The Augusta Courier

99 Regents Act To Counteract "No Prayer Rule Of Court"

Provision Made For Religious Atmosphere In Each Of State Colleges

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has moved to counteract the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States outlawing prayer in the public schools of New York State.

In a resolution adopted at its July meeting, held on the 11th day of that month, the board moved by way of a resolution to guarantee religious freedom in the nineteen institutions in the University System and, at the same time, provided for a religious atmosphere in each of the institutions.

The object of the resolution is to encourage and promote the free and voluntary exercise of religious worship and religious freedom in the University System.

The Regents' Resolution

The resolution, as adopted by the Regents, follows in full:

The principle of religious freedom is fundamental to our American heritage and way of life. Our forefathers settled in America seeking religious freedom. The authors of the Bill of Rights of our federal Constitution obviously intended to preserve religious freedom. Throughout the years the several states respectively have supported this basic principle in recognition of the fact that our country was founded on the basis of freedom of religion and not on the premise or precept of freedom from religion.

This principle of religious freedom means that the individual is free to exercise his religious convictions. Moreover it means that church and state are separated, and as separate entities they are free of control from each other. On the one hand, the church is free to grow without assistance or hindrance from the state, and the various church denominations are free from state control. On the other hand, separation does not mean that the state is godless or that it considers itself exempt from spiritual values and moral law.

The members of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, as representatives of the state, are concerned with the growth and development of every phase of the being and personality of the individual student. A student should be given every reasonable opportunity to grow and develop intellectually, physically, socially and religiously. To omit any one of these facts of growth would not be to the best interests of the student or the state.

Thus, the members of the Board of Regents wish to commend the administration and faculty of those institutions in the University System which provided for the voluntary participation in non-denominational prayers and which foster a non-sectarian religious atmosphere in which a student may grow spiritually. To do otherwise would serve only to render aid to the disciples of atheism and give comfort to the enemies of our American way of life.

A non-sectarian religious atmosphere may be created by chapel services, Religious Emphasis weeks, courses in religion, student religious groups, but especially in the attitudes and dedication to religious values of the administration and faculty of each institution.

It is the feeling of the members of the Board of Regents that the omission of religious values from the various institutions in a day in which there has been a tremendous growth of knowledge in the basic sciences creates a condemnatory imbalance of values.

The free and voluntary exercise of religious freedom and the acknowledgement of our Creator as a Supreme Being, omnipotent and all wise, and upon whom our very existence, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness are entirely dependent, should be prohibited by no one. But on the contrary, the free and voluntary exercise of religious freedom should be encouraged by all.

Therefore, the members of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia wishes to express through the Chancellor to the Presidents of all the institutions in the University System its desire to have religious values included in the total educational programs of each institution. The religious atmosphere of each college and the attitudes of the administration and faculty should reveal an explicit belief in and dependency on God.