[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 22, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        VOLUNTARY SCHOOL PRAYER

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, yesterday, by a vote of 345 to 64, the 
House of Representatives agreed to withhold Federal education funds 
from school districts that prohibit students from engaging in voluntary 
prayer in public school. I applaud my colleagues in the House for this 
vote and especially commend Congressman Johnson of Texas who drafted 
the language. This amendment should remain in the bill which will 
provide Federal aid to elementary and secondary school programs.
  Also, my good friend and colleague, Senator Helms, had offered a 
similar amendment to S. 1150, the Goals 2000, Educate America Act, 
which was adopted in the Senate by a vote of 75 to 22. However, the 
House-Senate conference on Goals 2000, in a hasty manner, adopted so-
called compromise language on the Helms amendment which completely 
misses the mark of the original Senate position. Hopefully, this action 
will not stand and the Senate will have the opportunity to reiterate 
its position on voluntary prayer in public schools.
  Mr. President, last year on the first legislative day of the 103d 
Congress, I introduced Senate Joint Resolution 9 which is a proposed 
constitutional amendment to allow voluntary school prayer. This bill is 
essentially the same as legislation which I introduced at the request 
of President Reagan in March 1983, during the 98th Congress. I 
reintroduced this amendment in the 99th, 100th, 101st, and 102d 
Congress. This proposal would restore the right to pray voluntarily in 
pubic schools--a right which was freely exercised under our 
Constitution for 170 years until the Supreme Court ruled to the 
contrary.
  Until the Supreme Court ruled in the Engel and Abington school 
district decisions, the establishment clause of the first amendment was 
generally understood to prohibit the Federal Government from officially 
approving, or holding in special favor, any particular faith or 
denomination. In crafting that clause, our Founding Fathers sought to 
prevent what had originally caused many colonial Americans to emigrate 
to this country--an official, state religion. At the same time, they 
sought, through the free exercise clause, to guarantee to all Americans 
the freedom to worship God without government interference or 
restraint. In their wisdom, they recognized that true religious liberty 
precluded the government from both forcing and preventing worship.
  In the 1960's, in one fell swoop, the Supreme Court overturned the 
long-settled public policies of tens of thousands of communities across 
the country. A moment of voluntary prayer at the start of the school 
day--a policy that had enriched the education of generations of school 
children since the founding of the Republic--was determined by the 
Supreme Court to be a menace to the first amendment.
  Mr. President, every morning we open the Senate and begin our workday 
with the comfort and stimulus of voluntary prayer. As a nation, we 
continue to recognize God in our Pledge of Allegiance by affirming that 
we are a nation ``under God.'' Our currency is inscribed with the 
motto, ``In God We Trust.'' It is time we restored the simple freedom 
of our citizens to offer prayer in our public schools and institutions. 
The public expression through prayer and recognition in other ways of 
our faith in God is a fundamental part of our American heritage. It 
should not be excluded from our public schools.
  Mr. President, our liberty springs from and depends upon an abiding 
faith in God. This has been clear from the time of George Washington, 
who stated in his farewell address:

       Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
     prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports 
     * * *. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that 
     morality can be maintained without religion * * * [R]eason 
     and experience both forbid us to expect that national 
     morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

  Mr. President, there is much discussion across this Nation on the 
breakdown of values and morality. There are concerns of violence in 
schools threatening the safety of teachers and students alike and 
undermining a sound learning environment. Of course, school prayer is 
not the panacea to end all problems, but I am confident that it will 
considerably add to the well-being and character development of 
America's children.
  Again, I commend the recent action by the House of Representatives 
and believe that we must rededicate our efforts to amending the 
Constitution to return voluntary prayer to public schools.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, let me express my appreciation to the distinguished 
Senator from South Carolina for his remarks. He and I have fought this 
battle for 21 years, to my knowledge. And as long as I am in the 
Senate, we will continue to do our best to restore voluntary prayer in 
the schools. It should never have been eliminated in the first place.
  If I may, I should like to ask the distinguished Senator from South 
Carolina one question.
  The Senator was a conferee on the Goals 2000, was he not?
  Mr. THURMOND. That is correct.
  Mr. HELMS. Is it not a fact that all of the issues had been 
ostensibly taken care of over several days of meetings, and the Helms 
amendment was put off to be the last item to be resolved by the 
conferees? And after that, it is my understanding that the so-called 
compromise language on the Helms amendment--which was not a compromise 
because the Democratic staff knew the language was unacceptable from 
the minute it was first proposed--was hastily adopted with virtually no 
debate during literally the last minute or two of the conference. Is 
that the understanding of the Senator from South Carolina?
  Mr. THURMOND. That is my understanding. I was necessarily absent but 
my staff was present and informed me of the situation.
  Mr. HELMS. I understand.
  It is a fact, is it not, that both the House and the Senate by 
overwhelming margins had approved what has come to be known as the 
Helms amendment? Is that correct?
  Mr. THURMOND. That is correct. The Senate passed the amendment of the 
Senator from North Carolina overwhelmingly by a vote of 75-22, and the 
House passed the same language overwhelmingly yesterday by a vote of 
345 to 64.
  Mr. HELMS. Prior to that, I ask the Senator, is it not a fact that 
the House of Representatives had instructed by an overwhelming vote 
their conferees to retain the Helms amendment on the Goals 2000 bill?
  Mr. THURMOND. I was informed that that was the case.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator.
  I want to say to the Senator that I have no desire whatsoever to 
delay the Senate in its quest for adjournment or recess on Thursday of 
this week. But unless and until the Helms amendment is restored to the 
Goals 2000 bill, this Senate runs the risk of being in session. And I 
will do my best to correct the error in judgment that was made by the 
senior Senator from Massachusetts on this issue in conference.
  I do not want to delay any Senator from going home. I do not want to 
delay myself. But this issue is so significant to what we hope to 
restore to this country. We could pass all the laws we want to about 
drugs, crime, and all the rest of it. But unless we get back on a moral 
and spiritual footing, I do not believe this country has a chance.
  Does the Senator agree with that?
  Mr. THURMOND. This is a vital issue. It concerns our society as a 
whole, and I am confident that we ought to pass this. And I think it 
will improve the social situation in the entire Nation.
  Mr. HELMS. Again, I thank the Senator for his kind remarks. I thank 
the Chair.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. THURMOND. Again, I commend the able Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Senator.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Mikulski). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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