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University Daily Kansan Monday, March 23,1964
Prayer Ban Under Study
By Louis Cassels United Press International
A congressional committee is about to disprove the political axiom that lawmakers shy away from religious controversy in an election year.
Plunging headlong into one of the most diverse disputes in American religious life, the House Judiciary Committee has announced plans to begin public hearings sometime next month on proposed constitutional amendments to permit prayer and Bible reading in public schools.
Before the committee are no less than 96 different measures which House members have introduced to overturn the 1963 Supreme Court ruling forbidding religious excercises in public schools.
THE PROPOSAL WITH the strongest backing is sponsored by Rep. Frank J. Becker, R-N.Y., which would amend the Constitution by adding these words:
"Nothing in this Constitution shall be deemed to prohibit the offering, reading from, or listening to prayers or Biblical scriptures, if participation therin is on a voluntary basis, in any government or public school, institution or public place."
Committee Chairman Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y., supports the supreme Court ruling and would like to give Becker's amendment a quiet burial. But Celler is forced to go ahead with hearings because Becker has obtained the signatures of 161 House members on a discharge petition.
CONGRESSIONAL MAIL is reported to be running heavily in favor of the Becker Amendment. Citizens groups have been formed in New York, California, Massachusetts and other states to campaign for restoration of prayer and Bible reading to public schools.
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