Where Are the Clergymen?

To the surprise of many, Senator Everett M. Dirksen announced last January that he would force a Senate fight for a constitutional amendment to undo the school prayer decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in 1962 and 1963. In the first decision, the Court invalidated the recitation in public schools of the state-composed Regents’ prayer, and in the second ruling the Court forbade the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and devotional reading of the Bible in public schools. In neither case was any child compelled to participate in the exercise. Since then, a federal circuit court has ruled, in a case arising in Whitestone, New York, that public school teachers cannot even permit pupils to recite prayers in classrooms by themselves and on their own initiative. The Supreme Court refused to review this last ruling.

Dormant Issue Revives

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Charles E. Rice

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To the surprise of many, Senator Everett M. Dirksen announced last January that he would force a Senate fight for a constitutional amendment to undo the school prayer decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in 1962 and 1963. In the first decision, the Court invalidated the recitation in public schools of the state-composed Regents’ prayer, and in the second ruling the Court forbade the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and devotional reading of the Bible in public schools. In neither case was any child compelled to participate in the exercise. Since then, a federal circuit court has ruled, in a case arising in Whitestone, New York, that public school teachers cannot even permit pupils to recite prayers in classrooms by themselves and on their own initiative. The Supreme Court refused to review this last ruling.

Dormant Issue Revives