University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1962
Page 8
Schools Face Bible Issue
By Louis Cassels United Press International
Is there a place in public schools for prayers, Bible reading and other religious observances?
That question is being argued throughout America, in sermons and editorials, at school board hearings and PTA meetings, in kaffee klatches and court rooms.
AT WHATEVER LEVEL the debate is joined, it usually involves three distinct issues:
- Are religious exercises in public schools constitutional?
- Are they fair to children of minority faiths?
- Do they help or hinder a child's religious training?
The issue of constitutionality will soon come before the U.S. Supreme Court. It has accepted for review a case in which Jewish, Unitarian andagnostic parents challenge the use in New York State schools of the following praver:
"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country."
THE PRAYER was carefully designed to be "non-sectarian." But the protesting parents assert that its use puts public schools in the position of "favoring religious belief over non-belief." And that, they contend, a tax-supported institution is forbidden by the constitution to do.
It is futile to guess how the Supreme Court will rule. The first amendment to the constitution forbids the government to interfere with religious freedom or to pass any law "pertaining to an establishment of religion." In the past the high court has accepted Thomas Jefferson's view that the amendment was intended to "erect a wall of separation between church and state." But it has never made entirely clear just how high and impenetrable the "wall" is supposed to be.
RELATED TO THE constitutional issue is the question of fairness to children of minority faiths. The prevailing practice in many communities is to recite the Lord's Praver at school opening exercises. Thus, a Jewish child may be compelled to recite a Christian praver.
This objection is met in many schools by giving each child the option of declining to participate in religious exercises which are contrary to his own traditions or beliefs.
But many Jewish parents feel this is a cruel joke. To refuse to take part in a school ceremony, they say, brands a child as "different" at an age when he is desperately anxious to conform.
WITHOUT SUGGESTING that prayer and Bible reading at school opening exercises constitute an adequate religious education for any child, many Protestants and Catholics nonetheless feel that such observances are better than nothing.
The alternative, they point out, is to banish the name of God entirely from the public school classrooms of America. If that is done, they warn, future generations will grow up regarding God as improbable or unimportant, since He is never mentioned at school.
The Rev. Richard U. Smith, a religious education specialist of the Episcopal Church, sees another danger. "If public schools become less religious than they are now," he says, "there will be a growing clamor for parochial schools and a weakening of our public schools."
No legacy is so rich as honesty. Shakespeare
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Famous Forgery On Display Here
A famous art forgery is on display in the KU Museum of Art. Marilyn Stokstad, assistant professor of art history said the display, an Etruscan head of a Gorgon, is believed to be the work of the late Alceo Dossena an Italian art forger.
THE KU MUSEUM of Art has borrowed the sculpture from the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art in Kansas City and has placed the head on display in a downstairs study hall along with other material relating to the Etruscan forgeries.
Classic scholars believed the sculpture was an authentic piece of 6th century Etruscan art when the Nelson Gallery purchased the piece ten years ago for slightly more than $1.000.
However, when a photograph of Dossena's studio was recovered revealing the terra-cotta Gorgon belonging to the Nelson Gallery, authorities became uncertain whether the piece was 6th century B.C. or 20th century A.D.
THE GORGON'S HEAD belongs in a distinguished group of fakes which have recently been discovered. Included among the forgeries are the British Museum's Sarcophagus by the Pinelli Brothers.
The Gorgon's head is on display from 3-5 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.
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The relationship of conservative splinter groups such as the John Birch Society to the future of the Republican Party will be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the Young Republicans.
Splinter Group Talk Set
Earl A. Nehring, assistant professor of political science, and State Sen. Donald Hults, R-Douglas County, will speak and then answer questions, Prof. Nehring was an adviser of Rep. William Miller, R-N.Y., Republican National Committee chairman.
Jerry Dickson, Newton junior and president of the KU Young Republicans, said the two guest speakers may discuss the Schlesinger-Fomin World Crisis Day debate also.
Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?'— Friedrich Nietzsche
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COEDS AND SUPERCOEDS. Coeds accept a Friday-night date on Friday afternoon. Supercoeds have to keep date books. Coeds wear black and gray. Supercoeds wear green and red and yellow. Coeds talk about "The College." Supercoeds discuss the world. Coeds smoke dainty, tasteless cigarettes that they think proper. Supercoeds smoke Luckies because Luckies taste better. There are many supercoeds, because college students smoke more Luckies than any other regular. Are you a supercoed?
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