THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 5, 1982 61
Fanatic Church-State Separatists Injure Freedoms for All Citizens
By REV. FRANKLIN
LITTELL
National Institute
on the Holocaust
rJ
PHILADELPHIA — To
say that the Holocaust was
a breakdown of religious
compassion and a triumph
of evil is so banal as to bor-
der on the bizarre. Before
the breakdown of compas-
sion there was a collapse of
toleration. And Germany
never had religious liberty,
t ( 'It is mutual respect be-
een individuals and
groups secured by law.
Mutual respect can only
operate with constitutional
guarantees, with a govern-
ment wise enough to stay
out of the religion business
and churches wise enough
not to manipulate political
power against others. But
above all such guarantees
need public support through
civility, mutual respect and
even a sense of humor.
One of the organizations
that has done the most to
exacerbate the feelings of
religious communities in
recent years is an outfit
called "Americans and
Others United for Separa-
tion of Church and State."
Among those who watch its
operations it is frequently
called "the college man's
KKK."
With animal earnest-
ness it has often set itself
to attack the shrines and
sensibilities of Roman
Catholic citizens, and
sometimes it has reached
out against other groups.
The most charitable thing
that can be said about
"Americans and Others
United" is that it has some
sense that religious liberty
involves avoidance of gov-
ernment sponsorship of
religion, but that it has no
sense of the prior concern:
"the free exercise of reli-
gion." But its devotion to
the former, carried to ex-
treme, blinds its secular-
minded devotees to the val-
ues in voluntary and
freely-exercised religion.
Bar-Hand Study Is Linking
Diet to Human Behavior
RAMAT GAN — The na-
ture of diet influences
human behavior and the in-
take of certain food sub-
stances may have an effect
on memory in old age, ac-
cording to a recent study at
Bar-Ilan University.
Research by Profs.
Shlomo Yehuda and
Moussa Youdin, of the
Technion, presently concen-
trated on rats, has demon-
strated that an iron defi-
ciency in rodents causes
them to be active during the
day and quiet at night, in
contrast to their usual be-
havior patterns. Rats that
receive too little iron, for
example, respond to medi-
cation differently from their
normal peers.
Prof. Yehuda has also
been working on the prob-
lem of acetylcholine, an in-
formation transmitter,
which may also be realted to
memory defects in senility.
It has been found that rats
with memory problems fed
on source substances of
acetylcholine respond well.
One of these source sub-
stances is chocolate which
contains lecitin.
When rats have been
allowed to choose their food
"cafeteria style," after some
"noshing" they often stop
eating the• chocolate, al-
though it is still accessible,
and begin eating other foods
their bodies require.
While much is known
about people's eating habits
from common observation,
more research is needed to
discover the less obvious
reasons for what people eat
and why, according to the
Bar-Ilan researcher.
Lawyers Press
to Eliminate
Bias at Clubs
CHICAGO — The Ameri-
can Bar Association (ABA)
voted last week to support
legislation barring dis-
crimination by private
business clubs on the basis
of race, religion, sex or na-
tional origin.
The resolution, proposed
by the ABA's section on in-
dividual rights and respon-
sibilities, would affect clubs
patronized by most of the
nation's leading law firms.
Such organizations are now
exempted from the 1964
Civil Rights Act because
they offer private, and not
public facilities.
Those who favored
amending the act argued
that many ostensibly pri-
vate clubs were in fact ex-
tensions of the marketplace.
and that women and blacks
who were denied access to
them were deprived of valu-
able business opportunities.
LIFE
By MADOLYN ROSENTHAL
As we climb the stairway of life
One step at a time
We are bound to find a little strife
But that will pass away in time.
We all have our share of troubles
But they too, will fly away like bubbles.
So now, as we near the top of the stairway of life
We pause for a while
Look down with a smile
And wonder, did we make our life worthwhile?
So before it is too late
Why don't we think a bit
And banish all hate.
Recently the organization
launched a campaign and
pushed a court case which
was out of order in the first
place and has now, under
the Burger Supreme Court,
led to a decision seriously
crippling citizens' actions to
protect basic liberties.
The case was launched to
stop the Valley Forge Chris-
tian Academy from retain-
ing a building purchased in
sales of redundant govern-
ment property. The Valley
Forge Christian Academy,
which trains clergy and
laymen for the Assemblies
of God, was one of hundreds
of such voluntary agencies
that managed to acquire a
piece of property at
minimum price.
Americans and Others
United smelled blood and
moved in. And now the
Supreme Court has not
only held against them
and for the Valley Forge
Christian Academy: it
has gone far beyond, to
rule that outside groups
without standing may
not litigate at all. This
threatens, of course,
some of the most impor-
tant defenses of basic
liberties that black citi-
zens, lovers of peace, and
others have built up over
years. A foolish organiza-
tion with misguided zeal
has cost all of us a great
deal.
The same organization is
also challenging the is-
suance by the U.S. Postal
Service of a St. Francis of
Assissi stamp to commemo-
rate the 800th anniversary
of that good man's birth.
Americans and Others
United charges that the St.
Francis stamp would
"create interfaith tension."
What creates interfaith
tension is a lack of common
charity and a sense of
humor!
For my part I would be
glad to be assured that the
Arabs' Revenge
CAIRO (ZINS) -- "Israel
provides a good reason for
every Arab, where he is a
leader or an ordinary citi-
zen, to act violently against
any Israeli he may meet
anywhere," writes Al
Medina, a Saudi Arabian
daily, on Dec. 4.
The paper added, "Any tie
between Arab and Jew is
forbidden, as any peace
agreement. Every Arab
leader, king, president, offi-
cer or ordinary citizen, must
work for the destruction,
liquidation and extermina-
tion of Israel. This must be
the legacy of every father to
his sons and grandsons, and
this goal must be part from
generation to generation.
No Arab may rest or sleep
until revenge has been
taken."
Campus Program
Names Director
NEW YORK — Michael
Skobac has been named
field director for KIRUV, a
new organization for college
students established by the
Rabbinical Council of
America.
U.S. postage stamps will not
finally be confined to por-
trayals of eagles, cactus
plants and timber wolves.
In fact I would like to see a
whole new set of stamps
worthy of the company of
Ralph Bunche, Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Fran-
cis Parkman.
How about Henrietta
Szold and Theodor Herzl,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and
Reinhold Niebuhr?! Or
would the fact that each
of them contributed
something to Jewish sur-
vival be "too religious?"
They would be "too reli-
gious" for Americans and
Others United, presumably,
although the organization
seems to go berserk chiefly
when Roman Catholic sen-
sibilities are involved. But
suppose we were all as
Americans loyal to religious
liberty and the First
Amendment to realize that
sound "separation" is based
on mutual respect, not only
in theory but concretely
toward each other's leaders
worthy of remembrance and
emulation? We would all be
better for it.
INNI ■ Ull ■ r
1 111E1i1111111PIIII
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