Editor’s Introduction

Abstract

There is no need to justify our topic as a "current issue." The daily news accomplishes that. In fact, the issues are so current that the June Supreme Court decision upholding Minnesota's tuition tax deduction system necessitated changes in these essays written as recently as this Spring. "Current," of course, does not necessarily mean of recent origin. The argument about church/ state religious entanglement in the educational process is an old one. As both authors make clear, the source of this current issue goes well back in American history. One historical commentator on the question of state aid for religious instruction, John Dewey, has a special interest for us. In his longest comment on the subject, "Religion and Our Schools" (Hibbert Journal, 1908), Dewey found not only the roots of the controversy in American history but also one source of his opposition to state support, "The lesson of the two and a half centuries lying between the Protestant revolt and the formation of the nation was well learned as respected the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the state as against all divisive ecclesiastical divisions." Dewey's later remarks echoed his 1908 article. For example, in 1940, as Honorary Chairman of the Committee for Cultural Freedom, Dewey spoke out against a released time plan for the New York Public Schools (New York Times, 14 November 1940, p. 18). And in 1947 he joined with several other prominent educators in this reaction against using public funds to support transportation for parochial education, "Our historic American doctrine of the separation of church and state appears seriously threatened, and many of our people are much troubled. The 5-4 decision some months ago of the Supreme Court upholding public pay for bus service to parochial schools feeds fuel to the flames" (New York Times, 1 October 1947, p. 28).