Strong dissent, arising from concern over violations of the church-state separation concept, was voiced yesterday in connection with the Johnson Administration’s education bill at the conference on poverty of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
U.S. Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel addressed the conference in an effort to enlist liberal Jewish support behind the bill. But he elicited instead of a detailed attack on the bill’s provisions, voiced mainly by chairman Marvin Braiterman, of the church-state subcommittee of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism.
Mr. Braiterman said it was not enough for Dr. Keppel to reassure the meeting of President Johnson’s concern with the traditional separation of church and state because “there are alarming provisions in this legislation which do in fact transgress the separation of church and state and may cause serious injury to public education.”
Alarm was expressed by Mr. Braiterman, and others, at proposals that require shared facilities between public and parochial schools, that furnish books at government expense to parochial schools, and which provide for supplementary educational centers under auspices of parochial schools. He said the legislation does not include adequate provisions allowing judicial review of constitutionality at the initiative of private citizens.
Dr. Keppel advised Mr. Braiterman to “go look up his facts” and asserted that the Justice Department was content with the constitutionality of the bill. He urged the conference to put aside its objections and concern itself with helping the individual child. “In your efforts to preserve and safeguard the Jewish faith, a changing pattern has evolved in the relationship of religion to secular education, which others are studying carefully in some of its aspects,” Dr. Keppel said. “The Jewish experience, of course, may not apply in many respects to other faiths, but it is receiving attention.”
The conference closed today with adoption of a number of educational and action programs to combat poverty. A mobilization of the nation’s Jews to actively support national and local activities and to initiate new projects was urged. The recommendations covered programs in cooperation with Federal and state agencies, with other religious and civic groups, in the synagogue involving clergymen, businessmen, professionals and youth.
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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.
