Regional Report; 14; School Prayers

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This record is featured in “Education Reporting on Public Television.” This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
Regional Report
Episode Number
14
Episode
School Prayers
Producing Organization
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-512-154dn40k63
NOLA Code
RGNR
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Description
Episode Description
Most Texas schools have defied the Supreme Court ruling banning ritual prayers. They have justified this defiance by inserting voluntary prayer, generally led and sometimes composed by students. This system, according to a Houston school board member, contrasts with the outlawed prescribed, compulsory prayers. Not only is school prayer still permitted in Texas it is encouraged by school boards, communities, and the local press. This point was made in interviews in Houston, Fort Worth, and Austin. In Dallas, where the same attitude prevails, no one from the school system would appear on the episode, as a result of suspicion toward inquiry from the outside. Mrs. Madeline Murray OHare, the woman who carried the original case against school prayer to the Supreme Court, is interviewed at her Austin home. She describes continuing prayer here as Texan defiance, and recalls various areas of the country which originally balked against the court ruling. Now, even in Texas, she is often confronted by parents asking her to do something about the prayers in their childrens schools. She adds that if religion is ever studied in the schools, it will die, since it cannot stand the unbiased glare of publicity. Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois is meanwhile proposing an amendment to the Constitution which would permit voluntary prayer, Jack Mabley, reporting from Chicago comments on the amendments progress and shows scenes of the Senator in his most forensic vein, lamenting I wondered where the shepherds were when school prayer was banned. Last session, the prayer amendment failed to gain the necessary two-thirds vote though it achieved 49 yeas among the 86 votes cast. Dirksen will try again this session. In Nashville, headquarters for various Protestant religious groups, REGIONAL REPORT talks with three ministers opposed to the Dirksen amendment. One describes it as an attempt to recapture a lost ethos for that reason it will fail. In Boston, public schools have instituted a moment of silence during which the episode shows come Catholic children crossing themselves. The state of Massachusetts now allows an hour each week during which children can leave school for specific religious training. In New York, religious leaders debate the value of teaching religion in secondary schools. The episode visits Mamaroneck, NY, scene of one such experiment in The Bible as literature. Sylvan Meyer of WGTV, Athens, GA, visits a Negro school where prayers continue. The principal explains that prayer is the only weapon available to the Negro child. Around the Southeast, Meyer says, school are bootlegging moments of inspiration. REGIONAL REPORT #14: SCHOOL PRAYERS is a 1967 production of National Educational Television. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
A series of bi-monthly interpretative regional reports focusing on local aspects of important national issues. For the series, a network of regional editors made up of experienced newspaper and magazine reporters was set up at key places throughout the United States to examine the specific nature of the problem in their localities. The 19 episodes that comprise this series varied in length from 60 to 90 minutes and were all originally recorded on videotape, except for the first episode, which was originally recorded on film. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1967-03-29
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Politics and Government
Religion
Politics and Government
Religion
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
01:00:26.890
Credits
Editor: Niven, Paul
Executive Producer: Weston, William
Interviewee: O'Hare, Madeline Murray
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
Reporter: Dirksen, Everett
Reporter: Meyer, Sylvan
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-cdd508d0da9 (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
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Citations
Chicago: “Regional Report; 14; School Prayers,” 1967-03-29, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-154dn40k63.
MLA: “Regional Report; 14; School Prayers.” 1967-03-29. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-154dn40k63>.
APA: Regional Report; 14; School Prayers. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-154dn40k63