Evening star., 1952-12-21
The Week in Religion
By Religious News Service

~ oAAA VAN oSSoAAA NASAAAAoA 0oOCl101y
of the National Council oi
Churches in Denver.
Americas largest church Or
ganization acted to combat secu-
larism, particularly In education
The council, in a "letter to the
Christian people Of America" sale
religion must be placed at the
heart Of higher education" Ir
the public school, it declared, some
constitutional way must be founc
to inculcate the principles of re-
Iligion.
The council suggested Bible
reading in school assemblies OF
classes as one way to deepen chill
dren'S awareness of God.
Meanwhile, United Church Men
the laymen's branch of the Ma
tional Council, which also met in
Denver, urged the enactment OF
laws in all States requiring Bible
reading in public schools.
Indorsing a proposal by Repre-
sentative Judd, Republican. OF
Minnesota, United Church Men
said:
"The reading of the Bible and
the Lords Prayer to the youth OF
our land within our schools with
out preachment or comment would
have a wholesome and moralizing
influence in the building Of a
strong Nation"
Mr.. Judd's report noted that a
recent survey showed Bible reading
in the public schools is required by
law in IL States and prohibited by
law in nine States. The report
further indicated that II States
are silent regarding Bible reading
| in schools and the other 10 will
permit" the decision of any locaI
school unit to read the Bible.
In its letter to Christians. the
National Council also stressed the
need for increasing the influence
of religion in public life. The mes
sage warned that secularism n
Government "can take on the
character Of a positive religion.
when this happens" it said
"a State tends to assume divine
prerogatives and commits satanic
crimes" In other words, it be-
comes a Goddess State.
The National Council made
clear, however, that while pro-
vision should be made for inculcat-
ing the principles of religion
among public school children it is
opposed to governmental subsidiz-
ing of parochial schools as means
to further religion in education.
That, it's message said, would
both violate the principle Of the
separation of church and state
and would be a devastating blow
to the public school system, which
must be maintained"
! The Council declared that reli-
gious bodies should be free to op-
crate their own schools but must
be ready to bear all the costs and
! not expect subsidies or special
privileges from public authorities.
I At its assembly, the Council also
took action to broaden its internal
organization, principally by bring
ing more laymen and "non-profes-
sionals" into its activities.
The assembly voted to add II
seats to its 125-member general
board, reserving six for laymen
and six for laywomen. Then it
voted to authorize the 80 denoml-
nations which make up the Coun-
Gil to appoint twice as many dele
gates to the general board, without
changing the number of votes that
each denomination can cast.
Churches which choose to double
their representation will therefore
cast a one-half vote per delegate
Council officials said they hoped
the member churches would make
their additional representatives
mostly lay people.
In another important move, the
Council refused to change its doc
trinal basis in order to make elig-
ible for membership denomina-
tions such as the Unitarian church
and the Universalist church.
The assembly reaffirmed the
principle that a church must still
recognize Jesus Christ as Divine
Lord and Savior" in order to get
| into the Council.
\ A Quaker group belonging to
the Council-The Religious So
ciety of Friends of Philadelphia
and vicinity-had asked that the
agency's constitution be amended