Separation of Church, State

The Times has no business attacking Education Secretary William Bennett for his valid criticisms of the Supreme Court’s recent church-state decisions. The so-called “constitutional separation of church and state” has as its sole constitutional basis the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits only the establishment of a national church. The “case” for any broader prohibition has been totally destroyed by constitutional scholars such as Robert Cord. It is clearly the Times, not Mr. Bennett, that needs homework on this subject, by studying some historical facts, not disproven ideological cliches.

MARK WYLIE San Marino