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The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 20 June 2000
Vol. 4, Number 51 (#432)
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Web Sites of Interest:
National Archives Interagency Working Group
News ON State-Mandated Religious Practices
Americans United For Separation of Church and State, "Federal Judge
Strikes Down Lousiana School Prayer Law: Americans United Hails
'Important Victory For Individual Rights'," 14 June 00
Mark Babineck (AP), "Texas Schools React to Prayer Rule," 19 June 00
People For the American Way, "Supreme Court Narrowly Upholds First
Amendment In Texas Football School Prayer Case," 19 June 00
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, "Supreme Court
Ruling On Football Prayer A Victory For Individual Freedom, Says
Americans United," 20 June 00
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WEB SITES OF INTEREST:
National Archives Interagency Working Group
<http://www.nara/iwg>
World War II Intelligence Documents to Open at National Archives
National Archives Public Affairs Office
19 June 00
In a major release of declassified records, the Nazi War Criminal Records
Interagency Working Group (IWG) will open at the National Archives and
Records Administration at College Park, Md., approximately 400,000 pages of
declassified Office of Secret Services (OSS) records. The OSS was the
wartime forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency. The opening is the
result of the work of the CIA and the National Archives under the guidance
of the IWG. The IWG was established to oversee government-wide
declassification efforts in accordance with the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure
Act of 1998, which mandates the declassification of records relating to
World War II war criminals and war crimes.
The main body of records consists of documents that remained classified
when the first OSS records were released to the public in the mid-1980s.
They include a wide range of materials dealing with all facets of wartime
intelligence operations. Sixty-one hundred (6,100) of the pages would have
continued to be withheld had they not been found by CIA reviewers to be
responsive to the Act. These records consist primarily of prisoner of war
interrogation reports, refugee and emigre debriefings, documentation of OSS
clandestine missions into France and Norway, and reports on a U.S.
government program, known as Safehaven, to identify and block from flight
German financial assets and other war spoils.
WHEN:
Monday, June 26, at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:
National Archives at College Park, Md., 8601 Adelphi Rd., lecture
rooms A and B.
DETAILS:
All researchers must have a current National Archives research card which
can be obtained either at the downtown National Archives building
(Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street) or at the National Archives at
College Park. Clean research room rules will apply.
For additional press information, call Giuliana Bullard at
703-532-1477 or National Archives Public Affairs at 301-713-6000.
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NEWS ON STATE-MANDATED RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
Federal Judge Strikes Down Lousiana School Prayer Law: Americans United
Hails 'Important Victory For Individual Rights'
Americans United For Separation of Church and State
14 June 00
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today hailed a federal
court decision striking down a Louisiana law designed to reintroduce
official prayer in public schools.
"This is an important victory for individual rights," said the Rev. Barry
W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "It sends a clear message
that government officials can't tell public school students when and how
to pray."
Americans United and the Louisiana ACLU brought the legal challenge against
the law as part of a larger lawsuit challenging recitation of prayers over
a loudspeaker at West Monroe High School and other schools within the
Ouachita Parish School District.
"The Louisiana statute was an egregious violation of the constitutional
separation of church and state," said Americans United Litigation Counsel
Ayesha Khan, who served as lead counsel in the case. "The law was deeply
misguided. The court recognized in its decision that the Louisiana
legislature cannot authorize the prayers of the majority to be foisted
upon non-believers."
In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Robert G. James held that the
Louisiana law violated the church-state separation provisions of the U.S.
Constitution.
"This statute cannot help but create the appearance that the state of
Louisiana is endorsing religion since the state has created a venue for
public prayer (the quintessential religious practice) in public facilities
under the supervision of public officials," James said in the ruling. "The
court therefore finds that the statute is an unconstitutional governmental
endorsement of religion."
The Louisiana legislature passed the school prayer measure last summer, and
it was later signed into law by Gov. Mike Foster. The legislation altered
an existing school prayer statute that authorized silent prayer or
meditation in school every day by removing the word "silent." During
deliberations over the bill, several backers admitted they wanted to
return vocal prayer by teachers and students to public schools.
Lynn said Doe v. Ouachita Parish School Board decision has national
implications. "This ruling should help put a stop to the trend of
politicians meddling in the religious lives of Americans," he said.
"Families, not legislators, have the right to make decisions about
children's religious upbringing."
Lynn noted that several states have recently considered measures designed
to introduce religion into the public schools. They include:
* Virginia approved a law mandating a moment of silence for meditation or
prayer in public schools. (School prayer bills were introduced in other
states, including Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and New Hampshire.)
* South Dakota, Indiana and Kentucky passed bills promoting displays of the
Ten Commandments in public schools.
* Oklahoma's House of Representatives passed a measure requiring
disclaimers in science books acknowledging "one God as the creator of
human life in the universe." (The measure later died in a conference
committee.)
* Arizona approved legislation requiring public school children to recite a
passage from the Declaration of Independence that includes references to
the "Creator."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington,
D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization represents 60,000 members and allied
houses of worship in all 50 states.
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Texas Schools React to Prayer Rule
Mark Babineck (AP)
19 June 00
SANTA FE, Texas -- The Supreme Court has spoken, but that doesn't
necessarily mean there won't be any prayers anymore before football games
at Santa Fe High.
In a 6-3 ruling Monday, the court barred school officials in this Houston
suburb of 10,000 from letting students lead stadium crowds in prayer before
games.
However, school board member Robin Clayton warned that the mostly Baptist
district cannot control what students or others say on their own.
"Spontaneous things happen, don't they?" Clayton said at a news conference.
The high court said the school improperly sponsored religion by allowing
the student body to elect someone to give an invocation before football
games.
School board members said they do not yet know what kind of rules will be
adopted in place of the old ones.
"We got a very disappointing, disturbing and disillusioning answer from the
Supreme Court this morning," said John Couch II, president of the Santa Fe
school system for the past two years.
This spring, the invocation was delivered by Marian Ward, daughter of the
Rev. Bob Ward, a Southern Baptist minister. She was attending a church camp
and unavailable for comment Monday, he said.
During Marian Ward's speech, graduate Amanda Bruce sat in silent protest.
She said Monday she believes the school district will find a way to work
prayer into football games in spite of the Supreme Court.
"Every self-righteous person around here wants" prayer, said Bruce, a
Catholic.
The lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court decision was filed by two women -
one Catholic and one Mormon - whose identities were sealed by the courts.
Both still have children in the district and were elated by the decision,
said friend Debbie Mason.
"Thank God, thank God," said Mason, a Baptist who has put four children
through the district. "This time it was football games, next it could have
been the classroom. It is a slippery slope. This school district knew what
it was doing and kept pushing and pushing."
Three of the seven board members attended the news conference at the school
administration building.
Asked about recent allegations that a Jewish middle school student was
harassed, they denied that there is any climate of exclusion in the
district, which is predominantly white, Hispanic and Christian.
Superintendent Richard Ownby noted that the middle school has taken field
trips to Holocaust Museum Houston, and that "The Diary of Anne Frank" is
part of the curriculum.
At his business across the street from the news conference, Kenneth Jacob
was disappointed by the high court's ruling.
"You walk down the school hallway any day and you'll hear the Lord's name
taken in vain, but you can't pray," Jacob said. "When you take God out of
anything, you put the devil in his place."
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Supreme Court Narrowly Upholds First Amendment In Texas Football School
Prayer Case
People For the American Way
19 June 00
The Supreme Court today ruled 6-3 that a Texas public school district's
practice of opening high school football games with a prayer is
unconstitutional. In the case, Santa Fe Independent School District v.Jane
Doe, People For the American Way Foundation participated as amicus to
uphold the religious liberty of parents and students who protested the
school-sponsored prayer.
"The Santa Fe school district tried to promote religion by disguising it as
neutral free speech, but the Court has unmasked the district's policy for
what it is - unconstitutional, school-sponsored, captive-audience prayer,"
said PFAWF President Ralph G. Neas "This school district has a history of
crossing the line, time and again, by favoring, if not coercing, religious
expression. But the Court saw through this subterfuge and upheld the
Constitution and its guarantee of religious liberty for all Americans,
regardless of their beliefs."
"The narrowness of this decision is troubling," Neas added, "and it
indicates how dramatically one or two more right-wing Justices would shift
the balance and redefine Americans' fundamental religious liberty."
The school district's history of promoting expressions of certain kinds of
Protestant Christian faith and of intolerance toward minority faiths was a
part of the evidence presented in this case.
The prayer policy struck down today was instituted by the school as a
substitute for the previous practice of authorizing students designated as
"chaplains" to present Christian prayers over the public address system at
home football games. In addition, one of the student plaintiffs was
subjected to ridicule by a teacher who characterized her religion
(Mormonism) as "non-Christian" and "cult-like," prompting other students to
characterize the plaintiff's faith as "evil" and "kind of like the KKK."
In addition, court documents show that the district court where the case
was initially filed had to threaten the school district with "THE HARSHEST
POSSIBLE CONTEMPT SANCTIONS" and/or "CRIMINAL LIABILITY" in order to halt
attempts by administrators, teachers, and other employees of the school
district "overtly or covertly to ferret out the identifies of the
Plaintiffs ... by means of bogus petitions, questionnaires, individual
interrogation, or downright 'snooping.' " (emphasis in original)
"The fact that Justices Scalia and Thomas, the Court's most right-
wing justices, would side, along with Chief Justice Rehnquist, with a
school district that has so abused individual rights is a sobering reminder
of how precarious the balance is that, for now, protects our freedoms,"
said Neas. "It would only take two more Justices like Scalia and Thomas to
turn back the clock for all Americans."
People For the American Way Foundation recently released a report,"Courting
Disaster," that details the devastating impact that a further rightward
shift on the U.S. Supreme Court would have on Americans' fundamental rights
and freedoms. The report documents exactly how adding just one or two
Justices who share Scalia's and Thomas' far-right legal philosophy could
tip the balance on the Court for decades to come.
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Supreme Court Ruling On Football Prayer A Victory For Individual Freedom,
Says Americans
United Americans United for Separation of Church and State
20 June 00
Today's Supreme Court ruling against official prayers before public school
football games slams the door on majority rule in religious matters, says
Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"The Supreme Court made the right call. School-sponsored football prayer
deserved to be sacked," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of
Americans United.
"The justices rightly said that students should never be allowed to bully
classmates into religious worship they may not believe in," Lynn added.
"Allowing majorities to impose their religion on everyone else is
fundamentally un-American."
The case, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, centered on the
constitutionality of a Texas school system's policy of allowing students to
vote on whether to have prayers during school events, like football games.
A federal appellate court struck down the policy, and this morning the
Supreme Court upheld that decision.
In a 6-3 ruling written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court majority
held that "student-led, student-initiated" prayers at football games
violate the separation of church and state by coercing students to
participate in religion.
"Religious Right groups that complain that the court has censored prayer
are dead wrong," Lynn said. "The court has reaffirmed the principle that
prayer cannot be imposed on young people against their will. Mob rule on
religion has no place in our public schools."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington,
D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization represents 60,000 members and allied
houses of worship in all 50 states.
For additional information on the Santa Fe case, check "Supreme Court and
Football Prayer: Frequently Asked Questions" on AU's website at
<http://www.au.org/pr61900faq.htm>
* * * * *
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only.
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FASCISM:
We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.
(No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)
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