An interfaith committee has been established here to oppose a bill pending in the State Senate which would provide for introduction of religious materials into the public schools.
The bill would require the State Board of Education to prepare a syllabus of readings “including selections from the Bible.” The bill was condemned as “seriously and prohibitively ill-advised” in a statement issued here by the newly-formed “California Provisional Committee in Opposition to Senate Bill No, 1152.” Dr. Archibald J. Cloud, president emeritus of San Francisco, is chairman of the committee.
Opposition to the bill was also voiced at a hearing of the Senate Education Committee at Sacramento by Dr. J. Ford Lewis, state chairman of the public affairs council of the Unitarian Church, and Herbert Leland of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council who also spoke for the Northern California Board of Rabbis and other California Jewish organizations.
The Christian Scientists, the Buddhists and a large teachers’ group have gone on record as opposing the bill which is regarded as a threat to separation of church and state.
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