wfn.org | School prayer amendment fails in Congress

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 8, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
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By United Methodist News Service

A constitutional amendment to allow organized prayer in public schools
failed to pass Congress June 4 by an even larger percentage than the
last such vote in 1971.

According to the Rev. John Swomley, a United Methodist who serves as
president of Americans for Religious Liberty, the amendment sponsored by
Rep. Ernest Istook Jr., R-Okla., drew 52.4 percent of the vote. In 1971,
another school prayer amendment drew 59.7 of the vote in Congress, he
added.

Because a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority to
pass, the 224-203 vote on June 4 fell 61 votes short.

"This was a fairly decisive defeat," Swomley said.

Of the United Methodists in Congress, seven Democrats and 22 Republicans
voted in favor of the amendment and 11 Democrats and six Republicans
voted against it. 

Officially, the United Methodist Church supports the separation of
church and state. The 1996 General Conference, the denomination's top
legislative body, opposed "any government legislation or constitutional
amendment that would change our existing First Amendment rights in
regard to the use of public funds to support nonpublic elementary and
secondary schools where religion is taught or in regard to religious
observances in public schools."

One of the leading opponents of the "Istook Amendment" was U.S. Rep.
Chet Edwards, D-Waco, Texas, who is a United Methodist.

"America already has a religious freedom amendment," Edwards said during
the June 4 debate. "It was not written by the gentleman from Oklahoma
and passed through this House after less than one day of committee
hearings and two hours of floor debate. Rather, it was written by Mr.
Madison of Virginia, after debating with Mr. Jefferson for well over a
decade, 200 years ago. Those 16 words that begin the First Amendment of
our Bill of Rights have served this nation extraordinarily well. We
should not change it for the first time today."

While students are allowed some leeway to pray, read the Bible or engage
in religious speech in public schools, the Istook Amendment would
sanction organized prayer, allow religious symbols on public property
and permit the use of tax money for religious activities.

Swomley, a professor emeritus at St. Paul's School of Theology in Kansas
City, said the amendment's attempt at "government-sponsored prayer" did
not specify who should conduct the prayers, although it banned
discrimination against any particular religious group. In theory, he
said, a good portion of the school day could be devoted to allotting
prayer time to all the groups represented at each school.

But, in Swomley's opinion, the whole point of the Istook Amendment was
the desire of the Christian Coalition and other right-wing religious
groups to "have a vote to show in the forthcoming elections who voted
against it." The amendment's opponents will be targeted in upcoming
elections, he said.

Whether their influence will be significant depends on how many voters,
outside of the Religious Right, consider organized school prayer to be a
crucial issue, according to Swomley. "The real problem is to get the
mainline churches out to vote." 

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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