Sen. Everett Dirksen, the Senate minority leader, submitted to Congress yesterday a constitutional amendment which would allow voluntary prayers in public schools, a practice outlawed in a series of Supreme Court rulings.
Sen. Dirksen, Illinois Republican, said that the widespread protests following those decisions was “gathering again in all parts of the nation. ” He said his proposed amendment would not authorize any school to prescribe the form or control of any prayer. He declared that, if the measure was not cleared by a committee for floor action, he would try to attach it as a rider to a Senate bill nearing passage.
The amendment would declare that nothing in the Constitution should bar officials of schools “or other public buildings supported in whole or in part, through the expenditure of public funds, ” from providing for or allowing voluntary participation by students “or others” in prayer.
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.
