A recent attempt by the Ministerial Association of this city to introduce religious training in connection with the school curriculum of San Antonio has been defeated and the Ministerial Association will not pursue its efforts in this direction any further. Among those who opposed the plan was Rabbi Ephraim Frisch of Temple Beth-el. Editorials in local newspapers also denounced the plan.
The committee of the Ministerial Association, of which the Rev. Rolfe P. Crum of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is the chairman, proposed to Superintendent of Schools Hartley that school children take one hour of religious training during the week in a neighborhood church and that credit for the term’s work be granted by the public schools. It was planned to make the religious courses voluntary and to provide a course in art appreciation for those children who did not care to take the religious course.
In opposing the plan, Rabbi Frisch stated in an interview in the San Antonio Evening News:
“This proposal is but another attempt at the regulation by the strong arm of the state of the private conduct and beliefs of our citizens. Such endeavors have been made thousands of times before and have always been looked upon as they should be, as acts of tyranny and misguided zeal, since they violate the justly cherished American principle of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state.”
The plan was also opposed by the Baptist churches of this city.
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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.
