Protestants Back Ban of Prayer in Schools at Congressional Hearing

Opposition to any Constitutional amendment to prayers and Bible reading in public schools was voiced today before the House Judiciary Committee by official spokesmen of 40, 000, 000 American Protestants.

M. Edwin Tuller, general secretary of the American Baptist Convention, was the first witness from among the public to testify before the Committee, headed by Congressman Emanuel Celler, which is now in its second week of hearings on the so-called Becker Amendment to allow prayers in schools, Mr. Tuller appeared in a dual capacity, both as a representative of his own church and on behalf of the National Council of Churches, an organization of 31 denominations with a total membership of 40, 000, 000.

Permitting prayers in public schools would be a clear case of tampering with the First Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing religious freedom, Mr. Tuller asserted. ‘Public institutions belong to all citizens whatever their faith or lack of it, ” the witness declared, and “neither the church nor the state should use the public school to compel acceptance of any creed or conformity to any specific religious practice.”

Mr. Tuller expressed very serious doubts of the value of school prayers for the religious education of the youth. He said that the daily school prayers were “more rote than religion” and the daily required Bible readings were “neither true religion nor good education. It would be tragic if, in a moment of emotional turmoil, the nation weakened the First Amendment and woke up too late to realize that a fundamental freedom had been damaged, perhaps destroyed,” he said.