The Bureau of Census announced officially yesterday that it would not include any questions on religion in the next decennial population survey to be made in 1970. The Bureau had originally considered such questions for the census replies for which would have been mandatory, but a number of Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, lodged strong objections to the proposal.
In announcing the decision not to include questions on religion in the regular census, A. Ross Eckler, director of the Bureau, said that numerous proposals for a question on church affiliation or preference had been rejected because “a substantial number of persons again expressed an extremely strong belief that asking such a question would infringe upon the traditional separation of church and state.”
Mr. Eckler suggested, however, that some form of question on religious preference or affiliation be added at some point during one of the Bureau’s interim surveys. “In such a survey, ” he noted, “response would be voluntary.”
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