President Frank O’Connor, President of the New York City Council, warned today that the fight over adoption of the proposed new State Constitution for New York could result in “a religious war.” A major issue in the battle over the new charter is the fact that it eliminates a 73-year-old provision against use of public funds for church-controlled schools.
Instead of the specific injunction against this, popularly known as the Blaine Amendment, the proposed constitution uses the language of the Federal Bill of Rights to prohibit establishment of religion and gives any taxpayer the right to challenge in the courts expenditures which he considers unconstitutional.
The Catholic Church and most Catholics in the state are in favor of adoption of the new charter which will be submitted to the electorate on Nov. 7. A number of Orthodox Jewish organizations, particularly those interested in developing parochial Jewish schools, also support the new constitution. Other Jewish organizations and most Protestant groups oppose elimination of the Blaine Amendment on the grounds that it represents a constitutional safeguard against violation of the principle of separation of church and state.
Mr. O’Connor, who announced his support of the new draft constitution yesterday, said that the opposition to it was centered around the religious issue. He said he hoped a “religious war” would not develop but he said there was that possibility and he expressed the belief that it should be avoided.
Rev. Dr. Donald S. Harrington, leader of the Liberal Party and minister of the Community Church, called for rejection of the new constitution because it eliminated the Blaine Amendment.
In an editorial today calling for rejection of the charter, The New York Times said it would be “a fatal error” to assume that inclusion of the language of the First Amendment “offset” the elimination of any specific ban on the expenditure of state funds for denominational schools” such as exists in the Blaine Amendment. It said that “the absence of this limitation is the most fundamental flaw in the new Constitution. It would drive a wedge into the wall of separation between church and state, and would do grave injury to the public school system.”
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.
