Jewish groups opposing the measure lost a battle in Congress this week with the passage of an amendment promoting voluntary school prayer.
The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas), would withhold federal funds from schools that prohibit voluntary prayer by students. It was passed by the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 345-64 margin.
Critics of the measure — including the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League — claim that the measure has little effect because schools have always allowed students to pray voluntarily.
They say that this legislation only complicates the matter by threatening administrators with the loss of crucial federal funds.
Opponents also say that schools with difficulty determining what is lawful prayer as opposed to unlawful prayer will decide to allow prayer in order to avoid a penalty.
“Faced with the threat of litigation and a possible cut-off of federal funds, school boards and principals may err on the side of broadly permitting all kinds of organized religious activity.” Melvin Salberg, ADL’s national chairman, said in a statement.
The House action Monday follows the passage last month in the Senate of a similar amendment to another bill, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). Both proposals were o ffered as amendments to larger education bills.
Critics of the Helms proposal were also opposed to the House version, calling both amendments needless invitations for excessive government with religion.
But despite the efforts of groups opposed to prayer in schools, both the House and Senate initiatives have passed convincingly.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Jeffrey Well, a public policy fellow at AJCommittee, in reference to the strong congressional support for school prayer.
Indeed, Monday’s landslide House vote followed a 75-22 Senate count in favor of Helms’ amendment, causing some prayer opponents to rethink their future strategy on the issue.
“The House vote is a warning that we have a lot of work to do as far as educating members of Congress about school prayer in particular and the separation of church and state in general,” said Mark Pelavin, Washington representative of AJCongress.
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.
