Plan to Introduce Religious Education in Public Schools Stirs Philadelphia Protests

Efforts to obtain the approval of the Board of Education for a plan to introduce religious instruction into the public schools has stirred up strong protests here. The movement is sponsored by the Weekday Religious Education Association, of which the Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins, rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, is the head. Dr. Tomkins recently headed a committee which called upon Superintendent of Schools Edwin C. Broome in behalf of their project.

In the course of his plea to the Superintendent and members of the Board of Education, Dr. Tomkins declared that he was supported by many rabbis of Philadelphia. Harvey M. Watts, lecturer at the Academy of the Fine Arts, former newspaperman, and wellknown in literary circles, opposed Dr. Tomkins’s views and declared that Tomkins had “lined up” some “rabbis without congregations” to support the general idea of week-day religious instruction.

Substantial refutation came from Rabbi Mortimer J. Cohen, of Beth Sholom Congregation. From the pulpit of his synagogue in North Philadelphia, Rabbi Cohen, who is president of the Philadelphia Board of Jewish Ministers, declared that the rabbis here are not in favor of permitting religious instruction to be given on public school time.

The plan of Rev. Tomkins and his associates, who passed a resolution in favor of the idea, at a “mass meeting” attended by 40 people this week, contemplates the release for one hour a week of senior high school pupils to “go to churches and synagogues of their own choice for religious instruction.”

“As far as one speaks of a Jewish attitude toward this question of sectarianism in the public schools of this city,” said Rabbi Cohen in his sermon, “it is this: No people more than the Jewish people believes in religious training of the child. It has been our conviction through the ages for which we have willingly suffered martyrdom.

“We therefore rejoice that our Gentile neighbors have awakened to the need of training their youth in the principles of religious life. Moreover, though we would in no way benefit from the arrangement, we would willingly see that the schools are closed at a certain hour at the end of the day, so that the afternoon might be utilized for religious instruction.

“But, in no way whatsoever, under no circumstances, must a teacher of the public schools or the public schools have supervision over the use of the time spent by the child after the closing hour. No teacher, in any way whatsoever, should keep a record of attendance at a church or synagogue, nor give or refrain from giving credits for the work or attendance of pupils at religious schools. In a word, as a Jew I stand firmly on the great American principle of absolute separation of Church and State.”

The resolution passed at the meeting this week, attended mostly by members of the Weekday Religious Education Association, is expected to be read at the next meeting of the Board of Education. Whether any definite action will be taken upon it is problematical. Opponents of the plan are confident that it will not be approved. Many letters of protest have been sent to the Board by individuals and organizations conscious of the infringement upon liberty that would result from its adoption.

As a matter of fact, to dissipate any impression that Dr. Tomkins’s appearance might have created that he represents the feeling of the Pennsylvania Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this matter, the Board of Education has received a letter from the Diocese’s Department of Religious Education. The letter, signed by the Rev. Frederick S. Seymour, director of religious education, declares that the department “does not indorse the plan contemplated by the Weekday Religious Education Association.”