European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes july 1985 columns comments James Kilpatrick controversy Over religion continues unabated a District judge in Michi Benjamin recently came up a remarkably sound and common with so Sical decision in one area of the Battle Over prayer in Public other fed eral judges elsewhere Are grappling with tests of last years equal Access the whole subject of which ought to promote Tranquility and continues to stir animosity and discord the Michigan Case arose when two Public High schools in Kalamazoo county announced plans for their Spring commencement at one Stu dents themselves proposed to deliver an invocation and a Benediction at the other the graduates were to select a local min when word spread of these promo dissident students brought suit to enjoin so intolerable an invasion of their personal on May 22 judge Gib son threw their suit out of let us have a cheer for judge Gib son he went Back to the Constitution says that Congress and by the states shall make no Law respecting an establishment of but the same Congress that approved the first amendment in 1789 also hired chaplains for the House and from that Day to gods blessings publicly have been sought in in legislative Halls and in the oaths of office taken by Public in planning an invocation and a Ben the Michigan graduates were following a Long they wanted a solemn opening and closing for an important event in their the fact that they chose a form from the Christian tradition is not itself reason to prohibit the the court found no evidence of a secret purpose to proselytize the audience to accept the tenets of any partic Carl Rowan tic owl rb3wtfr Jil my not ular the purpose of a commence ment exercise is not but Brief once a pose no danger of daily injunction it was a Wise decision Wiser by far than the supreme courts decision of june 4 in the matter of Alabama min Ute of silence to permit students to begin their Day with 60 seconds of medi tation or said the High would amount to a forbidden endorse ment of this was but the court is bitterly divided on the whole Issue of religion in Public and non sense May Well be when Congress approved the equal Access act last atheists and agnostics howled that the Law would result in voodoo satanic rites and resident gurus in the none of these extravagant apprehensions has a but the act has kicked up at least three the if you re provides that in any Public school receiving Federal student religious groups must be Given opportunities to meet before or after school on the same basis As other student the National Law journal has surveyed the in a District judge on May 9 found in favor of students who had formed a Christian in a District judge on May 29 came to an opposite conclusion this judge feared that to let the Christian club meet on school premises would lend the states imprimatur to in new when a Bibl study club appeared to be in Long Island school officials themselves went into a state court seeking a declaratory judgment on application of the some of the questions May be answered next the supreme court has agreed to hear argument in a Pennsylva Nia Case that arose before the equal a Cess act became a group of Williamsport students is appealing a third circuit ruling against their Effort to con duct prayer meetings under the same ground rules that apply to other student thus the conflict continues in in the past four the High court has approved a municipally owned creche in it has approved Nebraska employment of a chaplain for its it has approved the use of College classrooms for meetings of student religious it has condemned Ala Hamas minute of insidious it has struggled i conclusively with tax Laws that might Benefit parents of children in parochial one trouble with Reli Gion is that people either love it or hate and theres not much ground in the mid c Universal press Syndicate comparable Worth Tor female lobs is worthy concept the debate Over paying women in traditional female jobs the same As men doing work requiring comparable training and skill would be notable if Only for its a columnist for the righting Washington times assails Mary Rose As a member of the bloody Blouse brigade because she champions the idea of comparable pay for comparable Linda the hispanic staff director of the civil rights called the concept of Compa Rable Worth a scheme for redistributing wealth in this country and said it would be a social and economic Phyllis Long the Queen of called it an attack on the Blu Collar Clarence Pendleton chairman of the civil rights charged that comparable Worth is the loonies idea since Looney tunes came on the then in april told a House hearing that it would amount to reparations for Middle class White Pendle who is argued that raising the pay of these White women would become punishment for Low income Black and hispanic Oaker accused Pendleton of intemperate behaviour and of mouthing cliches used by those who supported child labor and a denial of Bank Loans to one columnist claims pay equity would go a Long Way toward destroying what is left of capitalism in a lot of people Are saying and writing a lot of things that trivialize a very serious problem embracing Many social and economic Here Are questions that we All must consider seriously is there a real problem of injustice in the pay women As compared with men is it to the Benefit of families and the nation to allow dual pay structures to continue so As to protect male breadwinners and encourage women to stay Home and take care of their children if giving women comparable pay is deemed in the larger National How do businesses and govern mental entities avoid a bureaucratic Nightmare that could provoke generations of worker morale problems and lots of litigation is this a problem that government or try to solve some answers and comments the same civil rights commission that repudiates the concept of comparable Worth was found guilty last january of wilfully paying a woman employee less than it paid two men who were doing jobs that were virtually the department of Justice chose not to Appeal the Federal judges decision and order that the woman be paid double the amount due her had she not been discriminated millions of females suffer from the old notion that married women Only worked to earn Money for a second car or to Send the children to private and ought not expect to be paid the same As men who had to put food on the there Are now More than 54 million working women in the United including More than 28 million Well Over half of the married whereas women made up Only percent of the labor Force in they made up 44 percent in the numbers will go up rather than no matter How passionately anyone argues that a woman place is in the Nursery or any place other than the office or some 24 million women head households in and these tend to be the poorest in the in part because of pay discrimination against it is now not Only but socially that a truck Driver at a company can provide More for his children than a Secretary can for hers because of some outdated notion that the woman Doest need As much it is difficult to determine which woman Job is comparable to which mans and which skills Are Compa Rable to such factors As which labor Union is involved and Par time status do complicate the As was noted by the equal employ ment Opportunity commission As it ran spine Lessly away from a Case in which women administrators at a municipal housing Agency complained that they were being paid less than male but personnel and other executives always have made judgments about Job Worth in deciding what to pay one Man As against i have no enthusiasm for creating a new Federal bureaucracy to go around trying to figure out which Job is comparable to what especially when the Odds Are that the new bureaucracy will turn out to be As useless As Leoc and the civil rights commission have be but governments can first set the City of los Angeles last month earmarked million for raising the pay Levels of traditionally female at least 15 states Are or Are about to the some in the Reagan administration know that injustices but say budget problems prevent the Federal government from remedying Congress ought first to take action to make it Clear that our civil rights Laws do embrace this principle of paying women according to what their work is with no dumb jumbo about a woman proper then we can get about changing the mindsets that dominate the personnel offices of government As Well As of corporate c news America Syndicate