Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-01-19

0OAASo IA OAAC O1A4OCO OUdUC
reporting a total membership
of 112,226,905, show that
there is no majority" re-
ligion in this country, since
no denomination can begin to
claim more than so per cent of
the total population of the
United States which was 49,
323,175 according to the CEN
SuS of 1860. To the CORES
pondent who wonders what
Jews would do If they were
a majority in the public
school system, I refer her
to many public schools in
New York City and other
areas of this country where
Jewish children are a major
ity. They celebrate their hol-
idayS in their Synagogues and
homes, and not in the pub
lie schools.
It is important for our
children to know their Amer
lean history. But how many
public school children in the
United States learn of Haym
Solomon, a Jew of Philadel-
phia, who loaned his fortune,
without security, to the Rev.
dictionary government when
it could not borrow on its
own credit-who made loans
to the members of the Con-
tinental Congress Games
Madison, Edmund Randolph,
Thomas Jefferson without
intereSt-who served as pay
master general of the French
Army and Navy in America
without compensation? How
many learn that of the $780,
900 "a fortune greater than
any in the country at that
time) advanced by him, Not
one penny of the gigantic
debt of honor which the
country owed Haym Solomon
has ever been paid" Their
Eminent Part" Governor
Samuel Walker McCall.) How
many learn of ASSer Levy
who arrived in New Amster-
dam about 1854 (not too long
after the settlement at
Jamestown after having
been driven by religious per-
secution from Brazil, whose
attempt to answer this towns
call to arms was met by
Peter Stuyvesant's, Jews may
not fight with us. But you
must pay a fine for not do
ing sol" Levy appealed to the
Dutch Company in Amster-
dam and won the right to
defend his land as have mil
lions of his co-religioniStS in
the United States from the
Indian Wars to the Cold War
of our era. Joan F. Faber.
- -
The reaction of Edith c.
Lowry to the proposals of
the Jewish Community Coun-
Gil of Greater Washington
that all forms of religious
practice be prohibited in the
area public schools is an in
teresting amalgam of poor
logic, citation of irrelevant
fact in support of her posi-
ton, and misStatement Of
fact.
It is a shocking piece of
effrontery for her to state
that only public acceptance of
the Christian faith as the Of
ficial religion of the state can
promote harmony among it's
citizens of diverse religious
faiths. Was it not the exam
pie Of divisiveness brought
about by the marriage of
church and state in the body
polite Of so many Euro
pean countries during the
10th and 18th centuries
which our founding fathers
so zealously sought to avoid
by adopting a neutral atti-
tude toward all religious de-
nominations? Did not the
public acceptance of Chris
tianity as the official reli-
gion of the Roman Empire
usher in the official per-
Secution Of the Jews by both
church and state-a persecu-
ton so all-pervasive and so
malignant that the noble
ideals Of Christianity have
been Knocked by these wicked
deeds of official publicly
sanctioned Christianity?
Miss Lowry has written an
emotional TRADE as a reac-
ton to a proposal whic h
seeks not to infringe upon
the right of Christians to
worship nor to do violence
to their right of conscience.
The proposal is nothing mo-
than an attempt to insure
that church and state by hav-
ing their spheres of activity
carefully delineated shall con-
tribute to greater unity Of all
the American people.
Sydney ]. Baker.