Conference of Educators Hears Views on State Aid to Religion

Two decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Federal or State aid to religious schools in unconstitutional are too vague and need more clarification, Dr. Ernest Johnson, chairman of the Religion and Education Committee of the American Council on Education, told a conference here of 100 educators from state colleges throughout the country.

In one decision, handed down in 1947, the court upheld the New Jersey law providing free bus transportation for parochial school pupils as well as those attending the public schools. Dr. Johnson emphasized, however, that the court stated explicitly that neither a state nor the Federal Government could pass laws that “aid one religion, and all religions, or prefer one religion over another.”

Dr. Johnson said the court re-affirmed its position a year later when it declared unconstitutional the “released time” program of the Champaign, III., public schools. Under that program, pupils had received religious instruction on public school property. Citing the employment of chaplains of all denominations in penal institutions, he stated: “the court will have to make it clear that when state teachers colleges make it possible for students to participate in religious services they are not doing anything contrary to the Constitution.”

Dr. Johnson predicted that the Supreme Court would have to recognize that some provisions for religious services would be made legally under state or Federal auspices if “such benefits are incidental and not direct.” In an earlier address, Dr. Clarence P. Shedd, Professor of Christian Methods at Yale, said: “There seems to be an unwillingness on the part of the American people to permit as complete a separation of religion and education in publicly controlled colleges and universities as they have thought to be good and necessary in the public schools.”