Evening star., 1962-07-01

the troops and on ships Of war
and conducted services. Money of
taxpayers and properties of Gov
ernment were used freely to see to
it that our young men who went
into the face of danger and death
did not lack the ministrationS of
those who believed in God and
the verities of religion Must
State and local governments do
less for those who are being edu-
Gated for citizenship and life?
Under the 1914 legislation, dis
charged veteran may be educated
at public expense to be a clergy
man, in a denomination school Of
his choice A month after the de-
cision in the McCollum case, the
Congress passed and the President
signed an appropriation of $780,
600 to erect a chapel for religions
at the United States Merchant
Marine Academy at Kings Point,
N. Y. On May % the United States
Post Office placed on sale a post
age stamp bearing the legend:
These Immortal Chaplains .
1nterfaith in Action" It bears
portraits of four young ministers
of religion-a Methodist, Roman
Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi
and a Baptist and also a paint
ing of a torpedoed troopship
which carried them to their graves
off Greenland on February 2, l943
the SIS Dorchester of our Navy.
They were on Government prop
erty at taxpayers expense, to hold
religious services and give in
Struction and ministration In re-
igion. And when they made their
way to the deck of the stricken.
ship, they gave their lifejacketS to
four young men who had lost
theirs in the confusion. Having
given away their own chance to
live, the four chaplains stood close
together, holding hands, as the
ship went under an immortal
demonstration of the unity of re-
ligious faith and what religion
does for people - now appropri-
ately commemorated by our Gov
ernment. Was all this "constitu-
tional'? Maybe there was some
thing in the Dorchester incident
which the majority in the Su-
preme Court missed - something
to which the highest courts of our
States and countless local COM
munities have held fast. =
Soviet Constitution
The Constitution of the Soviet
Union provides (Article 124): IN
order to insure to citizens free
dom of conscience, the church ins
the USSR is separated from the
state and the school from the
church. Freedom of religious wor-
ship and freedom of antireligious
propaganda is recognized for all
citizens"
Fortunately, the trainers of our
Constitution did not go that far,
and the institutions and practices
of our people have not gone that
far. Nothing in our Constitution
commands that the First Amend
ment should now be interpreted as
though it read like the above
quoted provision. Nothing in our
Constitution commands that
freedom of religion" shall be-
freedom from religion.
OF course, the decision has a far
deeper significance, in the philoS-
ophy of law and government and
the role of the court, than the
Introduction of the arrangement
worked out by the religious faiths
with the school board in Cham
paign, Ill. AS Mr.. Justice Jack
son and Mr.. Justice Reed SOL
emnly warned, new and far more
vexatious aspects will arise, in
litigation which will seek to carry
the present ruling to further ex-
tremes. The traditionally religious
sanctions Of our law, life and
Government are challenged by a
philosophy and a judicial pro-
pensity which deserves the care
full thought and concern of
lawyers and people.