RELIGION IN PUBLIC

Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, long ago carved out one of the great congressional careers of our time. Long a leader in the pro-life movement, Hyde is a thoughtful conservative who labored in the minority for nearly 20 years before ascending to chairman of the Judiciary Committee upon the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.

Now Rep. Hyde is making another thoughtful contribution to the debate over the proper place of religion in our public life with a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Hyde's proposed amendment seeks to clarify that role. Hyde's committee heard testimony from supporters who argued the amendment is needed to prevent hundreds of faulty decisions routinely made each year by officials who mistakenly believe the Constitution requires them to stamp out all religious expression in public schools and other public venues.

The proposed amendment seeks to clarify guarantees of religious liberty already in the Constitution but sometimes misunderstood. "The problem is not with the Constitution itself, but with courts that interpret the First Amendment in a way that undermines rather than protects religious freedom," Hyde said. The chairman continues, provocatively: "Public school teachers, who accept reports on witches, forbid students from writing reports on Jesus. ... Religious charitable institutions are forbidden from acting like religious institutions when public welfare funds flow through their books."

Hyde makes a persuasive case for his claim that the federal courts have so completely fouled up First Amendment jurisprudence that his corrective measure is needed. His effort should be understood in proper context: Agree or disagree, it is an understandable response to overreaching by unelected judges and other cultural elites whose efforts have denuded our public square of nearly all references to God, no matter how innocent, not to mention needed.