Evening star., 1962-01-13

The news that the Jewish
Community Council of Great
er Washington has asked for
the prohibition of all forms
of religious practice in our
public schools is not surpris-
ing, but it must surely be
deplored by every thoughtful
American.
1t is time that we took a
long look at the spiritual
foundations of our common
life as Americans and decided
what we as a people stand
for and wish to teach our
young people in our public
schools. There can be no
argument but that, hiStor-
ically, our roots are Chris
tian. The early colonists at
jamestown in 1907 celebrated
the holy communion accord
ing to the use of the Church
of England as one of the first
corporate acts on this con-
tinent. The rugged individ-
ualS who came to Plymouth
in 1920 came, first of all, in
order to worship the Chris
tian God more perfectly than
they felt they could even in
Christian England. The re-
igiouS toleration which is the
fruit of the Protestant Ref
ormation was not easily won,
and came about only after
the pioneers in a new coun-
try had first staked out sep
arate claims for their par
ticular worship - Congrega-
tionalists in Massachusetts,,
Quakers in Pennsylvania, Ro-
man Catholics in Maryland.
(May I remind my Jewish
fellow-Americans that it was
the CongregationaliSt Oliver
Cromwell who invited the
Jews to return to England
after three and a half CEN
turieS of banishment?) Over
the years the leaven of the
faith that in Christ there is
no Jew nor gentle finally
permeated the whole body
polite and made possible a
Christian democracy where
no man was to be politically
handicapped by reason of the
form of worship his consci-
ence dictated.
The separation of church
and state, however, was not
intended to be absolute as is
often imagined today, but
was concerned simply that
there should be no tax-sup-
ported state church, and no
religious persecution. The
founding fathers were the
product of a thousand years
of Christian culture which
had already expressed itself
in the political freedom of
the English parliamentary
system. BY the end of the 17th
century Englishmen already
enjoyed their own bill of rights
and religious liberation was
constitutionally guaranteed.
America followed and i'm
proved upon this pattern,
I wonder, however, how many
Americans know that the
treaty of Paris, 1888, which
recognized the independence
of the Colonies after the
American Revolution, begins
with the words, "In the Name
of the Holy Trinity :" Our
legal system and mode of
holding public office stems di-
rectly from English Common
Law, founded as it is on the
sanctity of the Christian S
oath. We take the presence
of chaplains in our Congress
and in our armed services
for granted. Today Jewish
chaplainS are numbered
among them. That traditions
other than our Christian
ways have found a home
here in the United States,
however, should not lead to
the public abandonment of
the only faith which can
make it possible for all men
to live together in peace. If
this seems too strong a state
ment, take a look at MoSlem
Pakistan and Hindu India, or
Israel and her Arab neigh
bors in the Middle East.
1t is the duty of our pub
lie schools to see to it that
our children know their
American history and its re-
ligiouS foundations. This has
nothing to do with imposing
on them specific ways of re-
ligiouS worship. The original
Schoolbooks of America had
no hesitation in teaching ba-
sic Christian faith and NOR
ais. More than ever we should
insist, not that the public
schools abandon the Chris
tian education of our chill
zen. but rather that Bible
ding and training in