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Show Released Time ' ican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in an '.: jjj Amf for utah move, has requested the f neral of the State, Phil Hansen, to prepare the legality of the Utah public school sys-..jjon sys-..jjon on ntjng released time from classes for - practice oi & ?S?jsinfSu0 would like the Attorney General's h ther or not this practice violates the narrow i on e Establishment Clause of the First t to the U.S. Constitution by the Supreme Client tion 0 church and state provisions -Estate Constitution. '1 Pinion was requested by John J. Flynn, legal ffcC for the Utah affiliate, ACLU. Mr. Flynn letter to Mr. Hansen: "It is our belief that the "lfLs program goes beyond the rules set down by ' Supreme eCourt in the cases it has considered, t rv to the principles set out in recent establish-contra establish-contra y gupreme Court and is clearly in vio-STtbe vio-STtbe separation of church and state provisions of 36 ' rtah constitution." :hv' R leased time, as practiced in Utah, allows a student -t an hour a day away from his classwork to at- Tf tes in religious instruction off the school campus. Vi '"bun informal survey conducted by the Chronicle in franite, Davis and Salt Lake City School Districts, t Jr (ound that all three districts allow such released f But going further, both Granite and Davis Districts 'f feone Unit of credit toward graduation for one class i Old or New Testament. As was explained by a "t rain the Davis District office, these are considered ;;f5 in history rather than religious instruction. But we hasten to add, these classes are not taught t i-mi 301 "L" Building, Granite High School, but rather all? f aught across the street in the Church of Jesus Christ r: Latter Day Saints seminary building. 0il" But we again hasten to add that not only the L.D.S. .:ch is benefiting from this program of "released time." ay cases where there is a protestant church within Z liking distance of a junior or senior high school, that k k:ch will request released time for its members. We maintain with the ACLU that such credit given :; traction in Old and New Testament, whether taught t -istorical or religious purposes, and released time for if i history classes (which are taught without credit) :.! appear to violate the Establishment Clause as de-1 de-1 :! in recent Supreme Court rulings. ,J But there is a more practical angle to be considered. pit In many, if not most states, a great number of pupils c a heavy financial burden are spared the public school t ;a because of the establishment of parochial schools, .'marly by the Catholic Church, where a liberal edu-M- ::a is interspersed with a heavy dose of religion. iyt should the predominant church in this area go to spense of building, staffing and maintaining schools s they could sneak in a Sunday school lesson or two n they can accomplish just as much with so much less aning on the public schools? |