rarely the hippies as spiritually superior.

COURTESY GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, ARTIST UNKNOWN

WILLIAM GASTON—Layout Artist Alan Forquer is persistent, but he still hasn't located the original oil painting of which this cover of LIBERTY is a copy. He tried Ave Maria, which used a photograph of the original (right) on a 1962 cover. The editors had no idea where the original was. J. Herman Schauinger, author of the Ave Maria article, thought it was owned by a Mrs. George Faux, with whom he had had some contact twenty years before. She had lived in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. No Faux is listed in the current telephone directory there, and a Faux in a nearby community knew nothing of the painting. At this point the cover deadline for LIB- ERTY was at hand, so the editors decided to photograph the copy hanging in the Philodemic Society room of Georgetown University. No one there knew even who had painted the copy. A friend of Alan's, Walter Carson, got him on the trail of Dr. Christopher Crit- tenden, of the North Carolina Historical Society, who put him in touch with a Mrs. Jordan, who didn't know where the picture was either. A call to the DAR encouraged a call to a Miss Virginia Horn of Wadesboro, North Carolina, who is working with a society seeking to restore Gaston's home. Alas, no luck. Will the real William Gaston painting please turn up?

MAY-JUNE 7

"They picture themselves as 'God's spokesmen.' Once they are safely wrapped up in the Flag, and waving the THE FCC Cross, they frighten their audience and then wind up with a fund appeal." —The Institute for American Democracy AND POLLUTION OF THE AIRWAVES

Pollution is what results when a radio station gives or sells time to such fundamentalist radio broadcasters as Carl McIntire and Billy James Hargis, say a number of their critics. Their solution: Vigorous enforcement of the Federal Communications Commission's Fairness Doc- trine. But is the Fairness Doctrine really fair? And are minority religious rights protected when Government can grant or deny a broadcasting license on the basis of what programming it believes to be in the public interest? These are two of the questions moving toward an answer by the United States Supreme Court.

By ELVIN BENTON

Attorney at Law Takoma Park, Maryland

WANT to keep your program on the air under the 'Freedom of Speech' clause of the U.S. Consti- tution, but I must live with the FCC, which has the power of prosecutor, judge and jury in by-passing my reading of the Constitution." This letter was written by the harried owner of a radio station carrying Dr. Carl McIntire's 20th-Cen- tury Reformation Hour, a pull-no-punches Bible Pres- byterian broadcast whose fundamentalist speaker is engaged in an extended running fight with the Federal Communications Commission, the many-fingered Fed- eral agency charged with regulating the airwaves. Along with a number of other owners (McIntire won't say how many) he was explaining why he felt it necessary to drop Dr. McIntire's broadcast. Because they use radio to circulate their sharp differences with a whole consortium of "evil"—including the National and the World councils of churches, the Papacy, the Supreme Court, the Far Left, and the FCC

COURTESY IA D itself—McIntire and his breed of religious broadcasters

LIBERTY, 1968 "If you just don't like what I'm saying, are finding themselves at odds with regulations designed turn off the radio; you don't have to to protect the "public interest." listen to me.... But I've got a few things At the heart of the controversy is the FCC's Fairness to say to the folks that do want to I isten."—Carl McIntire Doctrine, a 1949 policy statement almost universally detested by members of the broadcasting industry. In its broad sense the policy calls for a balanced diet of programming, including a "reasonable" portion of the station's time devoted to issues of public interest and importance, not excepting religion. The rub comes in the "personal attack" section, which requires a station to provide rebuttal time to any person or organization attacked, each of which must not only be notified but also sent either a tape recording or a transcript of the program on which the attack occurred. Since August, 1967, stations not complying with this section may be fined up to $10,000 for each attack not reported within one week to the individual or organization named. "Actually the regulation sounds fair," admits a station manager, "but in reality it is almost impossible to meet. Every time a controversial preacher criticizes someone or some organization in his sermon, we have to write a letter and send a program tape, a burden of paper work that we simply can't assume. Neither do we have time to demand beforehand and listen to the tapes of every preacher who seeks to buy time. In effect the regulation is operating as a restraint on free speech, for it means that we no longer sell or give time to such speakers as McIntire, who do not represent the safe, community-consensus religious broadcaster." Characteristically, McIntire, a graying, mild-voiced grandfather whose 20th-Century Reformation Hour is aired by more than 600 outlets, believes himself to be victim of a conspiracy. "I think it's political," he declares. "There is a deep undercover connection between the National Council of Churches and these political leaders in Washington, and this is their strategy to get at men like myself. They want to go ahead and carry on all kinds of evil activities without anybody getting up and exposing them." While cries of censorship are going up from the camps of preachers whose sermons are laced with frequent attacks upon religious and political antagonists, support for the Fairness Doctrine comes from several sources. "The very fact that certain extremist programs have been put on notice that they are being monitored and will be answered, may tend to slow down, minimize, or at least take some invective off the air," writes Lois J. Anderson in "Fairness, Broadcasting and the Churches," a publication of the National Council of Churches. The Institute for American Democracy, a Washing- ton, D.C.-based organization dedicated to rebutting "smears," sees fundamentalist preachers as part of the "far-rightist air pollution" plaguing the nation. "They picture themselves as 'God's spokesmen.' Once they

9 are safely wrapped up in the Flag, and waving the sent as his, spokesmen for the radio industry, religious Cross, they frighten their audience and then wind up broadcasters, civil and religious organizations, and the with a fund appeal." courts agree that questions of freedom of speech and religion are involved in the FCC's relationship to religious broadcasts. A constitutional lawyer lists the following: HE FCC itself disclaims intent to censor. Says Are minority religious rights protected when Gov- William B. Ray, chief of Complaints and Com- ernment can grant or deny a broadcasting license on pliance Division of the FCC's Broadcast Bureau: The the basis of what programming it believes to be in the Commission "does not seek to prevent the expression of public interest? Does any agency of Government have any viewpoints, religious or secular, by any licensee on the right to determine what viewpoints are, or are not, any issue. It does seek to prevent the suppression of in the public interest? Is the Fairness Doctrine really contrasting viewpoints by any licensee on any issue when fair, or does it, indeed, inhibit free discussion? Can broadcast facilities have been used for the presentation Government regulate what should be heard on the air- of one view." waves more equitably than public demand? Does the "Regardless of what they claim," retorts McIntire, FCC, as an agency of Government, have the constitu- "the effect of what they're doing is censorship. They tional authority to do or say anything about religious would never admit that they were censoring anything. programming? That's against the law." He refers to the express provi- Several of these questions seemed likely to re- sion in the Communications Act prohibiting the Com- ceive an answer from the United States Supreme Court mission from engaging in censorship. when, in 1966, McIntire's own radio station in Media, "If anyone feels he is being libeled on my program," Pennsylvania, came under fire. The Greater Philadel- says McIntire, "he has access to the courts, where I, or phia Council of Churches and a number of other organ- anyone else, rightfully may be called to account. If you izations, including the American Baptists' Division of just don't like what I'm saying, turn off the radio; you Evangelism, the Anti-Defamation League, and the AFL- don't have to listen to me. But I've got a few things to CIO of Pennsylvania, alleged that WXUR-AM-FM say to the folks that do want to listen." failed to comply with the FCC's Fairness Doctrine by Charles R. Baker, executive director for the Institute not affording reasonable opportunity for the discussion for American Democracy, doesn't believe it is that simple. of conflicting views on issues of public importance. "I think we have to face up to the fact that this is an Especially galling to the complainants was WXUR's age of electronic opinion-molding. This let-the-buyer- alleged use of its facilities to serve the sectarian and beware' attitude on the airwaves is dangerous. Anybody political views of Dr. McIntire rather than the com- can print anything, but not everybody can get access to munity generally. The FCC did not have to read be- an airwave. There's a limit to how many of them can tween the lines of the complaint to understand that be assigned." representatives of substantial organizations did not want Though they may disagree with McIntire's contention WXUR's license renewed. After a protracted series of that there is a conspiracy to silence such voices of dis- hassles over the propriety of the Commission's inquiring

What IS the "Fairness Doctrine"?

HAVING ITS ORIGIN in 1949 as a policy statement of the Federal Com- munications Commission in relation to editorializing on radio and TV, the Fairness Doctrine, Topsylike, has "growed" by further refinements and additions. Stripping it of its surplus fat, Judge Edward A. Tamm, of the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, extracted its essence: "A broadcast station, . . . having both the duty and the right of determining whether a controversial program is in the public interest, must, after having exercised that determination by broadcasting a particular program, in the public interest accord equal opportunity for the broadcast of the other side of that controversial issue. This burden exists equally well when the initial broadcast consists of a personal attack upon a person or organization. The crucial consideration is the public interest in hearing both sides."—Red Lion Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 381 F. 2d, 908, 928 (D.C. Cir. 1967),

10 LIBERTY, 1968 into the religious characteristics of portions of WXUR's background. When Cook complained that he had been broadcasting, hearings were held at which nineteen or- attacked without being notified as required by the per- ganizations opposed renewal of the station's license. sonal-attack principle of the Fairness Doctrine and WXUR filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for asked for free time on the Red Lion station to reply to the District of Columbia Circuit, asking the court to Hargis' statements, WGCB offered free reply time only revoke FCC's right to conduct the hearings. McIntire's if Cook was unable to pay. Cook then complained to displeasure mounted as the Court of Appeals dis- the FCC, which ordered WGCB to provide Cook free missed WXUR's petition, later refusing to reconsider time whether he could pay or not. The United States the dismissal. Court of Appeals affirmed the FCC ruling, Judge The station finally turned to the United States Su- Tamm's opinion calling the Fairness Doctrine consti- preme Court, but was rebuffed on December 4, 1967, tutional. The jurist agreed with the Commission that when the Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari, denial of freedom of speech might result from a sta- thus refusing to erect any barrier to the FCC's inquiry tion's refusal of free rebuttal time to the attacked, rather into WXUR's fitness to continue broadcasting. than from the Fairness Doctrine's imposition of responsi- At press time, hearings continued to drag on in the bilities on a station following the attack. Facing the Media, Pennsylvania, courthouse where they began, and Supreme Court as it seeks a solution will be questions no settlement is in sight. Though WXUR's license pe- that penetrate to the very raison d'être of the FCC. riod ended August 1, 1966, the FCC cannot put the station off the air until a final determination has been made, and this could take years. In addition to time required for hearings, which already have taken more ARLY in the development of the radio industry than a year, the tiresome trip through the United States in America, broadcasters faced chaos because Court of Appeals and to the United States Supreme E they were stepping on one another's airwaves.' Before Court again could add many months to WXUR's lease World War I the various frequencies were so sparsely on life, even if license renewal is denied. used that interference was almost nonexistent. A rela- The tedious procedures are a crushing burden to tively simple law, passed in 1912, kept order for almost WXUR. "We haven't even got our side in yet," Mc- a decade. But in the early 1920's Americans with money Intire complains, "and the cost of this thing already is to invest recognized the embryonic broadcast industry $40,000 in attorneys' fees. They're trying to bleed us to for what it was: the beginning of one of the most lucra- death." tive enterprises, aside from manufacturing, that America and the world would develop. Stations multiplied, so that by 1923 several hundred of them were talking all over one another in a confused effort to find clear air- ISMISSAL of the WXUR case does not mean space for the display of their wireless wares. that the Supreme Court is unwilling to hear By request of the National Radio Conference, which Darguments about the Fairness Doctrine. On the same day met in Washington in 1923 and 1924, the Secretary of that WXUR was turned away, the high Court agreed to Commerce divided the available airwaves into ninety- hear arguments in a similar case involving another re- six separate channels, from 550 to 1500 kilocycles, with ligion-oriented station, WGCB-AM-FM, of Red Lion, 10 kilocycles between. But by November of 1925 it Pennsylvania. WGCB is licensed by Red Lion Broad- became painfully apparent that there still was not room casting Co., Inc., 80 per cent of the stock of which is for everybody. One hundred seventy-five applications owned by its president, the Reverend John M. Norris, for new station licenses waited while the almost six 84-year-old pastor of a Bible Presbyterian church in hundred existing stations occupied all the available fre- York, Pennsylvania. WGCB aired paid broadcasts by quencies and overlapped one another in an aimless sham- the Reverend Billy James Hargis, who is not known for bles that apparently could be cleaned up only by his charity toward certain religious and political organ- limiting power or broadcast time of the stations or by izations and personalities, and who, like Dr. McIntire, extending the available frequencies into those already makes abundant use of the airwaves to express his allocated to other types of communications. The Na- antipathy. tional Radio Conference did not like either plan and On his Christian Crusade program the Reverend appealed to Congress to legislate a solution. The Secre- Hargis, in November of 1964, aired his assessment of tary of Commerce, his efforts frustrated by several the Presidential election and took a critical look at a court decisions' and an opinion from the Attorney Gen- book about it entitled Goldwater—Extremist on the eral's office" denying the Secretary's power to exercise Right, by Fred J. Cook. Not content to score the book, any effective regulatory authority, threw up his hands Hargis turned upon its author and accused Cook of and admitted defeat, pleading with the broadcasters to making false statements and of having a questionable set their own house in order. Entrepreneurs responded

MAY-JUNE 11 by putting the power to almost two hundred new sta- Clause and what it forbids anybody to do in the free tions in eight months in 1926 and 1927, using any speech and freedom of religion language of the First frequencies that suited their purposes and prompting Amendment. Station owners thought they wanted free- competing stations either to move to other frequencies dom, but they also knew they needed regulation if there or to increase their power in a desperate effort to over- was to be any semblance of order in the ether. They whelm the competition. wanted, but knew they could not have, the best of both worlds. Questions of freedom of religion and free speech analogous to several being raised by McIntire and Har- HAOS reigned unfettered. Finally the Presi- gis arose in 1930. A preacher in Los Angeles, owner dent spoke. In a December 7, 1926, message of radio station facilities (KJEF ), leased the station to Cto the Congress, Mr. Coolidge pleaded for legislation to the church of which he was pastor. He then used the control the prodigal young industry lest its potential be station as a pulpit from which to launch tirades against wasted through lack of comprehensive control.' the Roman Catholic Church and its relation to Gov- With a promptness unknown to present-day solons, ernment. Also, according to the record as cited by the the Congress brought forth the Radio Act of 1927. Federal Appellate Court, which eventually decided the Enacted on February 23, it created the Federal Radio case, the parson hid behind the cloak of freedom of Commission, a five-man board endowed with wide dis- religion to broadcast some unusual offering appeals: cretion and broad powers of licensing and regulation. On one occasion he announced over the radio that he had Later the Communications Act of 1934 further defined certain damaging information against a prominent unnamed the duties of the Commission and gave it the title man which, unless a contribution (presumably to the church) by which it is still known today: Federal Communica- of a hundred dollars was forthcoming, he would disclose. As tions Commission. a result, he received contributions from several persons? Based on the criteria of "public interest, convenience When the church applied for renewal of its station or necessity," the Commission's powers were to be used license in 1930 many Los Angeles citizens clamored for to "make such rules and regulations and prescribe its denial. The Radio Commission conducted many hear- such restrictions and conditions, not inconsistent with ings at which ninety witnesses testified. The Commission law, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of examiner first recommended renewal, but after excep- this Act." tions were filed by one of the objectors, the Commission If need for regulation was obvious to some, its ap- en banc considered the evidence and denied the applica- plication was galling to others. Where did the Commis- tion on grounds that the public interest, convenience, sion get the right to refuse the renewal of a station's or necessity would not be served by a station whose license on the basis of the Commission's disapproval of facilities had been used in large measure to attack a what was said on the air? What about freedom of religious organization (the Catholic Church) and to speech and of religion? Could the Congress bestow upon broadcast sermons which were sensational rather than an agency of its own creation powers that it did not instructive. The church appealed the order, calling it itself possess? unconstitutional and in violation of the guaranty of The Congress could trace its eligibility to regulate freedom of speech. The Court read a thousand pages of radio back to the Commerce Clause of the Constitu- record and decided otherwise. After patiently outlining tion, which gives Congress authority "to regulate Com- the history and rationale behind the First Amendment's merce with foreign Nations, and among the several apparently equivocal provision for freedom of speech, States, and with the Indian Tribes." To those who ques- the Court made it plain that the Constitution consists of tioned the characterization of radio broadcasting as in- more parts than one, and that freedom to speak must terstate commerce, the Supreme Court said: be considered in the light of other clauses, taking the Whether the transmission is effected by the aid of wires, or Constitution as a whole: through a perhaps less well understood medium, "the ether," is immaterial, in the light of those practical considerations It is enough now to say that the universal trend of decisions which have dictated the conclusion that the transmission of has recognized the guaranty of the amendment to prevent previ- information interstate is a form of "intercourse," which is ous restraints upon publication, as well as immunity of censorship, leaving to correction by subsequent punishment those commerce.' utterances or publications contrary to the public welfare. In When it was no longer seriously questioned that this aspect it is generally regarded that freedom of speech and Congress may legitimately delegate to administrative press cannot be enfringed by legislative, executive, or judicial agencies (such as the FCC) many of the powers en- action, and that the constitutional guaranty should be given liberal and comprehensive construction. It may therefore be trusted to the Congress itself, the issue boiled down to set down as a fundamental principle that under these constitu- an apparent conflict between what the Constitution em- tional guaranties the citizen has in the first instance the right powered the Congress to do through the Commerce To page 29

12 LIBERTY, 1968 "Who was the greatest of the great men of the War Congress?" a Con- gressman from Ohio asked Daniel Webster. He replied, "The greatest man was William Gaston. I myself came in along after him."

By CALVIN JARRETT

E WAS a Roman Catholic in a predominantly • In an age when slavery, intolerance, and bigotry Protestant State, at a time when Catholics were the fashion of the day, he garbed himself in the were viewed with suspicion and even hatred. unfashionable virtues of freedom and charity. That is • He favored abolition of slavery when most people why William Gaston is remembered more than a cen- of his State opposed it. tury after his death. • Yet he became a member of the North Carolina Born in 1778, William was the son of Dr. Alexander State Supreme Court, from which he gave several de- Gaston of New Bern, North Carolina. Dr. Gaston had cisions that foreshadowed civil rights legislation of a been an ardent patriot on the side of the colonies in century later. the War of Independence. A combined force of British • He led the fight in the Constitutional Assembly regulars and Tories captured New Bern in 1781. De- against religious requirements for State office holders. spite the pleas of his wife, Dr. Gaston was shot to death • He was elected to the United States House of before her and his three-year-old son. Representatives and became known as one of the great- Unlike her husband, who was a Protestant, Mrs. est members of that body during the War of 1812. Gaston was a Roman Catholic of English descent. She • A county and its county seat perpetuate his name set aside a room in her home as a chapel, where several in North Carolina. For 42 years he served as trustee other families joined her in attending mass. The reli- of the University of North Carolina. gious influence of his mother early shaped young Wil- • He authored the State song. liam's convictions. In 1835, nine years before his death,

MAY-JUNE 13 he wrote: "Trained from infancy to worship God ac- Court. However, there were complications to accepting cording to the usages, and carefully instructed in the such an appointment. creed of the most ancient and numerous society of The Constitution of North Carolina, written in 1776, Christians in the world, after arrival at mature age, I stated in Section 32: "No person who shall deny the deliberately embraced from conviction, the faith which being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or had been early instilled into my mind by maternal the divine authority of either the Old or New Testa- piety." ment, or who shall hold religious principles incompati- ble with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit WILLIAM GASTON'S early education was at New in the civil department within this State." Bern Academy in his home city, from which he was grad- Gaston felt he could accept the appointment, the uated as class valedictorian. His mother had heard constitutional provision notwithstanding, and explained about a new Catholic University being built on the his beliefs in a letter: "I avail myself of a moment of Potomac River in the Washington, D.C., area, and rest on my journey to New York, to submit a short determined to send him there. The school was founded view of a subject which for some time occasioned me in 1789 by the first Catholic bishop of the United doubt and gave me difficulty. States, John Carroll. However, it did not open for classes until 1791. After visiting in Philadelphia from June 1 to No- I AM BOUND as a citizen, and am bound by oath, to vember 1, 1791, William Gaston accompanied a friend, support the Constitution of North Carolina. I am Father Francis Fleming, on the three-day trip from avowedly a believer in the doctrines of the Catholic Philadelphia to Washington. No other pupils had ar- Church. If that Constitution disqualifies a believer in rived, so he had the distinction of being the first student those doctrines from holding office, it would be dis- of Georgetown University. At that time, with only honourable and wicked in me to accept it. If it contains four professors and a limited curriculum, it was more of no such disqualification, and my country calls on me to a preparatory school than the modern university of to- render impOrtant services which I am able to perform, day. it is my duty to obey the call. As the Constitution is William remained at the school for two years. Dur- based upon the general principles of civil and religious ing the winter of 1792-1793 he caught a cold that did liberty, all citizens of the State are competent to take not respond to treatment, and in the spring he left for and to hold office whom the Constitution does not his North Carolina home. A year later he enrolled at clearly disqualify. Penal incapacity it was in the power the College of New Jersey at Princeton, and graduated of the people to create, but they must be unequivocally two years later at the head of his class. debarred before they can take effect. The only part of The young graduate returned to New Bern to read the Constitution which can be supposed to contain law under the guidance of Francis Xavier Martin. He such a disqualification is that part of the 32nd section was admitted to the bar in 1798. Gaston's sister, Jane, which declares incapable of office those 'who deny the had married a lawyer named John Louis Taylor. When truth of the Protestant religion.' It is very possible that Taylor was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme some of the framers of this section intended to exclude Court, young Gaston took over his law practice. Roman Catholics from office, but can this clause of the Gaston swiftly rose to eminence in his profession section be judicially interpreted as imposing this degra- and was soon engaging in local politics. He served dation and disability? It seems to me that it cannot. several terms in the North Carolina Senate and the First, what is the 'Protestant religion'? If we had a reli- State Assembly. In 1810 he ran for Congress but was gious establishment to determine the truth of that reli- defeated. However, two years later he was successful gion and to pronounce what is a schism and a heresy, in his bid for a national office. Gaston was a conserva- there would be some means of ascertaining what is the tive in politics when the national trend was to radical Protestant religion, and what is a denial of its truth; democracy. He was one of the most active of the Fed- but this cannot be, for it is expressly forbidden by the eralists in Congress. Constitution. There being, then, no church with lawful authority to establish creeds, and such being forbidden in the Constitution, and the Constitution having failed SOME TIME later a Congressman from Ohio asked to define Protestant religion, and not having excluded Daniel Webster, "Who was the greatest of the great Catholics or any other denomination of Christians eo men of the War Congress?" Webster's reply was, "The nomine from office, we are obliged to hold that clause greatest man was William Gaston." With a smile, he in the Constitution inefficient and unmeaning, or in- added, "I myself came in along after him." corporate into the text the multitude of new notions, On at least two occasions Gaston was urged to ac- theological, metaphysical, political, etc., etc., as parts of cept an appointment to the North Carolina Supreme the 'Protestant religion.'

14 LIBERTY, 1968 "Again, Roman Catholics do not deny any of the In State v. Manual in 1838 Gaston held that a free doctrines which Protestants deny. For instance, in the Negro was a citizen entitled to the guarantees of the Episcopal Protestant Church of this country the two Constitution. creeds, usually called the Apostles' Creed and the Ni- cene Creed, are the standard symbols of the Roman A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION afforded Judge Catholic faith. I do not know a single affirmative dogma Gaston an opportunity to fight against Section 32 which which is taught in the Episcopal Church which is not forbade non-Protestants from holding office. Discussions taught in the Catholic Church. Is, then, a belief in the on this section were the most lively during the conven- latter a necessary denial of the truth of the doctrines of tion, with long speeches arguing the pros and cons of the former? allowing Catholics to hold office. "Again, when the Constitution was formed, test laws Gaston spoke for two days against retaining the provi- and disqualifying enactments were familiar with our sions of the controversial section. He argued, "The Un- ancestors. Roman Catholics were well known, and ion of the Church and the State allows rulers to enlarge long had been the subjects of political proscription in their dominion by extending it over the minds of their England and Her Colonies. In these acts of disqualifi- subjects. It puts at their disposal the high places of the cation and proscription no room was left for doubt. church and enlists in their services its ministers and Papists eo nomine were excluded from all places of teachers. It makes kings and magistrates the heads of civil trust, and care taken to make exclusion effectual God's spiritual kingdom and renders it sacrilege as well by imposing oaths which no Catholic could take. If as treason to resist their sway. . . . Either let us blot out this system of proscription were intended to be pre- this appendage of an established Church, or set up a served under the order of things—under that Republi- Church as the Church of North Carolina." can Constitution based upon the principles announced The convention did not immediately follow Judge in the Declaration of Rights—can it be questioned but Gaston's pleas, and voted to retain the wording. Later, the intent would have been unequivocally manifested? however, the word "Protestant" in the disputed section And this is necessarily but an outline of my views on was changed to "Christian." this constitutional question. My conclusion is that the In his lifetime Judge Gaston received many honors, Constitution does not disqualify me because of my reli- including what is believed to be the first honorary Doc- gious opinions from taking or holding office—that I torate granted to a Catholic by Harvard University. For have no right by any over-nice scruples to be instru- fifty-two years he served as a trustee of the University mental in practically interpolating into that instrument of North Carolina and was the author of North Caro- an odious provision which it does not contain—and lina's State song, "The Old North State." But for the that, as on the one hand I do not seek office, so on the antipathy of Henry Clay, who smarted from defeats other I should not decline it when honourably tendered administered by Gaston when the latter was in Con- to my acceptance, and when I can reasonably hope to gress, President Adams would have appointed him Sec- discharge its duties with advantage to my country. retary of War. Daniel Webster wrote, seeking his ideas "I pray you to believe me truly. . . . and counsel. "Will Gaston." To the graduates of Princeton University in 1835, when he received an honorary Doctorate of Laws, he ON NOVEMBER 27, 1833, William Gaston became expressed words that would ring well on college cam- a member of the three-man Supreme Court of North puses today: Carolina. "Rebellion against the law is in the nature of trea- One of his celebrated cases was that of State v. Will. son. The law deserves our obedience; it alone can recon- A Negro slave named Will was indicted for the kill- cile the jarring interests of all and blend into one ing of Richard Baxter, an overseer. Will was sentenced harmonious union the discordant materials of which so- to death, but the sentence was appealed to the Su- ciety is composed." preme Court. Having survived three wives, Judge Gaston became Gaston looked at the unfortunate altercation, not as ill while hearing a case on January 23, 1844, and was murder, but as a lesser offense. He declared that had the taken to his chambers. Upon being revived in his office, fight been between two free men it would have been he related a story of a freethinker who had expressed classified as manslaughter. his disbelief in religion to him. Looking at the people He wrote in his opinion, "I hold it to be equally about him, Gaston declared: certain that a slave has the right to defend himself "A belief in an overruling Divinity, Who shapes our against the unlawful attempt of his master to deprive ends, Whose eye is upon us, and Who will reward us him of life." This decision had a strong effect on according to our deeds is necessary. We must believe thinking in the South, even though it was not a popular there is a God, all wise and almighty." These were his decision. last words.

MAY-JUNE 15 Before You Teach About lleligion in Your Public School

answer these eight challenging questions, says an educator who has sparked one of the nation's finest innovative programs

By THAYER S. WARSHAW

ANY public school systems, in response to the tant, given the role of these subjects in our culture, it Supreme Court's decision against prayer and is educationally indefensible. To seek relief in reli- devotional Bible reading discontinued even giously sponsored released-time programs, many of their religion or Bible courses. Most of the courses had which are both pathetically inadequate and education- followed interdenominational Protestant, watered- ally intrusive, does not fulfill the schools' responsibility down Sunday school syllabuses. Teachers and adminis- to include religion and the Bible in their curricula. trators realized that such courses did not constitute ob- To attempt to introduce religion or the Bible into jective study of religion, of religions, or of the Bible. the curriculum without careful consideration, of course, Nor could they conceive of alternatives that would sat- may lead to all sorts of problems. Therefore consider isfy themselves and their communities, as well as the my eight questions, the first of which is: spirit of the Supreme Court decision. An attorney general has ruled illegal in his State any 1. Into which academic discipline should one course in, or even about, religion or the Bible. The introduce study about religion? commissioner of education in another State says that It can be done successfully and in many different he would not approve a course about religion, although ways, as I recently reported* in LIBERTY—in English he does not object to bringing it in where relevant in a courses or units that teach the Bible as only a back- social studies course. The superintendent of schools in ground source book for literary allusion, or even the one of our largest cities says that a teacher "would Bible as literature, or the Bible in literature; social have to be a genius" to teach the Bible objectively, so studies courses that use the Bible as text only to learn he will not let his teachers try. In another community about other places and other times, or even to en- the authorities rule the Bible off the school's library hance understanding of our own place and time; hu- shelves—too controversial. In other States, mostly in manities courses that use religion only as background the South and the Midwest, school systems ignore even for the arts or even as relevant to philosophical ques- the Court's prohibitions against religion in a devotional tions; and "religion" courses in comparative religions, setting. or even the Bible as a religious document. To bar study about religion, religions, and the Bible from the public school curriculum because of the Su- * -How High Schools Are Using the Bible as a Textbook," LIBERTY, preme Court's decision is unnecessary; more impor- March-April, 1968, p. 8.

16 LIBERTY, 1968 In some States where courses in or about the Bible have been ruled illegal, students have to sneak reading time; in others, classes using the Bible as a text are among the most popular.

the social studies curriculum they might recommend a unit on, say, Calvinism. Those supporting the criterion of religion's rele- vance to some part of the main academic discipline would probably ask that the English curriculum look only at those parts of the Bible pertinent to a specific place of literature; and if books are to be chosen to ex- hibit a theme, they might be happier with a theme not labeled Biblical. In social studies they might prefer a lecture or individual research and class report on a religious question only when it arose as one of the fac- tors in some historical event or issue. The difference between the two approaches lies in these questions: Does religion become the organizing approach to the subject matter of the discipline? Does the English teacher ask how various authors treat the Garden of Eden story and its relevant themes? Does the social studies teacher ask how American colonial society is an outgrowth of Calvinism? Does the fine arts teacher ask how the art of the late Middle Ages J. BYRON LOGAN and early Renaissance is a reflection of changing religious attitudes? The important consideration here is that the school If the answers are Yes, we have one approach: re- have a qualified teacher who wishes to use the Bible ligion is a major, organizing part of the subject matter of English, social studies, or humanities. If not, then the in his classroom. facts of religion (or the Bible) can be merely background, occasionally referred to as subordinate to an 2. What relation shall study about religion (or understanding of the discipline's real subject matter. Per- of the Bible) bear to the discipline? haps these alternatives are only a matter of emphasis. If The second question is closely related to the first. so, I suggest that it be made a conscious, considered, and And again there are choices. Some people argue that responsible emphasis. study about religion should be out in the open, labeled —where teacher, pupil, and community can under- 3. What kind of learning do we want to take stand that the subject is religion, and where they will place? be less likely to lose sight of assumptions and implica- How shall we measure what the student has tions. Such people are opposed by equally sincere and learned? What kind of activities must go on in the perceptive people who prefer to have religion (or the classroom to work toward the preferred kind of out- Bible) brought into the curriculum only as it becomes come? When we speak of "teaching about religion," relevant to the academic subject matter. Each posi- what do we mean by "teaching"? tion has strong justification. I merely point to the Dr. Israel Scheffler of the Harvard Graduate School need for considering the alternatives and some impli- of Education, with whom I have had the privilege of cations. working in an experimental course in philosophy at For example, those who want religion studied by our high school, suggests that we might do well to ask itself might opt for a course called "religion"; within whether we are teaching facts, skills, or dispositions. the English curriculum they might prefer a unit on Applied specifically to study about religion, the the Bible (as source book or as literature itself ); within questions are these: Are we to be satisfied when stu-

MAY-JUNE 17 Religion in Public School then we are probably teaching skills to our students. It must already be obvious that these two "alternatives" represent an abstract analysis of concrete teach- dents can repeat information: lists like the names of ing/learning situations that contain both, where label- the apostles and the Ten Commandments (and ac- ing is more a matter of choosing an emphasis than cording to which of the three traditional number- making a discreet decision. Similarly for the third ele- ings? ); or more complex historical facts, such as how ment—dispositions. (I grant the hypothetical nature of the Bible was written and how denominations arose; this analysis, but argue for its usefulness as I clarify or factual matters still less certain, such as what the the third alternative.) various sects now believe or what relations have ex- Here we have not taught successfully until we have isted, at various periods, between religion and the rest made some changes in students' behavior, attitude, of the culture. Certainly these are different kinds, per- preference, even values. It may not be sufficient for haps levels, of facts; but if we set as the purpose of students to know how to do something or what to do our teaching the ability of students to recall such in- in a given situation; we may want them to do or to be formation, then we are probably teaching facts. something—to internalize new habits of thinking, be- Or shall we say that we have taught successfully lieving, feeling, and acting, from esthetic appreciations when we are less interested in students' knowledge of to moral judgments. Again there are levels. Will pu- facts than in their ability to deal with them? Shall we, pils tend to inquire into religion? Will they tend to for example, ask that pupils know when and where evaluate their experience in religious terms? Will they, and how to consult relevant source material—the finally, tend to act in accordance with their religious Bible, religious dictionaries and commentaries, books values? If we set as the purpose of our teaching that dealing with religious aspects of history and anthro- students shall react habitually in a new way, whether pology—or, at a more complex level, that they know or not they are being supervised or graded on their how to assimilate and evaluate new information performance of a specific skill, then we are probably about, and personal encounters with, religious facts; teaching dispositions. or, third, that they know how to apply their knowl- The third question when one thinks about religion edge about religion to social and personal problems of and the public schools, then, is whether one wants to their own lives and times? Like the different orders of teach facts, skills, or dispositions. I have heard many facts, these abilities are of different kinds. But if we people give lip service to one kind of learning while set as the purpose of our teaching about religion that consciously or unconsciously intending another. Here, pupils shall be able to confront situations that require as with the two previous questions, I merely present "knowledge of how to" rather than "knowledge that," alternatives and their implications. To page 30

Where Jews Are Protestants

[The following letter about a hour periods on religion a week, "I recently had occasion to talk to school situation in Canada should plus hymn singing, etc. In the areas a member of the Tax Appeal Board interest all readers concerned over where Jews predominate, the em- of the School Board. We soon got on the question of religion in public phasis on the Old Testament is the subject of religion in the schools schools. Printed first in Education in greater than on the New Testament, and I asked him whether there were Judaism (March, 1967) it has been although Christian hymns and any Christians who objected to hav- edited to preserve the anonymity of carols are also taught. ing their children learn Jewish the persons involved.) "My children have been coming hymns in the schools. He said that home singing English - language there were objections from Pente- songs about Chanukah, Purim, costals and Hard Shell Baptists. UST for a laugh, I thought I Passover, etc., which are taught to "He said that objections were tele- J would pass on to you the follow- all pupils, Protestant and Jewish, in phoned to the Director ( Superin- ing true story. As you know, in the the lower schools of the Protestant tendent ) on the telephone and that city of Montreal, Jews are legally School Board of Greater Montreal. the Director's reply was that since classed as Protestants ( for public Some of these songs are translations by law, for school purposes in Mon- school purposes ). The lower schools of Hebrew hymns and festival songs. treal, Jews were Protestants, Jewish in the jurisdiction of the Protestant They are taught in conjunction hymns and festival songs were le- School Board give three and a half with the Jewish holidays. gally Protestant hymns."

18 LIBERTY, 1968 Cod Sued in Florida Court!

Charged with fault in collapse of rain-soaked sidewalk

By ROLAND R. HEGSTAD

KNEW that if insurance companies not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth kept those "act of God" clauses in their from the presence of the Lord" (verse 12 ). I policies it would happen sooner or A challenge has been issued to God: Job later. Someone would sue God. isn't really righteous. He doesn't love You. It has happened. A Lake Worth, Florida, He loves himself and serves You only because electrician, allegedly injured four years ago it is to his advantage. in an accident that a jury described as "an act God accepts the challenge, which can be of God," has filed suit against a group of settled only by Job himself. He will remove defendants designated as "God and Co." His protection, let Satan plague him, and see Co-defendants with the Deity are 32 local if Job does indeed love God and warrant His churches and synagogues. Copies of the alle- approval. gations by plaintiff George Albrecht have What we fail to note is that it was Satan been delivered to each of the religious bodies, who went forth and plagued Job; Satan who but court officials have been unable to deliver took Job's oxen and asses, slew his servants, a copy to the principal defendant. burned up his sheep, and, finally, killed his Mr. Albrecht originally sued the city of sons and daughters. Lake Worth ( near West Palm Beach) and a When Job remained faithful to God, Satan construction firm, claiming that he was in- hurled another challenge: This doesn't prove jured when a rain-soaked sidewalk collapsed anything about his character, really, for a man under him in 1964. A jury ruled the claim will give up everything he has to save his was invalid, invoking the "act of God" rule. life. "But put forth thine hand"—the insinua- Along with one of the pastors brought into tion again that God is the author of Job's the suit, the Reverend James Magnuson of the trials—"and he will curse thee to thy face" Evangelical Covenant church, I believe the ( verse 11). expression "act of God," used in cases where But once more it is Satan who goes forth no blame for accidents can be attributed to to smite Job with "sore boils from the sole any human agency, is "a misnomer." God is of his foot unto his crown." not the author of human misery. The Bible After Job endured his test of character, the teaches us that there is not only a beneficent ancient scribe recorded what God did for power in the universe but an antagonistic Job: "The Lord gave Job twice as much as power as well. It is from this latter source he had before. . . . So the Lord blessed the that our troubles proceed. The "act of God" latter end of Job more than his beginning" clause in insurance policies should be instead (chap. 42:10-12). the "act of Satan." Here is something we can always safely attribute to God: blessings. In fact, one of In the Old Testament book of Job, this the Hebrew names by which He is known in fact is clearly set forth. Satan in dialog with the Old Testament, El Shaddai, translated in God confesses that God has blessed Job. the King James Bible as "God Almighty," "Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, might better be translated, as Old Testament and his substance is increased in the land" scholar Robert Baker Girdlestone points out, ( Job 1:8-10). But he then makes a sly in- "Bountiful Giver." sinuation: "But put forth thine hand now, Job learned the lesson. "In all this Job and touch all that he bath, and he will curse sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (chap. thee to thy face" (verse 11). Too many of us 1:22 ). It is a lesson both insurance companies have stopped reading here. We have failed to and the Lake Worth plaintiff should learn. note that God sets the record straight: "And Accidents and other tragedies are not acts of the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he God. They are the work of an antagonistic hath is in thy power; only upon himself put power. ***

MAY-JUNE 19 TETE CNA (ST N

By DONALD E. BROWN Pastor, First Baptist Church Green Bay, Wisconsin

UN up the flag and the loss of faith in, and gross misunderstanding of, tune up the band! The problems the democratic form of government and the meaning of our nation are about to be solved. of religious liberty. The same issue is involved in the Three Congressmen* have intro- persistent efforts to obtain public funds for parochial duced a bill into the ninetieth schools—whether by direct appropriation or by indirect Congress that will, if adopted, benefits, subsidies, and services. Let us not be misled. commit this nation to "de- The attempt to secure public funds for parochial ' voutly" recognize "the au- schools and the push for the so-called Christian / thority and the law of Amendment alike are frontal attacks on the constitu- Jesus Christ, Savior tional provision for separation of church and state. )0‘,7 and Ruler of Nations, During the Civil War the United States had to face through whom are be- up to the meaning of its heritage of freedom. Lincoln stowed the blessings of rightly interpreted the Civil War as the crucial test of Almighty God"! the democratic ideal. In the Gettysburg Address he According to them, this stated that the struggle between the States was being Christian Amendment will waged to determine whether a nation conceived in liberty ( 1 ) reduce the menace of and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created a virile and militant Com- equal could exist in this world. That struggle is still munism to naught; (2) going on, and in the great gains being made in the field shore up the sagging mo- of civil rights we are witnessing the mopping-up opera- rality of society as evi- tions of a battle begun more than a century ago. denced in sexual immo- Today, however, liberty is endangered by other rality, unchastity, dishonesty in both private and public forces and interests. This nation was conceived also in life; and (3) restore this nation to its place of moral religious liberty. It was founded on separation of leadership in the world. church and state, on the conviction that it was neither All worthy objectives, I concede, but will the so- wise nor proper for the Congress to legislate for God. called Christian Amendment—offered perpetually to That principle is under attack—not by atheistic Com- the Congress—really achieve them? I think not. Its munists, or by noncommittal and cynical secularists, backers reveal an extraordinarily naive and simplistic but by some within the Christian community, Protes- view of society, and a gross misunderstanding of the tant and Catholic alike. Religious liberty is under at- nature of man. Morality and law are not the same. If tack not from its avowed enemies but from its friends. declaring a nation to be Christian could solve the evils That which was so dearly purchased, and so proudly and problems of society, Europe would be enjoying a held, is in danger of being thrown away—unless we spiritual utopia today, for the experiment was tried understand both our democratic form of government there. The church was established by law and sup- and the meaning of religious liberty. ported by the machinery and authority of the state. Jesus talked a great deal about the relation of a To all the previous problems, establishment added only Christian to God, the relation of a Christian to his another—how to disestablish the church! Alliance be- fellow man, and the relation of a Christian to his tween church and state has increased, rather than Christ, but He said very little about the relationship solved, the mutual problems. of a Christian to the state. Religious liberty, as we Actually the issue posed by the Christian Amend- understand it, was unknown in New Testament ment is much more serious than a misleading view of times, although the Romans granted a certain freedom society and of the nature of man. The real issue is of worship to their subjects, including the Jews. So long as a subject people's religion did not endanger the stability of the state, or disturb the people, the * They are: Chester Mize (R.—Kansas), John J. Duncan (R.—Tennessee), and Albert Watson (R.—South Carolina). Roman government kept hands off. The tolerance was

20 LIBERTY, 1968 Is It the Answer to MIN DMINT Our Nation's Problems?

mutual with the Jews. So long as the government, or William I of Prussia expressed it perfectly when he said, Caesar, did not interfere with their religious duties "Salvation is of God. Everything else is my affair." It is and loyalties, they could live under Rome. But let not likely that He who said "Seek ye first the kingdom Caesar claim for himself the glory and authority be- of God, and his righteousness" would agree with that. longing to God, and the Jew resisted to the death. Jesus did not delineate a program of relationships Such was the background of the question asked of between Caesar and God or church and state. He did Jesus, "Is it lawful to give tribute [pay taxes} to Cae- not lay down a step-by-step guide, a clear-cut "how to sar?" (Matt. 22:15-22). However, as Matthew ob- do it," but He did lay down what must be done. "Ren- serves, the question was not asked to seek light and der therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; truth upon a sometimes difficult and always perplex- and unto God the things that are God's." ing relationship. It was asked to trap Jesus, to trick What belongs to God? Everything belongs to God— Him into saying something that could be used against even Caesars and commissars, prime ministers and presi- Him. The question illustrates how the truth could and dents. All hold their power under God whether acknowl- can be used, not to enlighten but to ensnare. If Jesus edged by law or not. If there is any guidance in these answered, "Do not pay the tax!" His enemies could words it is simply that Caesar must make no claim on a charge treason. If He said, "Pay the tax!" then they man's life, or on his mind, which will keep him from could say, "This man acknowledges another as king of freely rendering unto God the things that are God's. Israel. This is blasphemy." But Jesus answered, "Ren- Here is the seed of a doctrine of religious liberty. der therefore unto Caesar the things which are Cae- Although growth was slow and ultimate fruition is yet sar's; and unto God the things that are God's." to come in much of the world, by the 1700's our found- Few sayings of Jesus have been more tragically mis- ing fathers were firmly convinced that religious freedom understood. Jesus did not say, as some have claimed, is the mother of all freedom. They had seen the devas- that there is a sharp line of division between secular tation wrought by wars of religion in the Old World and sacred. He did not say, "This part of a man's life where the state freely legislated for God. In fact, it was belongs to Caesar. God has nothing to do with that. to escape the inequities and injustices of an unholy alli- God has to do only with 'spiritual' things." "Dumme- ance between church and state that many fled to the low, for instance, says that Christ here sympathized shores of America. When they began to consider the with imperialism, with a 'great and beneficent em- shape and form of a more perfect union, they explicitly pire,' so that 'submission and loyalty to civil power is and carefully laid down the principle "Congress shall a duty binding on conscience.' " Not so. Every work make no law respecting the establishment of religion." of His hands, every word of His mouth pointed to To claim, as some now say, that from the first our nation the sovereign fact of God and to the sovereignty of was a Christian nation, is to miss the point. It was never God over all His works. True, Caesar must have his intended that this nation should "devoutly recognize the due, but always within the framework of obedience to authority and law of Jesus Christ." It was, however, God. Caesar, or government, has a just claim on part intended that men should be absolutely free to pursue of a man's life. Jesus readily acknowledged that. But the truth according to the lights of their own conscience. one wishes for elaboration of the rest of His answer, It was intended that the powers of government should "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are never be used to enforce, or persuade, or coerce, or Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." define a response of faith from any citizen. What "things"? Some things do belong to Caesar, In 1614, Leonard Busher, an English Baptist, pub- and Caesar must have his due—that much and no lished a pamphlet pleading that king and Parliament more, for beyond that is idolatry. But Caesar's tendency revoke "and repeal those anti-Christian, Romish and is to claim more of a man's life than is his due, not less. cruel laws that force all in our land, both prince and The history of totalitarian states, both ancient and people, to receive that religion wherein the king or modern, shows that Caesar's appetite for loyalty, queen were born or that which is established by the law homage, praise, and obedience is insatiable. Frederick of man." 2 The founding fathers of these United States

MAY-JUNE 21 Voices in the had heard those heartfelt pleas and were de- Ecumenical Wind termined that such a plea would never be necessary in this nation. Further, religious liberty with separation of church and state is a safeguard against a false and easy sense of REPORT FROM THE PHILIPPINES security. The prophets were well aware of the dangers of ritualism in religion. They did By Laurentino E. Gonzaga everything they could to eliminate misleading ritual from the worship of God. Ritual has its values but it also has its dangers. Slogans, N HOUR before the ceremony the crowd began to prayers, Bible reading in schools, and rituals fill the dappled green-and-brown expanse of the can easily convey the idea that the per- Plaza Roma in front of Manila's Cathedral Church. The formance of certain required religious acts date was January 20, 1968. The occasion, a Christian actually makes a nation religious. God re- Unity Rally sponsored by the Philippine Roman Cath- quires more than this. He requires the obedi- olic hierarchy and the National Council of Churches ence of a willing heart and the sacrifices of a in the islands. broken and contrite spirit. These cannot be Celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity legislated; they can be only the offering of was begun twenty years ago in the Philippines, but it free men, gladly and joyfully responding to took Vatican Council II to bring a significant—and the free gift of God. some would say, prophetic—shift in Christian responses. Religious liberty maintains a healthy skep- The astute diplomacy being practiced by post-conciliar ticism regarding the infallibility of men and Rome is beginning to elicit that "wondering admira- institutions. So does democracy—for the gen- tion" (Rev. 13:3, N.E.B. )* spoken of by John in that ius of the democratic form of government is prophetic book in which Christ showed "his servants that it is responsive to the changing needs and what must shortly happen" (chap. 1:1, N.E.B.). desires of the governed. This means that all By 4:00 P.M. the plaza was well filled. I could see governmental solutions to human problems veils mingled with military caps, nuns' wimples flutter- are tentative, and therefore subject to change. ing in the breeze. Priestly cassocks brushed familiarly The same is true of institutions of religion. against sedately-suited Protestant dignitaries. Parochial Thomas Hooker, back in the 1600's, made it and public school students chattered excitedly. Then, clear that there must always be an element promptly at four o'clock, the crowd rippled to atten- of humility and tentativeness among those tion while the Philippine national anthem was sung. who take their Christian faith seriously. "We Behind three microphones in front of the church, repre- doubt not," he wrote, "what we practice, but sentatives of the major participating faiths joined in it's beyond all doubt that all men are liars, singing. There were Msgr. Rt. Rev. Justino Ortiz, direc- and we are in the number of these poor feeble tor of Catholic Action in the Philippines, and Dr. men; either we do or may err, though we do Jose A. Yap, executive secretary of the National Council not know it; what we have learned we do of Churches, the two men who had conceived and or- profess, and profess still to live that we may ganized the rally. Also among the dignitaries seated in learn." Religious liberty keeps the doors open front of the church were representatives of the United to new truth about the nature of man and his Methodist Church, the Philippine Independent Church, life with his neighbor. the YMCA and the YWCA. The old principles that inspired the consti- The mass Prayer Rally for Christian Unity began tutional safeguard of separation of church and with a prayer approved by the participating churches. state are valid still. As Jack Mendelssohn put Composed by an international order of worship, it it some years ago, "Let us render unto God was recited by Dr. Waldo S. Perfecto, of De La Salle the things that are God's. But let us not try College (Catholic). to use Him as a masthead for our Constitu- After a lesson and prayer by Dr. Enrique C. Sobre- tion, a banner for our patriotism, or a pillar pena, president of the National Council of Churches, of fire for our foreign policy. American Dr. Antonio Molina of the University of Santo Tomas democracy is worthy of a more profound re- (Catholic) spoke and then led the crowd in a prayer of spect for the universe and for the human atonement. I followed the recitation carefully, wonder- race than that." ing at the changes a few years have brought to Christian REFERENCES relationships. The Interpreter's Bble (New York: Abingdon Press, 1951), vol. 7, p. 518. The New English Bible, New Testament. The Delegates of the Oxford 2 Henry Cook, What Baptists Stand For (London: The Carey University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961. Kingsgate Press, fourth ed., 1961), pp. 204, 205. Reprinted by permission.

22 LIBERTY, 1968 ,- r)NPAD, RR ,-)^4

PRAYER: Lord, Jesus, You called us to Your holy Christ for which He Himself prayed the Father. I church. You prayed that we might be one, as You wondered whether those present would follow their are one with the Father, that the world may come prayers by the only action that can unite Christians in to acknowledge that You alone are the Lord and heart—by rejecting the traditions of men, which are the Saviour of all. the main cause of division among believers, and accept- RESPONSE: Make us all one as You are with the ing without reservation the teachings of the Bible. Father. I listened again to the murmur of voices raised in PRAYER: Instead, Your holy church became the prey prayer: of divisions and dissensions. Her flawless face was PRAYER: In the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ, disfigured by the blows of her children. Your seam- let us present and confess our sins against unity: for less robe was torn asunder. the little importance that we have given to this word RESPONSE: With contrite hearts we come before You proceeding from Thy heart, "Other sheep I have to acknowledge our failures. Forgive us, 0 Lord, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and make us one again. they shall hear my voice." PRAYER: Because we are indifferent to Your Holy RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us, 0 Lord. Words, they cannot find in the church the haven of PRAYER: For all the violence which we have been truth. guilty of directing in the past and even today RESPONSE: Forgive us, 0 Lord, and make us one against our Christian brethren, again. RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us, 0 Lord. PRAYER: Because our minds are narrow and PRAYER: For all restrictive measures unjustly taken our hearts are cold to the needs of our neighbors, against them, they miss in the church the community of charity RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us, 0 Lord. willed by Christ. PRAYER: For all self-sufficiency and pride which we RESPONSE: Forgive us, 0 Lord, and make us one have shown to our Christian brethren over the again. centuries and for all our lack of understanding PRAYER: For our controversies, for our intransigence towards them, and harsh judgments, RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us, 0 Lord. RESPONSE: We ask pardon, 0 Lord. PRAYER: For all those things in our conduct and PRAYER: For our pride and self-sufficiency, example by which we have obstructed our own RESPONSE: We ask pardon, 0 Lord. witness and hindered the work of unity among our PRAYER: For all the violence exerted in the past brethren, among Christian brethren, RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us. 0 Lord. RESPONSE: We ask pardon, 0 Lord. PRAYER: For our neglect of frequent, fervent, and It was encouraging indeed to hear Christian breth- brotherly prayer for them, ren jointly acknowledging their penitence for sins of RESPONSE: We beseech Thee to pardon us, 0 Lord. intolerance and worse, and praying for that unity in

MAY-JUNE 23 as the editors see it

RELIGION AND THE PRESIDENCY 8. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Catholic. Running, now in 1968. Should give him time to clarify his views ILL any candidate for President in this Novem- on church-state issues, which are in no wise so un- ber's election face a religious problem similar equivocal as were his late brother's. to the one that confronted President John F. Kennedy 9. Harold Stassen. Baptist. Still running. No de- in 1960? Certainly not to the degree that the late nominational issue. President did, but questions on their religious beliefs George W. Romney announced his withdrawal on might well be asked several of the candidates, who in- February 28. A Mormon—in which church no Negroes clude representatives of Protestant, Catholic, Christian are admitted to full priesthood—he has a record of deeds Science, Episcopalian, and Quaker persuasions. Here is on civil rights that could be endorsed by Martin Luther a thumbnail list of their names, religion, and issues: King if not by Stokely Carmichael. R. R. H. 1. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Disciples of Christ. Ecumenical in worship habits. Regularly attends Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic serv- SPANISH REGISTRATION RESISTED ices. Reportedly told Pope he was glad daughter Luci was converted to Catholicism. Pushed through Congress HE Spanish religious toleration bill has been stren- the compromise bill under which Federal funds flow uously resisted by most Protestant groups, who into parochial school coffers. fear that the registration provision in it could expose their members to retaliation should the state for one 2. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy. Catholic. Has reason or another turn its back on progress. Jews also, supported use of public funds for parochial schools. No with memories of Nazi Germany in mind, are loath to statement on contraceptive birth control. reveal membership lists. Confronted with the resist- 3. Richard M. Nixon. Quaker, many of whom ance of these groups, the Spanish Government has are conscientious objectors. Not Nixon. Served in Navy, granted a five-month extension (till June) before im- 1942-1946. No question on whether he could act con- plementing the requirement. Before then, hopefully, scientiously as Commander in Chief of armed forces. some compromise will be worked out. The best "com- From kitchen confrontation with Kruschev to Viet- promise" would be simply for the Cortes to repeal that nam, he's willing to fight with cookware or hardware. section of the law, an action much more in harmony 4. Nelson A. Rockefeller. Baptist. Liberal breed. with the spirit of Vatican II than the registration pro- Attends Riverside Church in New York City and Prot- vision itself. R. R. H. estant Union Church of Pocantico Hills. Has urged the legislature to liberalize the State's 85-year-old abortion law. No denominational issue. HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD 5. Ronald Reagan. Disciples of Christ. Member T IS fitting that the United Nations will mark the Hollywood-Beverley Christian Church. No denomina- twentieth anniversary of the International Declara- tional issue. tion of Human Rights by awarding citations for dis- 6. Charles Percy. Christian Scientist. Record and tinguished activity in the human rights field. The statements on public health issues spotless. No denomi- program will be a part of a year-long observance and national issue. promotion of human rights during 1968, which is Inter- 7. Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York City. national Human Rights Year. Episcopalian. Forthright on church-state issues. Opposed Individual countries and organizations have been in- New York constitution last November because it invited to submit candidates to be judged by an interna- cluded repeal of the Blaine Amendment, which prohib- tional jury of five judges to be appointed by Secretary its State aid to parochial schools. No denominational General U Thant. issue. A prime candidate should be Senor Fernando Maria

24 LIBERTY, 1968 Castiella y Maiz, Spain's Foreign Minister, who was parochial and other private as well as public schools. primarily responsible for the religious toleration law Distribution on the basis of $25 a pupil each school enacted last year by the Spanish Cortes. Not that the year began in January, which meant a happy new law is representative fully of the fundamental human year also for Father Kenning, who had called the ac- right of religious freedom, a lack which Senor Castiella tion "the greatest piece of state aid legislation ever himself would be the first to acknowledge, but rather passed." Said he, "It signals the acceptance by public that his commitment has been wholehearted and effec- school officials and by the state of the responsibility tive in moving Spain toward recognition of this right. for the quality of every child's education." And, if a posthumous award is considered, we would Alas, enter, on January 25, in the Common Pleas nominate Dr. Jean Nussbaum, the late Secretaire Court of Franklin County that peripatetic bogeyman General de Association Internationale pour la Defense of unconstitutional giveaways, otherwise known as de la Liberte Religieuse. Few men out of public office Protestants and Other Americans United (POAU) . or in have achieved more of substance for the cause Seems that Santa may have forgotten his instructions, of religious freedom. The award will, of course, cover as recorded in the United States and Ohio constitu- a broader field than religious liberty, but it will cover tions, and dropped his gifts down the wrong chimney none more fundamental. R. R. H. —that is, on the other side of the wall of separation between church and state. Apart from the First Amendment to the U.S. Con- INDIAN BILL CAUSES CONCERN stitution, Santa's instructions included Article I, Sec- tion 7, and Article VI, Section 2, of the Ohio Consti- HE so-called Freedom of Religion bill approved tution: ". . . No person shall be compelled to attend, by the Orissa State Legislature in India is any- T erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any thing but. What the measure really does is impose form of worship, against his consent; and no preference even tighter restrictions on Christian missionaries, who shall be given, by law, to any religious society. . . ." are finding it ever more difficult to preach the gospel. (Article VI, Section 2) : "The General Assembly On the face of it the bill outlaws religious con- shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, versions "by the use of force or inducement or by as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, fraudulent means." Conversion, says the bill, involves will secure a thorough and efficient system of common an act of "undermining another's faith," and that when schools throughout the State; but, no religious or other it has been "forced," it creates "various maladjustments sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, in social life and gives rise to problems of law and or- or control of, any part of the school funds of this der." The bill provides for one year in prison and/or a State." $660 fine for converting or attempting to convert a Whatever the courts decide, we're sorry it happened person by force or fraudulent methods. Punishment will this way. Our friends at POAU will be charged with be doubled when the convert is a minor, a woman, or a taking gifts away from children. Children will think member of a "scheduled tribe"—the former "untouch- Santa is an Indian giver. And Father Kenning prob- ables." ably won't even believe in him any more. One can hardly quarrel with the bill's antipathy to- He will, however, believe in the bogeyman. ward force or inducement or fraudulent means of con- R. R. H. version. But when it is set against the protests of Indian officials who have charged recently that some mission- U.S. AND HUMAN RIGHTS aries endanger national unity by converting Indians to Christianity, one wonders whether the law will not be- RESIDENT Johnson's designation of 1968 as Hu- come the instrument of quite another degree of repres- Pman Rights Year is being used by some legislators to sion. R. R. H. prod the Senate into approving three human-rights conventions drafted twenty years ago by the United Nations. The Senate has not approved the United Nations' conven- THE BOGEYMAN WILL GET YOU tions on genocide, the political rights of women, and a IF YOU DON'T WATCH OUT combination convention on the right of association and privilege to organize. The Senate has been unable to ATHER HERMAN J. KENNING, assistant su- approve them, because they've been locked up in its perintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Foreign Relations Committee. Archdiocese of Cincinnati, had a happy Christmas. Unless the Committee plans to throw the key away, Santa Claus was good. All his gift lacked was suspense, now would seem to be the time to give the Senate a for it was way back in August that his spirit moved the chance to vote on the conventions. Just why it is deemed Ohio Legislature to allocate $15 million to promote in the national interest to delay ratification escapes us. education programs over the next eighteen months in ROBERT NIXON

MAY-JUNE 25 world news

UNITED STATES large donations, give a small portion to a legitimate cause, then pocket the rest as "administrative expenses." He said this isn't the case for most organizations, but it Clergy Advice: Better Than Lawyers' Not So Good as Dentists' is the case for some and is costing the State of Colorado "a whale of a lot of money." Minneapolis.—Clergymen rank fairly high as sources of good advice in a survey conducted by the Minneapolis Baptist College May Seek Aid Star's Metro-Poll. Atlanta.—The Atlanta Baptist Association has voted Sixty-seven per cent of those polled said they had 487 to 370 to permit Atlanta Baptist College to apply received good advice from clergymen and only 7 per cent for Federal loans and/or grants for new buildings and said clerical advice was "bad." equipment. It is the first time an official Georgia Baptist Ranking higher than clergymen in the poll as sources group has agreed to accept Federal funds to help finance of good advice were parents, doctors, and dentists. a denominational institution. The association empha- Ranking lower were lawyers, bankers, barbers or sized that such Federal aid "shall not limit the freedom beauticians, taxi drivers, and bartenders. of the college in the conduct of the operation in respect to faculty, curriculum, or any other matter." The college's vice-president for development, Dr. Dick H. Legislator Says Church Hospitals Aid Doctors' Tax Evasion Hall, Jr., announced his resignation after the vote, saying, "I find myself in an untenable position. I have sup- Denver.—A Colorado legislator has proposed legis- ported the principle of separation of church and state lation that would prevent physicians and staff members through all my ministry. To be of further use to the of church-affiliated hospitals from registering their ve- college I would be compelled to compromise very hicles under a hospital's name to avoid State ownership deep convictions." Hall is a former president of the tax. Georgia Baptist Convention, and since 1960 has been Rep. Palmer Burch (R.-Denver) said more than vice-president of Protestants and Other Americans 1,000 tax-exempt vehicles were registered in suburban United for Separation of Church and State. Atlanta Arapahoe County in 1966, not including government Baptist College is being built on 600 acres about 12 vehicle. He also cited large tax-exempt registrations in miles from downtown Atlanta. It expects to open in other Colorado counties. September with an enrollment of 500. He said he knew of one small, private hospital in Denver which registered nineteen vehicles in one day, saying they were exempt from Colorado's specific own- INIA ership tax. His bill, if passed by the legislature, would limit such exemptions to vehicles and property owned by Albania Annuls All Laws Federal, State, and local governments. on Church-State Relations Rep. Burch also assailed Colorado law which exempts the property of nonprofit, charitable, or religious insti- Albania.—Communist Albania has officially abro- tutions. gated all laws dealing with church-state relations in that "I, for one, don't believe churches should be taxed country. Though the decree went into effect on Novem- like anyone else," he said, "but I do believe they might ber 13, 1967, copies of the official gazette detailing the pay a tax fee of sorts to pay for police and fire protec- action only recently became available in the United tion. States. It annulled the following laws: "Merely being designated a religious institution isn't —Decree about religious communities of 1949, modi- enough. My family says grace at mealtime at home. fied in 1963. Does this designate my home as a 'religious institution' —Decree about the approval of the Statute of the and make it exempt from the tax?" Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, dated He attacked organizations which, he said, collect April 5, 1950.

26 LIBERTY, 1968 —Decree about the approval of the Statute of the try were "obviously still strong," the paper claimed this Albanian Moslem Community, dated April 5, 1950. was not the whole story. It argued that it was not reli- —Decree about the approval of the Statute of the Al- gion that really attracted people. "Many citizens prefer banian Bektashi Community, dated April 5, 1950. the pomp and tradition of church," it stated. —Decree about the approval of the Statute of the The paper put part of the blame on Communist mar- Catholic Church of Albania, dated July 30, 1951. riage officials, some of whom, it said, did not even As an example of what the previous constitutional bother to put on a suit for the ceremony. rights of these religious communities entailed, the Cath- olic Church is a case in point. Under the 1951 decree both religious and administra- YUGOSLAVIA tive matters of the church were directed by the Albanian Catholic Episcopate. The decree also stated that the Catholic Church in Albania had no organizational, po- Yugoslav Prime Minister and Pope litical, or economic ties with the Vatican and that coor- Meet in Rome dination on religious matters could be achieved only Vatican City.—Pope through government channels. In turn, the state under- Paul VI and Prime Minister Mika Spiljak of Yugoslavia took to subsidize the Catholic Church. recently discussed peace and church-state relations The decree of November, 1949, required all reli- during a cordial 45-minute audience in the Pope's library. gious communities to develop among their members the Mr. Spiljak, highest Yugoslavian feeling of loyalty toward "people's power" and toward official to visit the Vatican since World War II, was accompanied the "People's Republic of Albania." by Vjekoslav Cvrlje, the Communist country's By annulling all former constitutional decrees deal- envoy to the Vatican, and by other officials. ing with church-state relations, the new law is appar- During the meeting he praised the Pope's work for ently aimed at delivering the coup de grace to formal peace and expressed satisfaction at the improvement of religious institutions in Albania. The result seems to be relations between Yugoslavia and the Vatican follow- that since churches or religious bodies no longer exist, ing the signing of a diplomatic agreement on June 26, laws covering them are unnecessary. 1966. He also conveyed the greetings of President Josip Tirana Radio claimed last October that Albania had Broz Tito of Yugoslavia to the Pope. become "the first atheist state in the world." The broadcast dealt with the question of confiscation of church Pope Paul, replying to Mr. Spiljak, reaffirmed his property by the state, ostensibly in the interest of the high esteem for Yugoslavia, noting that it had been country's youth movement and its ideological purity. demonstrated recently in his appointment of a Yugoslav citizen, Franjo Cardinal Seper, to the important position Western experts then considered this measure as a counterpart to Communist China's Cultural Revolu- of pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doc- trine of the Faith. tion. The Pope sent greetings to President Tito and said that he had been gratified by Yugoslavia's favorable re- -1ECIIOSLOVA. 141 I action to his peace efforts, particularly the suggested observance of January 1 as a world day of peace. "With attention equal to the importance of the Reds Admit People Prefer Marriage in a Church subject," the Pope said, "we have listened to what you said regarding the relations between church and state in Prague.—Czechoslovaks persist in preferring to be Yugoslavia and the recent resumption of relations be- married in church rather than a state marriage hall, tween the Holy See and the federal government. We Svobodne Slovo, according to a recent complaint by share the satisfaction of your excellency and the govern- a Prague newspaper. ment for this resumption and hope that it will lead to It said that "civil ceremonies have not taken root." always more positive and satisfying relations between Not only do young people prefer to be married in the us. Roman Catholic Church, it added, but most of them still take their children to be baptized. An editorial also complained about the lack of success of the Communist "welcome ceremony," which was ITNIIERCURRENTS supposed to replace confirmation into the church at the age of 13. Back Into the Oven In some cases, Svobodne Slovo said, the parents "ac- New York.—The New York Legislature's top-rank- tually refused to attend the ceremony." ing Democrat, assembly speaker Anthony Travia, says While admitting that religious influences in the coun- he is opposed to using the new legislative session to seek

MAY-JUNE 27 repeal of the State constitution's controversial Blaine verse of thanks that contains no direct reference to God. Amendment, which prohibits State aid to nonpublic The contested verse is: "We thank you for the flowers schools. Commented Travia: "Personally, I'm still for so sweet; We thank you for the food we eat; We thank repealing Blaine. But I think it would create more ani- you for the birds that sing; We thank you for every- mosities—do more harm than good—by repeating the thing." The verse originally referred to God in the last battle so soon." If an amendment is to appear on 1969 line, but school officials in the DeKalb County, Illinois, ballots, the legislature must act this year. If it doesn't, school district eliminated the reference in 1964 when New Yorkers won't be able to vote on the issue until parents of a kindergartner complained. The parents 1971. The majority leader of the State senate, Republi- sought and obtained a ban on the revised verse. can Earl W. Brydges, plans on immediate push for repeal of the Blaine Amendment. But Travia insists he Pope Names Church-State Expert feels the church-state issue "should be allowed to bake for a while." Vatican City.—Pope Paul VI has named a church- state expert as head of the Congregation for the Doc- trine of the Faith. He's Franjo Cardinal Seper, 63, No Taxes on Vatican Properties archbishop of Zagreb, Yugoslavia, who replaces the 78- year-old Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, who resigned. Car- Rome.—Italian Finance Minister Luigi Preti has dinal Seper is recognized as largely responsible for agreed to extend tax exemption of Vatican holdings on bringing about the present church-state understanding Italian soil through fiscal 1968. After June elections between the Roman Catholic Church and President the new Italian parliament will vote on whether or not Tito's government. Cardinal Seper emphasized at the to extend the temporary measure. Vatican Council of 1965 that faith in God does not prevent action and commitment for human progress and the improvement of the conditions of life, but promotes Ties That Bind human dignity as well. Atlanta.—The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that two Presbyterian churches in Sa- The New Sex vannah have the right to withdraw from the denomination and retain their property. The two churches with- Albany, N.Y.—The New York State Council of drew after the church's General Assembly made state- Churches says State laws holding adultery, fornication, ments concerning the Vietnam war, ordination of homosexuality, and other deviant sexual practices women, and civil disobedience. The Presbyterian "among competent and consenting adults" to be crim- Church, U.S., plans to appeal the decision. A Federal inal acts should be repealed. Though such practices appeals court in New Orleans recently ruled against a violate the Judeo-Christian standards of moral conduct, Methodist congregation in Alabama that attempted to "we think the penal law is not the instrument for the keep its property after withdrawing from the Methodist control of such practices, when privately engaged in, Church. where only adults are involved and where there is no coercion," said the council in a statement on legislative principles. No Room on the Road Louisville, Ky.—Twenty-five Amish from Orange The Name's the Same County, Indiana, have emigrated to Paraguay, South New York.—The Civil Court of the City of New America, where they hope to continue the simple farm York has denied the right of a Moslem convert to change life they prefer to live. The sect prefers the old-fash- his name from Earl Green to Merwon Abdul Salaam. ioned, unadorned clothing and the simple life of farm- Said the court: "The common law, in the absence of ing to the trappings of modern life. "Why are you fraud or other like evasion of obligation, permits the leaving?" the oldest man was asked. "We just drive free use of any name a person may choose.... Green is a horses and buggies and it's so hard to drive on the high- name that possesses an American echo in politics, gov- way any more. .. . There's no room on the sides to pull ernment, finance, in peace and in war. . . . The blood off the road." spilled by the great American patriots should not be despoiled by strange and foreign adaptions. This birth- right should not conceal itself behind such an alien Flowers, Food, Birds . . . shield. It has sufficient buoyancy to float upon the sea of Washington, D.C.—The United States Supreme time and in years to come the petitioner may hopefully Court has refused to review an Illinois appeal asking add luster to the name of Green. The application is why kindergarten children are not allowed to recite a denied."

28 LIBERTY, 1968 The FCC and Pollution to say or do anything about religious programming. I think that religion as religion is exempt from any kind of the Airwaves of government interference." Major networks are not neutral. Both CBS and NBC From page 12 have filed briefs amicus curiae (friend of the court) to utter or publish his sentiments, though, of course, upon questioning the propriety of the application of the Fair- condition that he is responsible for any abuse of that right... . ness Doctrine in the Red Lion controversy. NBC as- But this does not mean that the Government, through agencies established by Congress, may not refuse a renewal of license serted that "the guarantee of a free press has never to one who has abused it to broadcast defamatory and untrue meant and does not mean today, that it is the province matter. In that case there is not a denial of the freedom of of government to secure for every individual, group, speech, but merely the application of the regulatory power of or point of view free and equal access to the press." Congress in a field within the scope of its legislative authority.' The network quoted Benjamin Franklin as having said The Court disclaimed any desire on its own part, or that his newspaper was not a stagecoach with seats for any apparent attempt on the part of the Commission, to everyone. Why, say the networks in effect, should the silence the clamorous clergyman: press enjoy freedom to speak without being forced by the Government's brawny arm to afford free print to Appellant may continue to indulge his strictures upon the characters of men in public office. He may just as freely as ever the advocates of divergent views, while radio's right to criticize religious practices of which he does not approve. He the same privilege is withheld? may even indulge private malice or personal slander—subject, Says a network spokesman: "Conceding, for the sake of course, to be required to answer for the abuse thereof—but of argument, that someone must exercise control of pro- he may not, as we think, demand, of right, the continued gramming—even religious programming—if at least a use of an instrumentality of commerce for such purposes, or any other, except in subordination to all reasonable rules and semblance of order and usefulness is to attend the use of regulations Congress, acting through the Commission, may 'the people's ether,' does it follow without argument prescribe.' that government holds a monopoly on both the right and the fitness to exercise that control?" In the Court's view it was only fair to expect that Emphatically not, in the view of Dr. McIntire's attor- the Commission would reserve the use of limited broad- ney, Robert E. Manuel, who believes that the Fairness cast channels for those who would use them for the Doctrine is anything but fair—that it constitutes unwar- public interest rather than against it. ranted interference by Government in religious broadcasting. The FCC, says Manuel, "is playing into the hands of a great totalitarianism among the clergy of America to HAT has not yet been settled is the silence the views of religionists whose views may vary burning question of whether minority from mainstream theology. The Government shouldn't religious rights are protected when a Government agency put its thumb on the scales." has power to grant or deny a broadcasting license on the "Liberty is a boisterous sea," said Jefferson. "Timid basis of its own assessment of the style of religious broad- men prefer the dead calm of despotism." Whatever casting it feels will be most in the "public interest." may be the accurate assessment of the current oceanic Commenting on the contention by same courts that buffetings, one thing is pretty clear: If it is a sea of censorship is not the name for FCC's license denials, one despotism, there is no immediate prospect for its subsid- law review writer calls it "mere quibbling to say that it ing into a dead calm. is not censorship to refuse the renewal on the basis of past conduct, since the refusal [is} intended to prevent REFERENCES what might be said over the station in the future— -r For a carefully researched chronology of the development of radio in the most effective sort of censorship." ' In a land where America, see Justice Frankfurter's majority opinion in Nat'l Broadcasting Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 190 ( 1942) . an employer in private industry may not lawfully take In one, an Illinois district court held that the Secretary had no power to impose restrictions as to frequency, power, and hours of operation, into consideration the religious beliefs of prospective and that a station's use of a frequency not assigned to it was not a violation of the Radio Act of 1912. United States v. Zenith Radio Corp., 12 F. 2d employees when choosing among them,'" broadcasters 614 ( 1926). Acting Attorney General Donovan rendered an opinion asserting wonder how the Federal Communications Commis- that the Secretary of Commerce had no power, under the Radio Act of 1912, to regulate the power, frequency, or hours of operation of sion legitimately can be concerned with the kind and stations. 35 Ops. Atty. Gen., 126 (1926). 4 H.R. Doc. No. 483, 69th Cong., 2d Sess. 10 (1926). quantity of religious programming a radio or TV sta- 5 Fisher's Blend Station v. State Tax Commission, 297 U.S. 650 (1936), discussed in 34 Mich. L. Rev. 1231 ( 1936 tion presents. "Trinity Methodist Church, South v. Federal Radio Commission, 62 F. 2d 850, 852 (D.C. Cir. 1932), cert. denied, 288 U.S. 599 (1933). Even the FCC is not monolithic. One of its commis- 7 Id. at 851. .1d. at 853. sioners, Lee Loevinger, would take a hands-off attitude. "I 9 I Duke L.J. 49, 50. 1" The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states: "It shall be an unlawful employment think," said Loevinger in a recent radio interview, "that practice for an employer to fail to refuse to hire . . . any individual . . . because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." the First Amendment quite plainly . . . forbids the FCC Pub. L. No. 88-352 Sec. 703 (a) (1) (1964).

MAY-JUNE 29 Religion in Public School Moral education is teaching dispositions if its purpose is that students shall become, for example, good citizens. Moral education is not the teaching of dispositions (except, perhaps, to think critically) if the intent From page 18 is to expose ethical questions and possible alternative 4. What shall we mean by religion? answers. In the latter case one would be teaching infor- I was once more certain than I am now as to a gen- mation about systems of ethics and skills in dealing with erally acceptable definition of religion: "an attitude such questions—the subject matter being either philos- toward a Supreme Being and a way of life growing out ophy or the facts and skills of religion, depending on one's definition of religion. of that attitude," according to my teacher. But I have reported a public high school compara- In this framework, teaching about religion would be tive religion course that includes "the great secular re- of the latter type—facts and skills rather than disposi- ligion—Communism." And government agencies, at tions. Once teaching about religion becomes teaching least, recognize agnostic ethical culture as a religion. dispositions, then it is either indoctrinating theological Shall we accept or except recently proclaimed atheistic belief and sectarian ritual, which is unconstitutional, Christianity and atheistic Judaism? Further, those who or it comes under the head of moral education. Thus, teaching seriously say that the Supreme Being of their religion about religion is teaching facts and skills; moral education is hortatory. Is it possible to sep- is no longer alive, let alone interested in man, have arate the two? not thereupon given up their claims to religiosity, have not renounced their pulpits or their chairs in institu- That it is not has been strongly argued. First, some tions of religious education. say that children absorb values from a teacher in a class- If not a belief in a Supreme Being, is the irreducible room situation regardless of the subject matter, reli- common factor of religion a set of moral principles? gion or mathematics; this transmission of values and Commenting ruefully on the "God is dead" movement, attitudes—whether unconscious and incidental or struc- R. V. Cassill recently said, in the New York Times tured and central—is moral education; therefore, teach- Sunday Book Review, "Nonexistence being what it is, ing about religion necessarily involves moral education. we expect no tables from Sinai canceling previous in- These first two arguments say that teaching about structions." The leading proponent of situation ethics religion implies moral education. Two further argu- does say that the new morality would add to each of the ments say that moral education implies teaching about religion. Ten Commandments the word "ordinarily." All this presents alternatives to the educator: Is the First, according to some, the only sanction for morality subject matter of religion, when studied in public lies in religion (and in a religion, at that—not just an school, to be theology, ritual, moral values, or be- abstraction called religion); therefore, moral educa- havior, or all of these? tion necessitates teaching about religion, if not reli- To recapitulate: I have presented an analysis that at gious indoctrination. Second, say others, any meaning- least abstractly divides "teaching" into facts, skills, and ful experience is a religious experience; for example, dispositions. I have suggested that "religion" as sub- such epiphanies as are recorded by the writer and ject matter may mean theology, ritual, moral values, achieved by the reader in James Joyce's short stories. and behavior. And I have put the two together in the According to this position any examination of such an expression "teaching about religion," the kind of ob- experience in a classroom is teaching about a religious jective treatment that I take to be sanctioned—even experience that the students have just had. urged—by the Supreme Court. These four arguments for the inseparability of moral Teaching about religion is only one concern of education and teaching about religion may be per- thoughtful people confronting public education. Many suasive, but they can either cast a hopeless doubt on the educators and laymen worry whether schools have an possibility of any objective education or they can serve obligation to provide some sort of moral education, to make educators more aware of the need for a clear either just making students aware of the complexities mind. Educators have achieved a fair degree of objec- of ethics and of some ethical theories or indoctrinating tivity in other disciplines; understanding the alternatives certain fundamental (universal or American) values. and implications, they can choose among emphases and People most committed to religion have been among attitudes here also. those most concerned. Hence my fifth question: 6. What is the relation between theoretical and 5. What is the relation between moral educa- practical decisions about religion and public edu- tion and teaching about religion? cation? To set this question within the framework thus far Some people argue that theory not only is inseparable constructed, I submit some definitions: from but must also precede discussion and decisions

30 LIBERTY, 1968 RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO about introducing religion into the curriculum. They say that no course should be begun, no discussion can be fruitful, which is not founded on an examination of, and at least limited agreement upon, certain principles. Only after a broad consensus, they say, can one proceed to questions of what to teach about religion, how to teach, what qualifications the teacher needs, what an enlightened administration and school board should permit, what relation should exist between the community's relative homogeneity and the alternatives to be offered. Other people, equally sincere, intelligent, and knowl- edgeable, say that it is possible to separate the practical from the theoretical—at least in the initial stages—for purposes both of discussion and of actually launching a course. They say that without empirical data relevant to the local situation it is difficult to talk about what will happen in the classroom. Such people focus on the local elements: what is available in materials and methods, who is available to teach and administer, what the parents and other interest (or pressure) groups are like. (I lean heavily toward the empirical approach: teachers setting up experimental courses based not necessarily on prior community agreement upon principles and practices but rather on what a reasonably competent and responsible teacher wants to try and can get away with in his community and school. I described some alternatives in my earlier article. Let a hundred flowers Interfaith Bible Readings, Inc., an independent, nonprofit or- bloom; then let them be dissected and evaluated.) ganization of Christians and Jews, has completed nearly five years of radio Bible readings for children in the Boston area. Leona Hudon, of Holy Trinity Methodist church, Danvers, 7. Who is responsible for making the decisions? Massachusetts, one of some 1,000 young people who have participated in the radio program, is shown taping a broadcast The impetus for teaching about religion in a public under the direction of technician Mark Whitehouse. Interfaith school may originate in one of four sources: the school Bible Readings began fifteen years ago, as an interreligious unit to select readings for school classrooms, and took to the administration, the teacher, the local clergy, or interested airways when the United States Supreme Court ruled out citizens less professionally related to education or reli- State-sponsored and/or written school prayers. gion. Then come questions of who shall do the planning, the teaching, and the evaluating. Here are three projects with whose launchings I am familiar (they may be contrasted with those that opened this article) : Pupils in my English classes at Newton High School ture—generally described as one third Protestant, one could not understand Biblical allusions. I asked my de- third Catholic, one third Jewish—creates an atmosphere partment head for sets of an abridged Bible so that I in which most people are aware and considerate of could give them some knowledge of what is in that Book religious differences. Several thousand students have for background to literature. The answer was Yes and now had our Bible-as-background unit (described in that was it. I also told the principal that any complaints LIBERTY, March-April, 1964), under at least thirty would come to him and he should know what was going teachers, with no complaints. on. But that was not really necessary; our teachers have From another city an English teacher/department considerable autonomy, and administrators back us. I head visited us to learn what we were doing. He in- don't know when the news seeped through to the super- stalled almost an exact replica in his department, after intendent, the school committee, the clergy, the parents, which he and three teachers came to Newton to discuss the public at large. and evaluate what they had done. They brought their Granted, Newton is unusual. First, the schools have principal, who, with the superintendent but without built a reservoir of confidence in the community through clergymen, would help decide whether they should con- measurable results and praise from outside educators; tinue. second, the community tends to expect and accept edu- They have done so, but have gone off on a different cational experiment; and third, our unusual social struc- tack, concentrating on the Bible as literature rather

MAY-JUNE 31 Religion in Public School While I respect their commitment to moral education and religious evangelism, I suggest that people whose primary commitment is to religion might better serve the goals of education in a pluralistic society by than as background to literature. As far as I know, there not trying to shape the public school into a machine for have been no problems. The teachers and students are indoctrination. My reasons are drawn from everything enthusiastic; there is a sense of creative pioneering and I have learned as a teacher: of accomplishment. The department head recently sent First, whatever values, if any, may be learned in the me a favorable write-up from their local newspaper, classroom depend on the emotional relationship between and their reputation is spreading. the teacher and each pupil and among the pupils them- A third instance grew out of a graduate seminar, in selves; on the teacher's unconscious actions and unstated which I participated, at Andover Newton Theological attitudes more than on his formal teaching; and on School for teachers who might want to use the Bible in what each pupil brings with him to that place and that their schools. One English teacher proposed a course to time. Pupils are constantly being exposed to ethical her principal. Rather than decide himself, he asked values in school, and the transmission of values in the superintendent to submit her syllabus to the school the classroom cannot be ignored; but to set up, in a board. They in turn called for a committee of local democratic society, a curriculum to produce uniform and clergymen to approve the intended course, which they predictable values and behavior in even the majority of finally did. The course has finished its first year; I the students is, in my mind, impossible. understand it went smoothly and will be repeated. It Second, I suggest that people whose main interest differs somewhat from both the one at Newton and the is in inculcating religious values should reconsider their second one described. urging the Bible as a textbook or study about religion Aside from the obvious inference that each locality upon such academic disciplines as English, history, presents different problems and different ways of meet- and the humanities in the hope that these disciplines ing them, I point to one common factor—in each case will serve religious goals. The goals, and actual achieve- it was the teacher who wanted to create the course. I ments, of such disciplines are muddy enough now. use the word "create" advisedly. And, third, people whose main commitment is to Unless they can find a qualified teacher who wants to fostering religious values have not yet worked out a create, I have little confidence that pressures from the consensus among themselves (interdenominational, in- community, parents, clergymen, or even from administer-faith), nor with those in the community whose trators will produce effective innovations in the class- values derive from nonreligious, humanistic assump- room. These people can best serve by providing the tions. What priority of values should be taught? And atmosphere and encouragement for such a teacher to at what age, if any, should students be exposed to al- create courses and curriculum materials to which he is ternate priorities? For example, should students in a committed and which fit his idiosyncratic teaching style public school be asked to consider circumstances under and classroom situation, to which he brings conviction, which it might be ethically valid to disobey traffic laws, imagination, and enthusiasm. to lie, to steal, to kill? I suggest by these questions only I particularly doubt that effective and objective teach- that there is no curriculum of values at hand that the ing about religion can or will come about through the community can give to the teacher and say, "Teach agency of clergymen and other religionists who press this." for a change in the public school curriculum. Recently a Pressure groups, whether broad-minded or narrow, nearby Council of Churches invited me to sit with a explicit or subtle, and from whatever quarter, are committee to discuss the possibility of introducing the strong forces with which the educator must deal when Bible into the local public school curriculum. I told considering this question of who shall make the de- them sincerely that until they had at least one teacher cisions. who really wanted to use the Bible in his classroom, they were wasting their time. 8. What are the responsibilities? I get many letters from people in a position to in- I have been suggesting, perhaps from bias but also fluence educational policy who say that our Bible unit from experience, that the key person is the teacher; is a good thing because children are becoming im- and I have held that the public school teacher's re- moral and godless. Some powerful agencies publicize sponsibility precludes an attempt at moral education and promote Newton's clearly defined, objective, Bible- through objective teaching about religion. as-background-without-interpretation unit as an exam- My own students reacted to our Bible-as-background ple of bringing religion into public schools for moral unit in a variety of ways: "I quote the Bible in con- edification of young people. I am not convinced that versation frequently; few works of literature have that these agencies are only misinformed. effect outside the classroom." And, "Not only am I

32 LIBERTY, 1968 proud that I can recognize the allusions, but I get mean that the teacher must suppress his own commit- more meaning out of the story." And, "I have learned ment to his own values—as long as he labels them. more about literature than at any other time." Those It seems to me, therefore, that our first responsibility are enthusiastic; but some were unhappy, complaining is to be honest—honest with ourselves. Do we really that they wanted to "discuss why the passages are im- have the aims of liberal, humanistic education in mind portant" or "spend more time understanding the mean- when we say we will teach objectively about religion? ing." And we must be honest with our students. If we mean Happy or unhappy, these students not only under- moral education, let us not label it study about religion. stood my intention—to treat the Bible objectively, asep- Then we must acknowledge that in any classroom tically, even superficially—but they also claimed no situation outside of a totalitarian society we cannot new religious dispositions or new insights into religion. count on students to change their moral values in any Others got from the course things I had not expected one direction. Public school classroom teaching for moral dispositions in the religious sense is, I suggest, chasing a will-o'-the-wisp. We must look to other criteria when we talk of the purposes of teaching about religion. Here we must be honest with our subject. What information and alternatives must the teacher SCHOOL DAYS present to students so that no deliberately or foresee- School days, school days, ably false or biased picture results, so that students Dear old break-the-rule days; have all the relevant information and skills they need Threading a Molotov Cocktail wick, and can handle? What alternatives must the teacher Taught to the tune of a chick from "Snick." present so that the demands of a pluralistic society are You bugged the Dean at Berkeley so, met, even if the local community is to all intents I let my hair and toenails grow . . . homogeneous? You wrote on my slate: "Magnifico!" These three kinds of honesty represent some of the When we were a couple of ids. responsibilities that bear• upon teaching about religion W. H. von Dreele in the public school. For other, more specific responsibilities, let me return to the area with which I am more familiar: using the Bible as textbook. The ex- Printed by permission from National Review. ample might be useful in the larger field. I suggest that teachers who would experiment with the Bible as textbook have at least two important responsibilities to their pupils, the community, the subject matter, nor intended—and not always the same thing. "It has and education in a democracy. supplied the beginning of my informal study of my First, the teacher must know his material. He should parents' tradition." Others felt they now understood have taken at least one full-year, college-level, human- someone else's religion better. One boasts, "I can show istic or "liberal" course in the Bible as literature and, off my superior knowledge before my family," and depending on his intended approach, a similarly rigor- tells of squelching her mother who sought to repri- ous course in comparative religion, in the history of mand her. Western religions, in ethics, in the Bible as history, or All these students took the same course with the in some such other field. same teacher; each took away a different value; no Second, he should become conscious of the assump- predictable or uniform dispositions resulted here. The tions and attitudes that he brings to his material; aware effectiveness of a public school course whose overt of the differing and numerous assumptions, attitudes, purpose is religious or moral indoctrination will be at and information that his students bring to class; and best doubtful. As to "objective" teaching about reli- be respectful toward the pluralistic claims of society. gion (or studying the Bible) with the hidden purpose Then let him go ahead, lest from the scruple of and primary hope that students will somehow become thinking too precisely on the event— morally better or more religious, the doubtful effec- "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; tiveness of the teaching process is compounded by the And thus the native hue of resolution misleading ambiguity of the goal. Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; Not that objective teaching implies amoral permis- And enterprises of great pith and moment, siveness toward uncritical thinking and irresponsible With this regard, their currents turn awry, action in pupils. The teacher has the responsibility at And lose the name of action." least to point out his pupils' lapses in intellectual and —SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet, Act II, Sc. 1. moral integrity. And objective teaching should not ***

MAY-JUNE 33

the launching pad

With C. MERVYN MAXWELL Department of Religion, Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska

Q. I notice that Liberty does not oppose Bible Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a letter to the British reading in the public school. I think our Reform Postmaster General said, "We believe this to be a Jewish synagogue takes a more consistent position direct insult to British Protestants as the stamp is a on church-state separation than you do! [Ne- purely Roman Catholic reproduction of the Ma- braska] donna and Child, which forms part of the religious beliefs of Roman Catholics." A. Apart from its spiritual message, the Bible is a great literary treasure. It is a foundation of much Q. Your opposition to the use of Federal funds that is best in our civilization. It is one of the best- for church-related buildings is incredible. Young- preserved and best-authenticated primary sources sters are going to attend college somewhere; if for ancient history. not on a private campus, then on a State univer- Any other book with similar recommendations sity campus. If it's O.K. for tax money to house we would never dream of banning. We would con- these students on one campus, then it's O.K. for it sider doing so a violation of the freedom of speech, to house them on another campus. America is not to say a repudiation of common sense. For a changing, but Liberty has maintained its individ- discussion on methods of teaching the Bible in public ualistic stand against "Federal aid" so long it schools, see page 8. cannot think a new thought. [Maryland]

Q. I was surprised that the Christmas stamp A. Liberty's position may be less individualistic issued by the United States Post Office for 1967 than you think. James Madison warned against had so distinctly religious a motif. Isn't this an diverting even "three pence" from public funds to infringement of the separation of church and church-related institutions, and we have no record state? Did it just happen? Was no voice of protest he ever served on the Liberty editorial staff! raised? Leo Pfeffer says in his Church, State, and Free- dom, page 446: "Every state admitted to the union A. The 1967 Christmas stamp was based on a since 1876 was compelled by Congress to write famous painting by Hans Memling Madonna and into its constitution a requirement that it maintain Child With Angels. a school system 'free from sectarian control.' To- A number of persons and organizations did pro- day practically every state in the nation has a test against the issuing of the stamp. A suit filed constitutional provision that either expressly or by Americans United insisted that it was not so impliedly prohibits the appropriation of public much a "Christmas" stamp—there being no crib, money to schools controlled by religious organiza- manger, shepherds, or Wise Men—as a Roman tions. (Maine and Vermont appear to be the only Catholic portrayal of the virgin Mary as the Queen exceptions.)" of Heaven holding a Roman Catholic missal (mass And Liberty may be less old-fashioned than you book) in her hand. think. Presented only last November with a chance On September 14, 1967, the United States Dis- to change its constitution and legalize State aid to trict Court for the District of Columbia dismissed parochial schools, New York turned it down by a the suit. It virtually acknowledged that the stamp margin of two and a half to one. was religious but said "the publication of a postage Opposing Government aid to church-related edu- stamp, even if it consists of a design of religious sig- cational institutions is not so much individualistic nificance," is not contrary to "either the establish- as it is up-to-date American! ment clause or the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment." It further stated that "the Postmaster Q. The Catholic Church has made so many General in selecting designs for postage stamps is changes in recent years, do you think it will ever not subject to judicial review." lift its ban on the married priesthood? Incidentally a similar stamp has come under criticism in the United Kingdom. The stamp there A. A married pope is unthinkable, I'm sure. is based on a painting of the Madonna and Child Married cardinals and bishops are also impossible, by Murillo. The Evangelical Protestant Society of so far as I can judge the Catholic Church. But a 34 LIBERTY, 1968

married priesthood is a possibility, especially if the ica insists, as a result of the renewal now hap- requirement is laid down that marriage must pre- pening in Catholicism. cede ordination. Of course, for the time being, the subject is There is already a precedent for such a custom academic. On June 24, 1967, Pope Paul VI issued in the Eastern Orthodox Church. At a seminary an encyclical on "Priestly Celibacy" in which he supper a few years ago I sat next to a young reminded the bishops that the law requiring an Orthodox priest who was married. In the Eastern unmarried priesthood remains unchanged, and con- Orthodox Church a man may marry before he firmed the fact that, "at least during his own life- enters the priesthood, though not afterward, and time, marriage would not be optional for Roman no married priest may be advanced to the bishopric. Catholic priests" (America, July 29, 1967, p. 114). Many young men throughout the history of the But after that, no one knows. Orthodox Church have preferred a family to the bishopric, and have taken a wife before receiving Q. Don't you think it's time for another reformer ordination. to post his 95 theses on the doors of today's A Jesuit priest, Father Edward E. Finn, associate churches? It seems to me that hardly any denomina- professor of theology at Marquette University, re- tion is really living by the Bible any more. [Michi- cently cited the Orthodox practice as an argument gan] in favor of marriage for Catholic priests. He then went on to say, according to RNS, that the basis A. An English journal, New Christian, recently for the great esteem American Catholics have for published 95 updated theses to mark the 450th their priests is not the fact that the priest has the anniversary of the Reformation. The first read, "God sacrament of holy orders, or that he can change is to be known only in history and in the common bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, ways of men." The second said, "The hidden is not but that he does not have a wife. "I find it very revealed by speculation, but only by life." The third, difficult," he added, "to convince myself that "Language about God is meant to interpret the Christ set up a sacramental system where one meaning of life. Where it fails to do this we have sacrament, matrimony, of itself is antagonistic to magic, not true religion." another sacrament, holy orders, so that a man And so on to thesis 92: "A preacher whose con- who has both of these sacraments is somehow a cern is with the saving of souls from hell is himself lesser priest. Yet the attitude generally found in the gravest peril," to 93: "Reformation is always a among western-rite [Roman] Catholics is just that." regrettable necessity," and to 94: "Any ascription Not all Jesuits share Father Finn's views, to be of infallibility to these theses is contrary to the de- sure. The Jesuit journal America still stands firmly sires of their compilers." for celibacy and earnestly regrets that the English The ninety-fifth was left blank—with an invitation Catholic Charles Davis thought he had to leave to readers to share in the discussion by proposing a the priesthood and get married in order to find thesis by mail. love. Many priests are finding a new, very per- All in all, the theses constitute a pretty good argu- sonal, and very real "love" within celibacy, Amer- ment for another old-fashioned reformation!

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