Letter dated November 14, 1962, addressed to Hon. James O. Eastland from Rufus Webb, Gaithersburg, Md., with attached statement_. PRAYERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND OTHER MATTERS THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1962 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C. The committee met pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in room 2228, New Senate Office Building, Senator Olin D. Johnston presiding. Present: Senators Johnston, Ervin, Hart, Hruska, Keating, and Scott. Also present: L. P. B. Lipscomb, member, professional staff. This hearing has been called for the purpose of taking testimony on certain resolutions introduced in the U.S. Senate in regard to prayers in public schools and certain other matters. Notice was duly published in the Congressional Record on July 19, 1962. The particular measures involved are Senate Joint Resolution 205, Senate Joint Resolution 206, Senate Joint Resolution 207, Senate Concurrent Resolution 81, and Senate Resolution 356. The text of these resolutions will be inserted in the record at this point. (The resolutions follow :) [S.J. Res. 205, 87th Cong., 2d sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to permit the offering of prayer in public schools Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States: "ARTICLE "SECTION 1. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit the authority administering any school, school system, or educational institution supported in whole or in part from any public funds from providing for the voluntary participation by the students thereof in regularly scheduled periods of nonsectarian prayer. "SEC. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress." [S.J. Res. 206, 87th Cong., 2d sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to permit the use of prayer in public schools Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitu 1 tion of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States: "ARTICLE "SECTION 1. No provision of this Constitution or any article of amendment thereto shall be construed to prohibit nondenominational religious observance through the invocation of the blessing of God or the recitation of prayer, as a part of the activities of any school or other educational institution supported in whole or in part from public revenues, if participation therein is not made compulsory. "SEC. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress." [S.J. Res. 207, 87th Cong., 2d sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States permitting the offering of prayers and the reading of the Bible in public schools in the United States, and relating to the right of a State to enact legislation on the basis of its own public policy on questions of decency and morality Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States: "ARTICLE "SECTION 1. Nothing in this Constitution shall prohibit the offering of prayers or the reading of the Bible as part of the program of any public school or other public place in the United States. "SEC. 2. The right of each State to decide on the basis of its own public policy questions of decency and morality, and to enact legislation with respect thereto, shall not be abridged. "SEC. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress." Whereas, from the first permanent white settlements in North America at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, we have recognized the existence of God and our dependence on Him; and Whereas the greatest single threat to our political and religious freedom is posed by nations who deny the existence of God; and Whereas the atheists in our Nation are making a concerted drive to eliminate the recognition of God in our Government as completely as He has been eliminated in Russia and have recently included in that program the demand to eliminate from public schools not only the voluntary recitation of a prayer, but all bymns, all religious paintings, and all celebrations connected with Christmas and Easter; and Whereas there never has been a greater need to inculcate in the minds and hearts of the youth of our Nation a reverence for God and faith in His omnipotence; and Whereas, with that in view, the Board of Regents of the State of New York prepared for voluntary use in the public schools of that State a nonsecular form of civic prayer which merely recognized the existence of God and our dependence on Him; and Whereas, in the case of Engel against Vitale, the Supreme Court of the United States on June 25, 1962, declared the use of that voluntary prayer to be unconstitutional; and Whereas the clear implication of that Court action is the outlawing of public recognition of God by any government agency, Federal or State, including a prohibition against employment of chaplains in both branches of the Congress and for all branches of our armed services; and Whereas the Congress desires to go on record as reaffirming that we are one nation under God and are desirous of passing on to generations yet unborn that rich heritage: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the designation by a public school authority of a nonsectarian prayer for use, as a part of the activities of a public school, does not constitute an establishment of religion or an infringement of the doctrine of separation of church and state in violation of the Constitution of the United States, if participation in the offering of that prayer by individual students is not made compulsory. [S. Res. 356, 87th Cong., 2d sess.] RESOLUTION Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that (a) notwithstanding the recent Supreme Court decision which held that it is in violation of the first amendment of the Constitution to prescribe an official State prayer to be offered in a public school, any public school system if it so chooses may provide time during the school day for prayerful meditation if no public official prescribes or recites the prayer which is offered; and (b) providing public school time for prayerful meditation in no way violates the Constitution because each individual participating therein would be permitted to pray as he chooses, but that such practice is consonant with the free exercise of religion protected by the first amendment to the Constitution. Senator JOHNSTON. All of these resolutions are the outgrowth of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 25, 1962. The one primarily concerned by all of the resolutions is the case of Stephen I. Engel et al., petitioner, v. William J. Vitale, Jr., et al., No. 468, October term, 1961. The text of this decision will be inserted in the record at this point. (The decision follows:) SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 468-October Term, 1961 STEVEN I. ENGEL ET AL., PETITIONERS, v. WILLIAM J. VITALE, JR., ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NEW YORK [June 25, 1962] MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court. The respondent Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9, New Hyde Park, New York acting in its official capacity under state law, directed the School District's principal to cause the following prayer to be said aloud by each class in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of each school day: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country." This daily procedure was adopted on the recommendation of the State Board of Regents, a governmental agency created by the State Constitution to which the New York Legislature has granted broad supervisory, executive, and legislative powers over the State's public school system.1 These state officials composed the prayer which they recommended and published as a part of their "Statement on Moral and Spiritual Training in the Schools," saying: "We believe that 1 See New York Constitution, Art. V, §4; New York Education Law, §§101, 120 et seq., 202, 214-219, 224, 245 et seq., 704, and 801 et seq. |