Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/475

 THE GREEN BAG

444

NOTES OF THE

MOST

IMPORTANT

RECENT

CASES

COMPILED BY THE EDITORS OF THE NATIONAL REPORTER

SYSTEM

AND

ANNOTATED

BY

SPECIALISTS IN THE SEVERAL SUBJECTS (Copies of the pamphlet Reporters containing full reports of any of these decisions may be secured from the West Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, at accents each. In ordering, the title of the desired case should be given as well as the citation of volume and page of the Reporter in which it is printed.) CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. (Bible in Schools.) Tex. Civ. App. — The use of the Bible in the public schools appears to be a source of irritation in many jurisdictions. The question whether the Bible can be used constitutionally to a limited extent has been up for consideration in several courts, the latest case dealing with this question being that of Church v. Bullock, 100 S. W. Rep. 1035. The Texas Constitution provides that no one shall be compelled to attend or support any place of worship, and that no money shall be appropriated from the treasury for the benefit of any religious society or for the support of any sectarian school. These constitutional provi sions, it was contended, were violated by the morning exercises in the public schools consist ing of the reading by the teacher, without com ment, of nonsectarian extracts from King James' version of the Bible and by repeating the Lord's Prayer and the singing of appropriate songs in which pupils were invited but not required to join. The court observes that this contention is sustained by Weiss v. District Board, 44 N. W. 967, 76 Wis. 177, 7 L. R. A. 330-336, 20 Am. St. Rep. 41; Board of Education v. Minor, 23 Ohio St. an, 13 Am. Rep. 233; Freeman v. Scheve, 91 N. W. 846, 93 N. W. 169, 65 Neb. 853, 59 L. R. A. 927. But the court is of the opinion that these exercises do not contravene the Con stitution, and states that the great majority of the cases sustain their views. Such cases are cited. Hackett v. Trustees, 87 S. W. 792, 27 Ky. Law Rep. 1021, 69 L. R. A. 592; Billard v. Board, 76 Pac. 422, 69 Kan. 53, 66 L. R. A. 166, 105 Am. St. Rep. 148; Pfeiffer v. Board, 77 N. W. 250 118 Mich. 560, 42 L. R A. 536; Moore v. Monroe, 64 Iowa 367, 20 N. W. 475, 5s Am. Rep. 444; Spiller v. Woburn, 94 Mass. 127. In passing upon a similar question the Supreme Court of Michigan, in the case of Pfeiffer v. Board of Education, 77 N. 250, said, " Since the admission of almost all the American states into the Union, and in many cases for a period extending over half

a century, the practice has maintained in almost all the state institutions of learning of not only read ing from the Bible in the presence of the students, but of offering prayer. The text books used in the public schools have contained extracts from the Bible and numerous references to almighty God and his attributes and all this without objecton from any source. Of these usages the courts may well take judicial notice. In doubtful cases in volving other questions than those which appeal so strongly to the prejudices of men, would not these universal usages, extending over such lengthy periods, be deemed decisive as practical construc tions of the constitutional questions involved?" The view, indeed, which will perhaps come to be generally adopted is that which was recently taken by the Supreme Court of Nebraska in the case of State v. Scheve, 59 L. R. A., 927. In this case the court repudiated the idea that the mere reading of the Bible makes of the schoolhouse a place of religious instruction or that the mere reading of the Bible is sectarian worship, and held that the point where the courts may rightfully intervene and where they should intervene without hesitation, is where legitimate use has degenerated into abuse, that is, where a teacher employed to give secular instruction has violated the constitution by becom ing a sectarian propagandist. That sectarian instruction may be given by frequent reading with out note or comment is or course obvious as is well pointed out by Mr. Justice Cassoday in the case of Weiss v. District Board, etc., 76 Wis. 177. Per sistent reiteration indeed is the most effective means of forcing alien conceptions upon reluctant minds. Whether it is prudent or politic to permit Bible reading in the public schools should therefore be a question for the school authorities to determine. But whether Bible reading has taken the form of sectarian instruction should in each particular case be a question for the courts to determine upon evidence. This position is entirely consistent with Mr. Justice Cassoday's argument, though not with his conclusion in the case of Weiss v. District Board