A resolution by the AFL-CIO California Federation of Teachers demanding the elimination of prayer recitations in public schools was lauded today by local Jewish community relations agencies.
The stand of the state’s organized school teachers supported the position long maintained both here and nationally by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the National Community Relations Advisory Council.
Lawrence Goldberg, chairman of the church-state subcommittee of the local Community Relations Council, said the resolution represented a “growing public awareness” that the June 1962 decision of the United States Supreme Court banning public prayers in New York public schools “was in no manner an act of hostility toward religion.” The Teachers Federation, in its resolution, endorsed that decision.
The teachers also called on public schools to plan Christmas programs emphasizing cultural themes and putting religion in a social and cultural context. The resolution added that Christmas programs and school assemblies “should not be used for the purpose of indoctrination for a particular sectarian belief.” Use of religiously inspired material in public schools may be “in fundamental conflict with constitutional guarantees of religious freedom,” the teachers added.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
