Evening star., 1961-03-23

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population.
It seems that when the
leaders of a church feel that
they need six days a week to
indoctrinate their youth,
they lack faith either in the
youth, themselves, God, or all
three.
Richard Collins.
= = =
I am opposed to direct
Federal aid to education on
principle. Aid to individuals
to enable them to take ad-
vantage Of the freedom Of
choice that is theirs in
theory. is a different thing.
The question Of the con-
Stitutionality Of aid to pri-
vate schools, particularly
church-affiliated schools, de-
pendS on the simple diction-
ary definition of the word
establish" or establish
ment." Webster says, Ito set
up in connection with the
state and endow; as to estab-
lish a church." Also. that
form of doctrine and church
government established and
endowed by the legislature
Of any country" Oxford says,
Church system established
by law" in regard to the
religious aspect Of the use
of the word establishment"
What is prohibited by the
Constitution Is the establish
ment of one church sup
ported by and under the
jurisdiction Of the Govern
ment Of the United States
as was and is the case Of
The Church Of England. It
was designed to prevent any
one church or religion from
enjoying privileges not avail
able to all. The frankly Cod
fearing and God-conscious
men of that era certainly did
not intend by that provision
to relegate God to the limbo
of forgotten things.
Far from contravening that
provision by aiding private
schools, a law which will
increase the tax burden of
all the people and provide
that the money thus acquired
shall be used for the benefit
Of only those people who have
less concern for the spiritual
welfare Of their children, is
indeed unconstitutional. Such
a law is. in effect, the estab-
lishment Of irreligion.
Such a law operates to
diminish, If not legally to
destroy the right of "free
exercise thereof" Tin matters
Of religious belief to those
parents who believe that
religion should be taught in
connection with the other Rs,
not for just an hour on Sun
day.
Most Of those who speak
on the subject seem to imply
that private schools are a
sort Of Johnny -come-lately"
institution and more or less
foreign to our American
tradition"
The first schools in this
country, and as far back in
history as one wishes to 60,
were private schools; and
most Of them were of religi-
GUS origin and were religious
in character.
Eugenie Burns BOstrOm.
It is unfortunate that any
attempt to rectify our in
sufficiencies in the area Of
education cannot be met
without strife among the
interested parties. However,
to ignore the demands of the
Catholic Church may not be
the way to keep church and
state separate. Catholics as
well as Protestants and others
have the right to establish
schools.
That the Federal Govern
ment, which claims to leave
control of education to the
States, should attempt to
establish any kind of control
by saying which schools will,
and which schools will not,
receive benefits appears to me
to be only the beginning Of
Federal control. II those who
favor Federal non-interfer-
ence in matters Of education
are really sincere, they will
leave the business of church,
state-school relationships to
the States to iron out. Con-
gress obviously has no busi-
ness saying that certain
schools disqualify for assist
ance when it disclaims any
jurisdiction over schools.
When we in effect are say
ing that we shall not recog-
nize or aid any school that
teaches religion we are con-
tradicting another clause in