Prayer Left Unanswered

The Senate rejects a constitutional amendment

As the afternoon wore on, the crowd outside the Capitol grew larger and louder. Demonstrators carried placards demanding the return of God to America’s classrooms. Television evangelists addressed the crowd through megaphones as journalists jostled for position. Inside the Senate chamber, Majority Leader Howard Baker announced: “The hour is at hand to stop talking and start voting.” All 100 members came to the floor during the 52 minutes of roll calls as Vice President George Bush ceremoniously acted as presiding officer. But the final tally left many prayers unanswered. The vote last week on a proposed constitutional amendment to permit organized praying in public schools was 56 to 44 in favor, eleven votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve the measure.

If the amendment had been passed by a two-thirds majority of the Senate and the House and subsequently ratified by three-fourths of the states, it would have overturned a series of Supreme Court decisions. Dating back to 1962, they declared state-sponsored prayers in public schools to be violations of the First Amendment.

The rejection of the amendment was particularly disappointing for President Reagan. A longtime supporter of school prayer, Reagan revived the issue in this election year as a way to rally his conservative core constituency. Even though the Executive Branch has no official constitutional role in the amendment process, Reagan endorsed a version of the proposal that would have permitted spoken prayer in classrooms. When conservative Republican Orrin Hatch drew up an alternative proposal permitting only silent prayer, correctly arguing that it would have a better chance of passage, Reagan pressured him into backing down.

The President mounted a low-pitched lobby, inviting Republicans Robert Stafford of Vermont and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to the White House for some friendly persuasion. As he left the Oval Office, Stafford said to Reagan, “Of all the Presidents I’ve known, from Eisenhower to you, you’re the hardest to say no to.” But both Senators did indeed say no, along with 16 other Republicans and 26 Democrats. Political pressure appeared to play a role. Of the 29 Senators seeking re-election this year, 20 voted for the amendment. Of the 67 Senators not up for reelection, 34 voted no.

Opponents hammered away at the weak spots in the measure: the problem of who would decide the wording of school prayers; the possibility of offending children from families of minority religious beliefs; and the fundamental issue of the separation of church and state. Connecticut Republican Lowell Weicker, who led the opposition, concluded the Senate debate by asking his colleagues, “Why forfeit our birthright of religious liberty for a mess of speculative, political pottage?”

Taking the floor after the vote, North Carolina’s conservative Republican Jesse Helms exclaimed, “Mr. President, we have just begun to fight!” Most Senators, however, wandered out of the chamber, apparently relieved that the voting was behind them. The controversy may persist, but the issue in the Senate and House is dead, at least for this year. If the President is reelected, the school-prayer amendment will most likely be resurrected. Said Reagan last week: “Our struggle will go on.”