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From: arnold@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Kenneth C R C Arnold)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: School Prayer
Message-ID: <10773@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 03:49:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.10773
Posted: Wed Oct 23 03:49:50 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Oct-85 00:43:56 EDT
References: <344@unc.unc.UUCP>
Reply-To: arnold@ucbvax.UUCP (Kenneth C R C Arnold)
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 35
Xref: watmath net.politics:11648 net.religion.christian:1490

In article <344@unc.unc.UUCP> goodrum@unc.UUCP (Cloyd Goodrum) writes:
>[Sheldon] Vanauken suggests that every public school in the country begin the
>day with the words "God save the United States and this honorable school", 
>just as the Supreme Court begins its day with the words "God save the United 
>States and this honorable court". 
>
>The court could do one of three things:
>
>(a) 	Rule that the practice is constitutional, since it is nearly identical
>to the practice of the Supreme Court.
>
>(b) 	Admit that it had been mistakenly indulging in an unconstitutional
>practice for years.
>
>(c)	Rule that substituting the word "school" for "court" transforms the
>invocation from a harmless piece of rhetoric into a prayer. (Which would take
>a lot of fancy judicial prestidigitation.)
>
>	Cloyd Goodrum III

Or

(d)	Do what it would do, which is rule that adults are more capable
	of choosing their own beliefs than children, and are therefore
	in substantially less need of protection than children.  Which
	is what they have based all their rulings on school prayer on.
	Has Mr.  V. read one?  Maybe he should before advising people
	to do the ridiculous in the name of alleged constitutionality.

Not that I think opening US Gov't procedings in the name of God is
constitutional either.  But that isn't what they've been saying over
the years, as anyone who payed attention to their actual opinions
(rather than their own) might be able to figure out.

		Ken Arnold