School Prayer Rivals Vow to Keep Fight Civil : Truce: Religious, educational and civil liberties groups agree to drop name-calling and other negative tactics. U.S. official hails decision.

Call it a truce in the culture wars.

Despite their differences over the propriety of prayer and religious activity in the public schools, some of the nation’s most bitter ideological enemies have vowed to conduct their fight in a more civil and constructive manner.

In what U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley hailed as “good news for public education,” 17 religious, civil liberties and education groups issued a six-point statement of principles affirming religious liberty and promising to end the “personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule and similar tactics” that have characterized debate over public schools in recent years.

Signers of the statement range from the conservative Christian Coalition and National Assn. of Evangelicals to the liberal People for the American Way and the National Council of Churches.

“In recent years, the public space where religion and public education meet has become an area of increasing concern for many Americans,” Riley told a news conference this week at the Freedom Forum World Center, an Arlington, Va.-based nonprofit foundation that seeks to advance 1st Amendment rights.

“There is an intensity surrounding this debate about religion and public education and, at times, this intensity has become corrosive and harmful,” Riley said.

On the national level, the battle over public schools has been temporarily overshadowed by the debate over the Republican Congress’ “contract with America.”

But it is expected to erupt again in early summer when debate begins over proposals to restore prayer to the public schools and to provide federally funded vouchers for parents sending their children to religious schools.

On the local level, many communities find themselves embroiled in religious controversy on a daily basis over such issues as what books a school library may stock, the wearing of religious garb and symbols, the role of religious clubs, and the proper methods to teach religion in the schools.

While the agreement announced Tuesday will not end those struggles, it could change the tone of the debate, said Charles Haynes, visiting professional scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and a prime mover behind the statement.

“When we differ, and we will, we recognize our civic responsibility to debate with civility and respect, and to engage in constructive dialogue,” Haynes said.

Steve McFarland, director of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom, a Virginia-based legal advocacy group on behalf of religious rights, said his group signed the statement “because emphasizing fundamental common ground is more constructive than issuing militant, divisive rhetoric.”

Elliot Mincberg, executive vice president of People for the American Way, a liberal civil-liberties advocacy group, also said there were “deep and abiding differences of opinion on many important issues.”

But, he added, “it is good to remind each other--and to remind ourselves--that the way we talk about fundamental American values like religious liberty, citizenship and education is important.”

The statement, called “Religious Liberty, Public Education, and the Future of American Democracy,” put forth these principles:

* Religious liberty is an inalienable right of every person.

* Citizenship in a diverse society means living with deep differences and resolving to work for public policies that serve the best interest of all.

* Parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing of their children, including education.

* Public schools must model the democratic process and constitutional principles in the development of policies and curricula.

* Civil debate, the cornerstone of a true democracy, is vital to the success of any effort to improve and reform America’s public schools.

The statement was drafted by Haynes, Forest Montgomery of the Washington office of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, and Gene Carter, executive director of the Assn. for Supervision and Curriculum Development, an international body of educators.

In addition to Carter’s group, education organizations signing the statement include the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Assn., the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals and the National School Boards Assn.