THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 10 Friday, March 9, 1984 Battle Lines Are Drawn Over School Prayer and Court Ruling (Continued from Page 1) to bring up the amendment Some supporters of the until after the Senate, with amendment in the Senate a vote expected to be close. are suggesting that prayer Monday night, a group of should be silent rather than conservative Republicans vocal. But Weicker and held an all-night debate on other opponents of the the amendment. At the amendment have argued same time, a group of that children can pray now evangelicals held a prayer in school individually. They meeting on the steps of the are opposed to an organized Capitol. National Jewish organizations and "main prayer period. The House is not expected line" Protestant organiza- tions are opposed to the amendment. In his speech, Reagan said that the courts have not only banned prayer in the public schools but in New York a court recently banned students in Albany from using a classroom for a voluntary prayer meeting. "Hasn't , something gone haywire when this great Constitution of 41ft. Deluxe Kosher Passover Tours World an MU/ F wjA kip FWD UN5 FRESHLN PREPARED GLATT KOSHER MEALS DAM • 2 TRIDITIO AL SEDER SER\ ICES • TOP \ AME E TERTAINME\ T Midwest Acapulco Florida BARCELONA HOTEL Miami Beach EL PRESIDENTE AMERICANA Aruba DIPLOMAT RESORT Hollywood-by-the-Sea AMERICANA ARUBA FONTAINEBLEAU HILTON Miami Beach Bahamas BAHAMAS PRINCESS INNISBROOK RESORT Freepoi t SEVILLE HOTEL N.Y. Area Nassau Miami Beach AMERICANA GREAT GORGE California Tarpon Springs LAKE GENEVA RESORT BALMORAL BEACH Vernon Valley. 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Declaring that "America has begun a spiritual awak- ening," Reagan urged "tolerance and openness" to those who do not agree with these views. He urged the evangelicals to "use your pulpits to denounce racism, anti-Semitism and all ethnic and religious in- tolerance as evils." Then denounceing what he called the "Communist Sandinista regime" in Nicaragua, Reagan claimed that "threats and harass- ment have forced' virtually all Nicaragua's Jews to flee their country." * * * Agencies Hit Court Ruling Initial Jewish civil and religoius rights agency reactions to the sudden shift by the Supreme Court in ruling that a city may pre- sent a nativity scene as part of an official Christmas dis- play without violating the Constitution contained some of the sharpest criti- cisms ever voiced by such agencies against the high- est court of the land. Experts said the ruling on the permissible boundary between government and organized religion in the United States significantly shifted that boundary in favor of religion, The deci- sion marked the first time that Justices — though ad- mittedly by the narrowest of margins — have permitted a government sponsored display that is explicitly and exclusively Christitn. The decision, Lynch v. Donnelly, the experts said, is certain to have a substan- tial effect in encouraging of- ficial Yule displays in pub- lic places. Uncertainty and increasing litigation has developed in recent years over the constitutionality of 'officially-sponsored nativ- ity scenes, with Jewish organizations, whatever their religious orientation, registered in opposition. The three-year-old suit over Pawtucket's creche prompted most Rhode Is- land communities to can- cel their Christmas dis- plays. The dissenting opinion left it uncertain whether the Supreme Court would have sustained the con- stitutionality only of a creche, or of another reli- gious symbol, such as a cross, which Jewish organ- izations have indicated they would consider euqally un- constitutional. A suit involving a display of only nativity figures, in a public park in Scarsdale, N.Y. is now before the Fed- eral Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhat- tan. (The American Civil Liberties Union in Michi- gan had challenged holiday displays in Birmingham and Oak Park.) Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, declared that "admittedly" the nativity scene in Pawtucket "is a reminder of the origins of Christmas." But, he added, there was no sig- nificant difference be- tween such a display and a showing of such "mas- terpieces" as the depic- tion of the birth of Christ, the Crucifixion, and other "explicit Christian themes and messages" in "publicly-supported art galleries." The 5-4 decision over- turned rulings by a federal district court and a federal appeals court, which had ruled that the Pawtucket creche amounted to an offi- cial doctrine and was ac- cordingly banned by the First Amendment clause prohibiting an official es- tablishment of religion. Associate Justice William Brennan declared, in the dissent, that the maintenance and display at public expense of a symbol as "distinctively sectarian as a creche" should be viewed in the light of the proposition that a creche "is best understood as a mysti- cal recreation of an event that lies at the heart of the Christian faith" and "sim- ply cannot be viewed as playing the same role that an ordinary museum dis- play does." Brennan denounced the action by Pawtucket as "a coercive, though perhaps small, step toward estab- lishing the Abctarian pref- erences of the majority at the expense of the minor- ity." Berger declared the lower courts were wrong in "focussing almost ex- clusively on the creche" rather than the city's entire, "largely secular" Christmas display, which, he asserted, engenders a friendly community spirit of goodwill in keeping with the season." That "friendly commu- nity spirit of goodwill" was notably absent in the vigor- ous initial comments from the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith; the Union of Ainerican Reform Congregations (UAHC) and the American Jewish Committee. 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NEW YORK 10016 TELEX #220067 BOPIN-UR For further information and rates, without obligation, 212-725-4800 „., Out-of-town, call collect or contact your local travel agent In Detroit Call Alan.Rothstein (313) 355-1945, Chief Rabbis Suggest Prayer Will End Calamities in Israel TEL AVIV (JTA) — Is- rael's two chief rabbis have proposed a solution for the nation's problems. In adver- tisements published in the daily press, they 'appealed for special prayers to end drought, road accidents and disease. Borrowing from the Vim Kippur liturgy -- "Repen- tance, Prayer and Charity can avert the evil decree" — the Chief Rabbis declared: "In the wake of events re- cently witnessed in our country, we now suffer drought, the scourge of road accidents, an increase in serious disease unseen in generations, senseless hatred, dissension and out- rageous desecration of the Sabbath." 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