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Show Politics From Where I Sit By Merle Rich Churches recognize that the concern of the school is the individual, indi-vidual, whether he be honest or dishonest, generous or selfish, full of hate or full of love, conscious of duty or completely unconscious of it, an observer of the golden rule or not. Parents recognize that the concern con-cern of the school is that no teacher will indoctrinate either for or against a particular religious system. The churches and the parents feel that it is just as unprincipled and unconstitutional for teachers to promote atheistic ideas and sneer at religion. Perhaps if the school understood its own function in this regard and performed it efficiently controversies over religious re-ligious education in public schools would not occur. Credit for non-sectarian approaches ap-proaches to such instruction is not the least of the problems and the difference of opinion now among us, as could be expected, has grown to include the controversial question of whether anything that even smacks of religion should get beyond the public school portal. Charles P. Taft, brother of the late Senator Taft and former president pres-ident of the National Council of Churches committed himself strongly in favor of non-controversial courses of religion in public schools, stressing the love of God and man, and advocated the maintenance main-tenance and extension of released-time released-time programs of religious instruction. in-struction. Society attests the need of additional instruction in the field witnessed by numerous polls, articles and books. How to satisfy that need is the question. Figuring on the basis of 365 days a year, the school takes a total of three and one half hours per day. So there's time. Could any harm come from making scliool properties available through fair rental practices for all religious bodies alike? At any rate the path to a solution solu-tion is charged with a high degree of emotion. Nevertheless there is a great body of legal opinion that has accumulated as people have attempted to solve the difficulty. Parents should take the time to become acquainted with it. Would it help if the school invited in-vited two learned judges to discuss dis-cuss the legal aspects involved, not in the for mof a debate, but that the public might be informed? |