In an effort to counter the “ferocious and perhaps unprecedented attacks against the civil and religious liberties to all Americans,” the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) announced today it has launched a nationwide education and social action program.
Albert Vorspan, UAHC vice president, said the key tool in this program will be a new 145-page book that provides analysis and background information, suggests strategy and tactics, lists arguments, cites court decisions and quotes Jewish values applicable to eight key issues.
The issues detailed in the book, titled “Assault on the Bill of Rights: the Jewish Stake,” includes: the First Amendment; “scientific creationism”; abortion; censorship; prayer in the public schools; missionary activities; federal aid to parochial schools; and religious celebrations in public schools.
At a press conference Vorspan charged that the “freedom and security of Jews and other minority groups are being seriously threatened by assaults on the Bill of Rights such as the proposed school-prayer amendment.” He said that the proposal by President Reagan would “inflict a deep and serious wound on the guarantee of religious liberty and church-state separation that has protected all Americans since the earliest days of the republic.”
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