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state solution," said
Jack Bendheim, the
group's chairman. "But
we're not endorsing
any specific proposal;
we would only endorse
a peace proposal put
out by the government Feinstein
of Israel."
Bendheim said his group has not
taken a position on whether or not the
administration should meet with Beilin
and Rabbo. But Americans for Peace
Now (APN), which pressed for support
for the Feinstein/Capps resolution,
argued that the Geneva accord is a com-
plement to the administration's Mideast
road map, not an alternative.
"Geneva offers a model for the corn-
pletion of the process that the road map
begins," said APN assistant director
Lewis Roth. Official U.S. endorsement
of the Geneva plan would be "a painless
way for the administration to send a
strong message to the Israeli govern-
ment and the Palestinian Authority that
they have to do better," he said.
But the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, while issuing no public
statements about the Geneva plan or
the pending congressional resolutions,
advised its activists that "endorsing such
back-channel ideas as a viable alternative
to the road map and the vision laid out
by President Bush last spring creates the
illusion that what is holding up the
peace process is a deficit of ideas.
"Moreover, it distracts attention away
from the real steps necessary to move
the process forward: direct bilateral
negotiations."
Separation Case
•
Tuesday's oral arguments in a Supreme
Court case involving the state of
Washington's refusal to provide a schol-
arship to a divinity student could trigger
the most dramatic change in church-
state law in decades and touch off an
avalanche of new school voucher and
faith-based social service proposals.
But after the arguments, several
Jewish activists said religious groups
opposing the Washington policy —
including conservative Christian groups
and the major Orthodox Jewish organi-
zations — may have overreached.
"What struck me was that the key
votes on the court — the folks in the
center — seemed quite concerned
about the breadth of relief that was
being requested," said Richard Foltin,
legislative director for the American
Jewish Committee, which participated
in a brief supporting the Washington
state decision. That included Justice
Sandra Day O'Conner, who has been
the swing vote on a number of recent
church-state cases.
Still, Foltin and others warned against
predictions based on oral arguments.
The case, Locke v. Davey, was
brought after Joshua Davey was turned
down for a state merit scholarship.
Washington, like 36 other states, has
constitutional prohibitions preventing
public money from going to religious
institutions; unlike some states,
Washington enforces those provisions
strictly.
Davey sued, claiming the state gave
scholarships to other students regardless
of their course of study but denied
funding to him because he was pursu-
ing a divinity degree — a clear case of
religious discrimination.
Attorneys for the state of Washington
argued that giving the money to Davey
would constitute a government subsidy
for religious training, but a U.S.
Appeals Court ruled against them _ .
In a brief supporting the state, Marc
Stern, legal director for the American
Jewish Congress, argued that the state
was not trying to "suppress religious
ideas," but just avoiding the obvious
conflict of subsidizing theological train-
ing. "It has not committed religious
ideas to an ideological gulag," he wrote.
But opponents of the Washington pol-
icy say all they're seeking is equality for
religion and religious institutions — and
that the Supreme Court increasingly
agrees with them. "If you follow the
trend of the court for the past few years,
the emphasis on the idea of neutrality —
that you have to treat religion and reli-
gious institutions on a par with the non-
religious —is really gaining strength,"
said Abba Cohen, Washington director
for Agudath Israel of America.
Agudah participated in an amicus
brief submitted by the National Jewish
Commission on Law and Public Affairs.
A broad ruling striking down the
Blaine amendments — the measures in
state constitutions prohibiting funding
to religious institutions — would repre-
sent a "sea change" in church-state law,
Cohen said.
The immediate results could include
a surge in new state voucher legislation
and "charitable choice" proposals, which
would open government grants to reli-
gious health and social service providers.
But Marc Stern of the AJCongress
said a broad ruling by the court could
"undercut the foundation of Jewish
opposition" to government funding of
religious institutions, and "force the
Jewish community to thoroughly re-
examine is positions on church-state
matters." ❑
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