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School Prayer
Revisited?

Many _fear an amendment
introduced in the U.S. House
could threaten the separation of church and state.

JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter

klahoma Republican Ernest
Istook is pushing for a "reli-
gious freedom" amendment
to the Constitution that
opponents say could irrevocably alter
the First Amendment.
The proposal has 152:co-sponsors
and is endorsed by 30 religious organi-
zations, two of which are Jewish. Pas-
sage into law will require two-thirds
majority votes in both the House and
the Senate, plus majority votes in
three-quarters of the nation's state leg-
islatures.
Although the. American Confer-
ence of Jews and Blacks, and Toward
Tradition (a rabbinical group) joined
the Christian Coalition, American
Muslim Council and various evan-
gelical organizations in support of
the Istook amendment, the main-
` , :stream Jewish community is rallying
against it. Although they concede
passage is unlikely, opponents fear
that if the vote is close, proponents
will reintroduce similar legislation in
the future.
"Our initiative is to get it to stop
before it gains momentum," said
Marla Feldman, assistant director for
domestic concerns at the Jewish Com-
munity Council of Metropolitan
Detroit. "Underlying this all is an
attempt to get prayer in schools. It
would reverse all rulings based on the
[First Amendment's] establishment
clause."
At one paragraph long, the Istook
Amendment's wording appears
innocuous. But opponents say the
,wording is carefully crafted to under-
mine separation of church and state.
"At first blush, it looks like painless
legislation," said Don Cohen, director
of the Anti-Defamation League/
Michigan Region. "They've gone to a
lot of pains to write it that way. But
basically, the First Amendment covers
the area adequately, and this legisla-

tion will open the door for public sup-
port for religious expression."
But Steve Jones, Istook's chief of
staff in Washington D.C., said people
are distorting the legislation's meaning.
"It's not technically that we feel there's
anything wrong with the First Amend-
ment as it is now," he said. "But it's
been a growing trend over the past
three decades for the U.S. Supreme
Court to say that what constitutes the
establishment clause requires much
less ... All we're trying to do is to
reassert what, according to the found-
ing fathers, the First Amendment
meant.
In Michigan, the ADL, Jewish
Community Council, American Jew-
ish Committee and National Council
of Jewish Women have joined forces
with civil rights and other religious
organizations to lobby against the pro-
posed amendment.
Four Michigan congressmen —
Peter Hoekstra, Vernon Ehlers, Dave
Camp and James Barcia — are
amendment co-sponsors. U.S. Reps.
Sander Levin, Debbie Stabenow and
Lynn Rivers, all Democrats, said they
will oppose the amendment, while
Republican Joe Knollenberg said he
has not yet decided his position.

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The Istook Amendment
Res. 78)
To secure the people's right to
acknowledge God according to the
dictates of conscience: Neither the
United States nor any State shall
establish any official religion, but
the people's right to pray and to
recognize their religious belief, her-
itage, or traditions on public prop-
erty, including schools, shall not
be infringed. Neither the United
States nor any State shall require
any person to join in prayer or
other activity, prescribe school
prayer, discriminate against reli-
gion, or deny equal access to a
benefit on account of religion.

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