A DOUBLE-EDGED DOUBT

The recent decision of Justice Staley of New York renders legal the action of the White Plains school board in dismissing pupils at the option of their parents half an hour early to attend religious instruction. In the opinion of Judge Staley, neither the constitutional provision for the separation of church and state nor the requirement of compulsory school attendance were infringed. According to strict, legalistic interpretation of the statutes, the judge was no doubt correct. But socially, the wisdom of cutting into school hours to provide for theological education is open to question.

Essentially, the sacrifice of time from secular for religious instruction is a confession of family incompetence, an admission that parents can no longer be trusted to provide opportunity for the religious teaching of their children. To this end, therefore, the state as symbolized by the White Plains school board furnishes a gentle reminder, a small jog at the elbow.

Although not conceived with cynical intent, the early dismissal from school is a reflection on the sense of proportion of the general public. A not unin fluential group has determined that America shall not slip down the lax road to ruin. The methods employed however, fit ill with the announced intention. Morality in the last analysis would appear to rest on the inclinations and customs of the people and not on the pointed paternalisms of authority.

Interference which in New York State is in the form of an optional hint all too easily turns to iron-clad regulation as in the Tennessee imbroglio And even the mild allowance of half an hour a week from school-time is scarcely compatible with a healthy public self-respect. State encouragement of theology is an introversion of initiative implying a lack of confidence in the national fiber--a doubt striking at the foundation of morality.