A recently-enacted California law requiring a loyalty oath of all tax-exempt groups was denounced here in a resolution adopted by the Board of Rabbis of Northern California as “an hysterial gesture symptomatic of the invasion of free thought and discussion, reaching out even beyond the violation of religious freedom.”
The resolution declared the new law was “dangerous” because it “casts suspicion, by innuendo upon the political loyalty and integrity of churches and synagogues and their respective leadership. ” It said the new law also “tends to violate the basic American premise of freedom of religion by creating an atmosphere of fear which fetters free speech and intimidates freedom of conscience. “
It also condemned the legislation as using economic pressure to coerce groups which wish to exercise their right not to sign the oath and termed the legislation “a product of hysteria being totally inefficacious as a means of discovering subversive elements.”
The resolution pointed out that “church and synagogue have held a long tradition as independent institutions in our society and have constantly been acknowledged by responsible officials of the state as a bulwark of democracy and as possessing the most effective ideological weapons against Communism. “
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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.
