Opposition to American recognition of the Vatican as a state was expressed here today in a resolution adopted by the convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of America which represents some 450 Conservative rabbis. The resolution calls upon the United States to refrain from sending a new representative to the Vatican "in order to assure the principle of impartiality towards all religious groups which has been the basic principle of our American Republic."
The convention also adopted a resolution urging "further efforts at disarmament" and more patient attempts at negotiations with Soviet Russia in order to avert the "grave threat of atomic and hydrogen bomb warfare to the physical and spiritual development of mankind." The resolution said that "although we regard the threat of Communism to the peace of the world as a real and ever present one, our answer to this challenge must grow out of our deep-seated conviction that men’s hearts are won only by ideas and ideals."
The rabbis also appealed for United States support of the United Nations, to seek its development into a world federation, and also appealed to the United States Senate for prompt ratification of the U.N. Convention on Genocide. The Assembly endorsed the "Point Four" program for assistance to nations in backward areas, denounced the "repeated failure" of Congress to enact the President’s civil rights program, opposed loyalty tests in those areas not affecting national security, and called for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Law.
The convention opposed federal aid to non-public schools, either in the form of free secular textbooks or transportation, however, declaring it was not opposed to aid in the form of lunches, medical or dental services. In connection with the principle of church and state separation, the rabbis asserted their opposition to joint sectarian religious practices and holiday observances in the public school system, and also opposed released and dismissed time practices.
Speaking last night at a special Golden Jubilee celebration at Cernegie Hall, Dr. Louis Finkelstein, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, told the delegates and 2,500 guests that the unity of all religious faiths–first in the western world and then among all faiths–may yet save civilization from destruction. The primary task, he said, was to "surmount division among ourselves."
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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.
