Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-26

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union of church and state.
These people knew, some of
them from bitter personal ex-
perience that one Of the greatest
dangers of the freedom Of the
individual to worship in his own
way lay in the Governments
placing its official stamp of APP
proval upon one particular kind
Of religious services.
They knew the anguish,
hardship and bitter strife that
could come when jealous re-
ligious groups struggled with
one another to obtain the Gov
ernment's stamp of approval
from each king, queen, or pro-
tector that came to temporary
power.
an Hands OF The People"
The Constitution was intend
ed to avert a part of this danger
by leaving the Government OF
this country in the hands of the
people rather than in the hands
of any monarch. But this safe
guard was not enough.
Our founders were no more
willing to let the content OF
their prayers and their privilege
of praying whenever they
pleased be influenced by the
ballot box than they were to
let these vital matters of per-
sonal conscience depend upon
the succession of monarchs.
The First Amendment was
added to the Constitution to
stand as a guarantee that
neither the power nor the pres
tige of the Federal Government
would be used to control, sup
port or influence the kinds of
prayer the American people
can say-that the peoples re-
ligions must not be subjected
to the pressures of government
for change each time a new
political administration is elect
ed to office.
Under that amendments pro-
hibition against governmental
establishment Of religion. as
reinforced by provisions Of the
Fourteenth Amendment, gov
eminent in this country, be II
State or Federal, is without
power to prescribe by law any
particular form Of prayer which
is to be used as an official
prayer in carrying on any pro-
gram Of governmentally Spon-
sored religious activity.
"Can Be No Doubt"
There can be no doubt that
New York's State prayer pro-
gram officially establishes the
religious beliefs embodied in the
Regents Prayer.
Neither the fact that the
prayer may be denomination
ally neutral, nor the fact tina
it's observance on the part o.
the students is voluntary car
serve to free it from the limita-
tons of the establishment
clause, as it might from the
free exercise clause, of the First
Amendment, both of which are
operative against the States by
virtue of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Although these two clauses
may in certain instances over
lap, they forbid two quite diff
ferent kinds Of governmental
encroachment upon religious
freedom.
The establishment clause, un-
like the free exercise clause,
does not depend upon any
showing of direct governmental
compulsion and is violated by
the enactment Of laws which
establish an official religion
whether those laws operate d.
rectly to coerce nonobServing
individuals or not.
This is not to say, Of course,
that laws officially prescribing
a particular form of religious
worship do not involve coercion
of such individuals.
Pressure Seen Plain
When the power, prestige and
financial support Of Govern
ment is placed behind a par
ticular religious belief, the in
direct coercive pressure upon
religious minorities to conform
to the prevailing officially ap-
proved religion is plain. But
the purposes underlying the
establishment clause go much
further than that.
Its first and most immediate
purpose rested on the belief
that a union of government
and religion tends to destroy
government and to degrade re.
ligion.
The history of government
ally established religion, both
in England and in this country
showed that whenever govern
ment had allied itself with one
particular form of religion, the
inevitable result had been that
it had incurred the hatred, dis
respect and even contempt OF
those who held contrary beliefs
That same history showed
that many people had lost their
respect for any religion that
had relied upon the support OF
government to speak its faith
The establishment clause
thus stands as an expression OF
principle on the part of the
founders of our Constitution
that religion is too personal
too sacred, too holy, to permit
it's "unhallowed perversion" by
a civil magistrate.
Another purpose Of the eS-
tablishment clause rested upon
an awareness of the historical
fact that governmentally estab-
lished religion and religious