Jewish activists are protesting plans by a House subcommittee to hold a hearing on Shabbat to explore national attitudes about religious liberties and prayer in the public schools.
Despite the protest, the chairman of the subcommittee has refused to reschedule the June 10 hearing.
“It’s my experience that there are people in the Jewish community who participate in community activities on Saturdays” Rep. Charles Canady (R-Fla.) chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, said in a telephone interview.
The controversy has arisen as a “religious equality amendment” is about to be introduced in Congress.
Canady’s subcommittee will be holding hearings on the controversial amendment, which is being spearheaded by the Christian Coalition.
The field hearing in question is set for Harrisonburg, Va., an area with a Jewish population of 370, according to the 1994 American Jewish Yearbook.
Field hearings are typically held outside Capitol Hill, and members of the community are invited to speak.
Although final language for a religious equality amendment has not yet been determined, the goals, as outlined by the Christian Coalition, include the allowance of some forms of prayer in public schools.
The amendment also is expected to give religion the same protections as speech under the Constitution.
The Harrisonburg hearing will focus on these issues, over which Jewish groups have expressed grave concerns.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the only Jew on the subcommittee and its ranking minority member, said in an interview, “Given this particular topic, and the religious questions involved, I think it was a mistake” to schedule the field hearing for a Saturday.
Jewish activists agreed.
The subcommittee has “effectively excluded” Jews from participating in the hearing by scheduling it on Shabbat, Mark Pelavin, the American Jewish Congress’s Washington representative, said in a letter to Canady.
Pelavin called Canady’s point about Jewish participation “irrelevant.”
“What about that Jews who wouldn’t participate; what about Jewish organizations?” he said in an interview.
Pelavin said AJCongress had planned to participate in as many field hearings on the matter as possible, but “we wouldn’t participate in a hearing on a Saturday.”
Noting that Washington’s hectic pace sometimes makes it necessary to conduct congressional business on weekends, Canady said the hearing was scheduled on Saturday because that was when the most subcommittee members could attend.
“We have a very diverse country and there are many different religious traditions and we need to be sensitive to that, but if we made it a policy of not scheduling meetings for any day that is a holy day, we would be placing restrictions on our ability to conduct business.” Canady said.
Pelavin said he did not think that the subcommittee staff meant any ill will in its scheduling, but he reacted strongly to Canady’s statement.
“Religious liberty is about accommodation wherever possible,” he said. “I certainly hope that the supporters of the religious equality amendment have a better understanding of religious liberty than Mr. Canady expresses.”
When asked whether holding the hearings on Saturday was intended to silence Jewish voices, Canady pointed out that the subcommittee has scheduled other hearings on the matter. One is scheduled for June 8 in Washington.
“We will be having other hearings and we will certainly be seeking input from the Jewish community on these subjects,” he said.
Frank said he would urge the subcommittee to pay travel expenses for anyone from Harrisonburg who could not attend the Saturday hearing to come to Washington and testify.
Frank said he would not attend the hearing because it is a “portable shot” for the subcommittee’s Republicans and the motivations behind it are “purely political.”
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.
