Creighton, Mosley Appear
Diocesan Press Service. June 8, 1964 [XXII-13]
On May 6 two Episcopal bishops urged the U. S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee to reject all proposed Constitutional amendments that would override the Supreme Court's rulings on prayers and Bible-reading in the nation's public schools.
The Rt. Rev. William F. Creighton, Bishop of Washington, and the Rt. Rev. J. Brooke Mosley, Bishop of Delaware, called upon the 35 lawyer-members of the committee to encourage objective study of religion and not to settle for "opening devotional exercises."
"It is no answer to our problem to say to Jews, to Roman Catholics, to 57 varieties of Protestants, to Orthodox, to atheists and to all the varied and sundry types of believers, non-believers, and half-believers in our communities, 'Please bow your heads and pray-- or leave the room'," Bishop Mosley declared.
Bishop Creighton maintained that brief religious exercises "would have the effect of making our people believe again that religion has been adequately taken care of as soon as a Bible verse has been read and a brief prayer said. This is a serious misconception of the place of religion in American life."
The bishops were two of more than 80 church leaders who are expected to testify in month-long hearings before the House committee on the emotion-charged issue of "taking God out of our public schools," as opponents of the Supreme Court decisions have charged.