End ‘Disdain’ for Religion, Bennett Vows : Justices Misinterpret First Amendment, He Tells Catholic Group

Education Secretary William J. Bennett today said “misguided” court rulings have removed religious influence from public schools and vowed to try to end a “disdain for religious belief” in some segments of society.

In remarks to a convention of the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus, Bennett accused the Supreme Court of interpreting the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom as a ban on non-discriminatory public support of religion.

The court has also failed to recognize the relationship between religion, related moral values and the preservation of democracy, he said.

“And that relationship is this: Our values as a free people and the central values of the Judeo-Christian tradition are flesh of the flesh, blood of the blood,” he said.

‘4 Decades of Decisions’

“It would be fruitless here to go into a long recapitulation of almost four decades of misguided court decisions,” Bennett added.

“These decisions have had two effects: They have thrust religion and things touched by religion out of the public schools, and they have made it far more difficult to give aid to parents of children in private church-related schools.”

By limiting public aid to parochial schools, the court “failed to reflect sufficiently on the relationship between our faith and our political order,” Bennett added.

He said the Education Department will try to “nullify the damage” of a recent decision that restricted public school teachers from giving remedial classes in parochial schools. Plans call for introduction of legislation to allow local schools to convert certain federal aid funds into a voucher program allowing parents to use the money in any school, he said.

‘A Bit Better Disguised’

The emphasis on exclusion of religion from government activities follows an earlier tendency by some Americans toward “old-fashioned suspicion of particular religions,” Bennett said.

The new attitude, he added, is a “suspicion of our broad religious tradition on the part of secularized elites, far more sophisticated, a bit better disguised, but no less divisive, no less reprehensible, no less damaging.”

The Administration’s position does not call for adherence to particular religious beliefs as proof of good citizenship but for recognition of the importance of religious values in shaping national traditions and values, he said.

“When we have disdain for our religious tradition, we have disdain for ourselves,” Bennett said.

“The Administration . . . will continue to press for legislation and where necessary, judicial reconsideration and constitutional amendment, to help correct the current situation of disdain for religious belief,” he added.