Newspaper Page Text
Release Time
JEWISH EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT
Conducted by Louis Swartzman
J. e. p m h n u r CP.. IM(,
840 BROAD ST. AUGUSTA, GA.
"IT PAYS TO SHOP AT PENNEY'S"
The problem of religious educa
tion in the Public Schools has been
agitating the public conscience for
many years, particularly in the last
decade. The reading of the Bible
and Christmas programs in the
public schools, public aid to paro
chial schools, and today's "release-
time," have brought fear into the
hearts of many that a vital Ameri
can principle, "the separation of
Church and State," is being grad
ually whittled away.
The release-time plan, as origi
nated in Gary, Illinois in 1913, con
templated the release of public
school pupils an hour earlier at the
end of the day, once a week, for
those pupils who expressed a will
ingness to go for religious instruc
tion to their respective churches or
religious schools; those not ex
pressing such desire stayed in
school until regular dismissal time.
Many variations of this form sub
sequently appeared.
Opposition was cautiously ex
pressed. The Catholics objected be
cause of their immutable principle
that the only true religion, the only
religion worthy of public support,
is Catholicism and that their es
pousal of the plan would indicate
approval of other religious forms.
Further, that an hour a week of
religious instruction is in the very
teeth of the Catholic philosophy
that religious education must en
velop the totality of life to achieve
man’s salvation. The Jews timidly
indicated that release-time was
prohibited by the first article on
the Bill of Rights of 1791 which de
clared: “Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the full ex
ercise thereof”; out of which has
developed the corollary of complete
separation of Church and State in
America. The Jews claimed the
public schools for the training for
citizenship which, while excluding
creedal variations, included the
teaching of character building and
human morality. They also wanted
emphasis on more time for religious
training in the Jewish schools and
not an apparent acceptance of a
one-hour time "ceiling” and pro
nounced the plan as one leading to
differentiation between and segre
gation among pupils, instead of
promoting the avowed purpose of
the public schools, the teaching of
equality and democracy. Many
Christians. non-Church attendants,
declared that their children would
LOUIS SCHWARTZMAN
be stigmatized by a failure to sign
up for religious instruction. But
the plan, through the impetus and
energy of the Protestant churches,
won wide approval. Today, in New
York City alone, over 110,000 pub
lic school pupils operate on release
time.
There is no doubt that the de
mand for religious education in the
public schools has been greatly
motivated by the fear of the grow
ing secularization of life* in Amer
ica and of the crass materialism ex
pressed by the orgies in fascist Ger
many and Italy. The Church, while
not regarding the public schools as
godless, still reasoned that the pub
lic school drew such a sharp line
between "kodesh” and "hoi," be
tween the holy and secular, as to
reduce the school’s opportunity to
stimulate a feeling of morality and
personal ethics, or to check the
“soul-less” call of the machine age.
The decline in enrollment at the
Protestant schools and their gen
eral ineffectiveness added to the
cry for public school authority be
hind religious instruction.
Proponents of the release-time
plan claim that the roots of the
plan can be traced to the begin
nings of the American public school
system from the very days of the
founding of the Republic and that
the plan is thus in true American
tradition. They declare that no
part of the American Constitution
is being violated in that the Bill of
Rights applies only to the functions
of the federal government and not
to the laws of the several states;
and that even the federal aspect is
The GLASS Shop
GLASS FOR EVERY PURPOSE
Metal Store Front Construction — Plate and Window
Auto Shatterproof Safety Glass — Mirrors New and Resilvered
Stained and Leaded Glass Repaired
12th ond Reynolds Sts. Telephone 2-8454
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
McDonald & Weathersbee Motors, Inc.
DISTRIBUTORS
KAISER FRASER
111 5th Street—Phone 2-0570
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
We pause to send our fraternal greetings
to our many friends and patrons
S. H. Kress & Co.
5c, 10c and 25c Store
AUGUSTA GEORGIA
SCOTT'S MEAT MARKET
Native ond Western Meats
Poultry and Sea Foods
FANCY AND STAPLE GROCERIES
Phones 2-6496—2-6947 313 Eighth Street
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
Telephone 2-5937
827 Greene Street
Wearing Apparel for the Discriminating
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA
The Southern Israelite
(19)