Evening star., 1948-11-21

its practical recognition of existing
conditions and its evident desire to
be fair to all citizens Of whatever
religious faith. To one who knows
something of history and law, the
meaning of the First Amendment IS
clear enough from its own words.
Congress shall make no laws re-
specting an establishment Of religion
or forbidding the free exercise there
Of"
The meaning is, even clearer IN
the records of the Congress that
enacted it. Then, and throughout
English and Colonial history, an
establishment of religion" meant
the setting up by law of an official
church which would receive from
the Government favors not equally
accorded to others in the co-opera-
ton between Government and reli-
gion-which was simply taken for
granted in our country at that time
and has, in many ways, continued
to this day. Under the First Amend
ment, the Federal Government could
not extend this type of preferential
treatment to one religion as against
another, nor could 1t compel or
forbid any State to do so. If this
practical policy be described by the
loose metaphor "a wall of Separa-
ton between church and State, u
that term must be understood in a
definite and typically American
sense.
| 1t would be an utter distortion of
American history and law to make
that practical policy involve the
Indifference to religion and the
exclusion of cooperation between
religion and Government implied in
the term separation of church and
State" as it has become the shib-
boleth of doctrinaire secularism.
SecuIarism Scores Victories.
Within the past two years secular
.sm. has scored unprecedented VIC
tories in its opposition to govern
mental encouragement of religious
and moral training even where no
preferential treatment of one reli-
gion over another Is involved. In
two recent cases, the Supreme Court
of the United States has adopted an
entirely novel and ominously extern
sive Interpretation of the "estab-
| lishment OF religion" clause of the
First Amendment.
Editors note-The two cases,
a National Catholic Welfare
Conference spokesman explained.
were the McCollum case decided
last March 8 and the Everson
case on which the court ruled
February 10. l947 In the McCol-
lum case the court held the re
leased time" program of religious
instruction in Champaign ullD
schools Unconstitutional. In the
other case, the court upheld a
New Jersey law allowing use of
public funds for transportation
of parochial school children but
the opinion stated that the First
Amendment banned laws which
laid one religion. aid all religion,
or prefer one religion to an
other."I
This Interpretation would bar any
cooperation between government
and organized religion which would
aid religion, even where no discrim-
ination between religious bodies is
in question. This reading of the
First Amendment. as group OF
Catholic religious leaders re-
Gently noted, will endanger forms
of cooperation between Church and
State which have been taken for
granted by the American people,
and greatly accelerate the trend
toward the seeularization of our
culture"
Reluctant as we are to criticize
our supreme judicial tribunal. we
cannot but observe that when the
members of that tribunal write long
and varying opinions in handing
down a decision, they must expect
that intelligent citizens of democ-
racy will study and appraise these
opinions. The Journal of the Amer
ican Bar Association, in a criticaI
analysis of one of the cases in ques-
ton, pertinently remarks: The ira
'ditionally religious sanctions of oul
law, life and government are chal.
lenged by a judicial propensity
which deserves the careful thought
and study Of lawyers and people
Scant Attention to Logic.
Lawyers trained in the American
tradition of law will be amazed tc
find that in the McCollum case the
majority opinions pay scant atten-
ton to logic. history, or accepted
norms of legal Interpretation. Logic
would demand that what is less
clear be defined by what is more
clear. In the present instance we
find just the reverse.
The carefully chiselled phrases oi
the First Amendment are defined
by the misleading metaphor 1.-THE
wall of separation between Church
and State" This metaphor of JET:
ferson specifies nothing except that