The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-07-02


other parents,
who were religious people.
1t began to appear that America
was on its way to being governed
BY odd dissenters-
Nobody had tried to impose any
thing on the child of the atheist
mother. He had not been required
10 take religious instructions.
But his mother argued that ne
was embarrassed because the 9TH
er children went TO religion class
es, and he didn't.
IN OTHER WORDS, she demand
ed the right not only to be differ
ent. but to escape the logical con-
sequence of being different.
She wanted her child to be diff
ferent without being different. If
he stayed away from religion class
es, all the other children must
stay away too.
And so the Supreme Court ruled
for the atheist mother, with a lot
of high-flown talk about keeping
high and impregnable" the wall"
between church and state.
Lord Acton had something to say
on that subject a long time ago.
He called separation" bad word.
He said we should talk about the
"distinction" between church and
state. They should be kept dis
tinct. for the good of church and
state and everybody concerned.
THAT'S EXACTLY what the
Founding Fathers intended when
they wrote the constitutional
amendment that Congress shall
make no law respecting an estab-
Iishment of religion, or abridging
the free exercise thereof"
The "wall of separation" bust
ness is something that somebody
dreamed up long afterward, for
the sinister purpose of turning
the machinery of government
against religion. And the Supreme
Court fell for the phrase.
The court has been modifying
its attitude ever since. And the
people have been catching on to
the fallacy OF the wall talk. The
public mood now is that we must
find some way to hand down to our
children their religious and cul-
tural heritage.
THE PEOPLE are turning away
from the "impregnable wall OF sep
aration" nonsense, and are moving
back toward the original American
idea--the cooperation of state and
church, two distinct but by no
means antagonistic institutions.
Thus we see Congress adopting
q change in the Pledge of Alleg-
lance TO the Flag, which teachers
and children voice at the opening
of each school day, and which we
use on public occasions.
From now on we insert the
words under God" so that we
pledge allegiance to "one nation
under God, indivisible. with lib
erty and justice for all"
Our pledge now makes com.
plete sense. We have striven for
a long. long time for liberty and
Justice for all, but we have known
that liberty and justice cannot ex-
ist on this earth except under
God.
From now on, we are going to
say so.
MEANWHILE, we have issued
our first I'm God We Trust" stamps
We are placing on our mail the ma
tional motto which long has ap'
peared on our money.
There are dozens of other evi.
dences of the change in the eli
mate OF public opinion. An ex
ample Is the American Legion's
Back to God Movement Another
of course. is the popularity of Pa
ther Patrick Peyton's family pray.
er crusade.
When ! speak of the climate OF
public opinion ! do not mean that
our people have not always been
pro-God and anti-atheist They have
been. But for some years the sec
ularists and the atheists made al
most all the noise, and the relig
ious people we're inarticulate.
LISTENING to the rumpus. you
would have thought that religion
was losing face in America, that
the nation was turning away from
God. II was not so. The religious