A legal dispute which may ultimately go as far as the U.S. Supreme Court has developed in the suburban community of Herricks over a prayer being recited by all 4,200 children in the district’s seven schools.
Five parents, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, have brought suit against the Herricks School Board. They say that the prayer which now starts each school day constitutes a violation of the Constitutional guarantee of the separation of church and state.
Members of the school board, backed by what appears to be a majority of the parents in the school district, maintain that recitation of the prayer is in the best traditions of Americanism.
The case came before Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Bernard S. Meyer here yesterday. He reserved decision, pending the filing of briefs.
The prayer is one that ws suggested to New York State schools in 1951 by the Board of Regents. It reads: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country.”
Proponents of the prayer say it is “innocuous.” George Rundquist, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties, holds that it violates the principle of separation of church and state as well as the rights of individuals.
“We are not opposed to prayers, ” he declared today. “But we oppose their introduction into schools. When children speak of ‘God’–the question arises: ‘Whose concept of God?”
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