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Minnesota Supreme Court Will Decide on Reading of Bible in Public Schools

June 27, 1926
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(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

The Minnesota State Supreme Court will soon be called upon to decide whether the reading of extracts from the Bible in public schools is contrary to the constitutional rights of certain individuals in Minnesota.

Briefs have been filed in the high court for the case of Max Kaplan, against the independent school district of Virginia, where extracts from the Bible have been read to the pupils.

The school board of that district a year ago authorized the purchase of the King James version of the Bible with permission for the school super-intendent to choose certain selections from it to be read by the teachers of the various schools. This action was taken by the board following resolutions adopted by the Ministerial association of Virginia, in which they called upon the board to authorize the reading of extracts from the Bible without note or comment.

Kaplan sought an injunction against the school board in the St. Louis country district court but Judge Edward Freeman, in February, 1925. held that no constitutional right of the plaintiff was violated and denied the petition for the injunction. He later denied a new trial to Kaplan from which order an appeal was taken to the supreme court.

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