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November 20, 1998/ 1 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 9
Arizona becomes legal battleground over Bible Week
Proclamations get their first test in courts
ANNE BRADY
Associate Editor
For more than 50 years, dozens of the nation's governors and hundreds of mayors across the country have been issuing proclamations declaring Bible Week every November.
But it is Arizona that has become the battleground for a first-ever court challenge of the constitutionality of such government proclamations recognizing Thanksgiving week as a week honoring the Bible and, in some cases, encouraging people to read and study the Bible. If the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, find that the town of Gilbert's and/or the state of Arizona's Bible Week proclamations are unconstitutional, the ruling could have a ripple effect, canceling Bible Week proclamations across the country.
"This is distressing. It's something that's going to polarize people, and that's not what we're about. Anything that polarizes people is sad," commented Thomas May, president of the New York-based National Bible Association, which organizes Bible Week and related activities. "I do think governors and mayors should have the freedom to do this."
But the Arizona Civil Liberties Union maintains that the Bible Week proclamations are unconstitutional and violate the principle of the separation of church and state.
"The proclamation aids one religion (Christianity, or alternatively, all Judeo-Christian religious tradition) and prefers religion over non-religion," alleged a lawsuit filed this week by the ACLU in U.S. District Court, challenging Bible Week in Gilbert. "Mayor (Cynthia) Dunham and the Town of Gilbert violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by: promoting or affiliating the Town of Gilbert with the religious doctrine of the Bible; discriminating against non-Christians in favor of Christians; and favoring religion over non-religion."
The ACLU's case also argues that the proclamations violate a prohibition in the state constitution against spending public money on "any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment."
Following issuance of a temporary restraining order by a federal court judge on Monday, Nov. 16, Dunham agreed not to proclaim Bible Week in Gilbert in 1998. A hearing is now scheduled for Dec. 11 on the ACLU's case against Dunham and Gilbert.
However, unbeknownst to the ACLU and other Bible Week opponents at the time, Gov. Jane Hull on Nov. 5 declared Bible Week statewide. When Hull became aware of the controversy, she said she would not rescind the proclamation. She was out of the state most of this week, but she hopes to meet next week with ACLU Executive Director Eleanor Eisenberg, as well as with representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, about their concerns, said George Weisz, executive assistant to the governor.
"A proclamation is really just a glorified letter of congratulations, a kind of celebration of the diversity of the community," Weisz told the Jewish News on Wednesday, Nov. 18, by telephone from Sky Harbor International Airport, as he was preparing to leave the state for a few days as well. "I understand the fight for the separation of church and state. Everyone should remain vigilant on that issue. The question is where that constitutional line should be drawn, and whether this has gone beyond the line. This is a legitimate issue for discussion."
However, Weisz also noted that "there was no outrage expressed when the governor last year lit Hanukkah candles on state time."
Eisenberg said at press time on Wednesday, Nov. 18, that she anticipated going to court on Thursday, Nov. 19, to seek an injunction rescinding Arizona's Bible Week.
"We can't wait until next week because next week is Bible Week," she noted.
The origins of the National Bible Association go back to 1940 when, facing the prospect of the United States entering World War II, 11 business leaders gathered in New York City in 1940 and organized the National Committee for Religious Recovery. The committee began meeting regularly and decided to focus its efforts on promoting the reading and study of the Bible as a way of restoring moral stability. It renamed itself the Laymen's National Committee and planned the first Bible Week in December of 1941.
In 1969, the organization added "Bible" to its name, and in 1986, it became the Laymen's National Bible Association. This year, it dropped the word "laymen's," but the board members continue to be business people who are not clergy.
(May noted that there currently is one Jewish board member, magazine publisher Irv Borowsky of Philadelphia. Borowsky, who is chairman of the American Interfaith Institute and is in the process of opening a museum, did not return phone calls seeking comment.)
According to a news release from the association, the purpose of Bible Week "is to foster reading and study of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and to reaffirm the founding principles of our nation."
Every year, the president of the United States issues a message about Bible Week and one U.S. senator and one member of the House of Representatives enter statements in the congressional record. In addition, one state governor and one mayor serve as annual chairpersons, and they urge other governors and mayors to pass proclamations.
This year, May said, about 30 governors and 500 mayors signed the proclamations. A list was expected to be posted by today (Nov. 20) on the association's Web page at www.nationalbible.org.
"To my knowledge, it has never come to litigation before," said May, although he acknowledged there have occasionally been complaints about various Bible Week proclamations. Apparently, civil rights activists had little knowledge of the proclamations until recent years, when various citizens heard about them while watching city and town council meetings on cable television. Then, when local ACLU offices would complain, cities would usually back down.
"The response I've gotten (from other state ACLU offices) is that litigation hasn't been necessary," said Eisenberg.
A national spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union agreed that, in general, across the country and in the state of Arizona, municipalities have tended to back down regarding Bible Week when challenged - until the town of Gilbert's mayor last year outright refused to stop issuing the proclamations. At that time, Eisenberg vowed to take Dunham to court if she attempted to proclaim Bible Week in 1998.
Then Hull's proclamation came to light last weekend. According to Hull's office, at least one other Arizona governor has declared Bible Week - Fife Symington in 1995. Early in the week, Hull's office released a stack of other governors' and presidents' Bible Week proclamations, while also noting that a governor signs hundreds of proclamations each year, recognizing everything from the International Day of Prayer to Clown Week.
Also this week, the B'nai B'rith Grand Canyon Lodge sent a letter to Hull urging her to rescind Bible Week and attempted, in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the federation, to organize a phone-the-governor campaign in the Jewish community. However, as of mid-week, the governor's office had received roughly 105 calls in opposition to Bible Week and about 875 in support.
Eisenberg said her offices, along with the offices of Jewish organizations, ACLU attorneys at the law firm Brown & Bain, and journalists covering the controversy have all received harassing, anti-Semitic phone calls. One attorney had to decline involvement in the case because he has children enrolled in Gilbert public schools and feared retribution, Eisenberg said.
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