A code of fair campaign practices to guard against religious bias in the forthcoming elections was issued here by a three-faith committee under the co-sponsorship of the Fair Campaign Practices Committee and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
A two-day conference of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders, held here, resulted in the formulation of basic principles to govern the discussion of religion in the 1960 political campaigns. Rabbi Uri Miller of Baltimore, vice-president of the Synagogue Council of America, and Rabbi Bernard Bamberger, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis were the two Jewish representatives at the meeting.
American religious leaders had been concerned for more than a year with the dangers of political candidates introducing religious issues in the 1960 campaigns. For this reason the committee brought together a group of religious leaders of all three faiths for two days of intensive, friendly and frank discussions. The principles of the code which emerged from the discussions held that candidates for public office should not be supported or opposed because of particular religious affiliations but should be judged on their qualifications for office and views on political issues. The code condemned the injection of elements of a candidate’s faith not relevant to the duties of office as “unfair campaign practices.”
The Fair Campaign Practices Committee was established in 1954 at the suggestion of the U.S. Congress. Each year it sends a code of fair campaign practices to Presidential and Congressional candidates and asks them to observe it.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
