“A Decision that Spits in the Face of Our History”: Catholics and the Midcentury Fight Over Public Prayer and Bible Reading

During the 1960s the U.S. Supreme Court declared state-organized prayer and devotional Bible reading within public schools unconstitutional. Roman Catholics joined conservative Protestants in objecting to the court’s ruling—a radical change from the Protestant-Catholic conflicts of the early-twentieth century. This article explores the transformation of Catholic attitudes toward publicly mandated prayer—especially Bible reading—that facilitated this alliance. The new Catholic support for Bible reading in public education resulted from the Church’s opposition to secularism during the cold war but was also tied to “liberal” ecumenical notions about the Bible and conversations about religious freedom after the Second Vatican Council.