A Christian Country?

"Religion must be considered from the standpoint of one or another Christian taitn because, whether we like it or not U.S. and state laws are based on the concepts of the Christian religion." So spoke New Mexico's Attorney General Joe L. Martinez in arguing before the state supreme court that Lindrith High School pupils could legally say the Lord's Prayer in their classrooms and study "basic, non- denominational Christian concepts." Last week came a ringing war whoop from Indian-loving Novelist Oliver (Laughing Boy) La Farge in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

"The doctrine here set forth is very dangerous," wrote La Farge. Whatever the faith of the members of the national and state constitutional conventions, or of the various later legislators, they were representing people not all of whom were Christian. We must not forget for instance, the part that Jews played in developing the territory of New Mexico and making the state possible, nor the important and noble part they played in financing the revolution . . . "Consider the effects of such an interpretation within this state. Jewish chil dren and the children of some 50,000 Indians, most of whom still hold to their own religions, may then be subject to instruction hostile to their beliefs "Just what is a Christian? What is broad Christian instruction? Are Unitarians Christian? ... The Catholic Church recognizes the baptisms of some [Protestant churches] and holds that marriages in these churches are sacramental, while in certain others they are of no effect. Certain of the Protestant churches it thus includes make exactly the same classification. The various denominations whom these churches exclude, in turn, look upon the Catholic Church as the Scarlet Woman of Babylon and consider it an utter perversion of Christianity. "Where are we going to draw the line? If we admit 'Christianity' to a privileged position, how do we define it? ... Balancing, say, Vermont against New 'Mex ico we can see that legally, state by state, Christianity' would vary as much as divorce or traffic laws now do." Commented Assistant Attorney General Philip H.

Dunleavy: "La Farge is an extremist ... The interpretation is not new with us, but is based on prior interpretations by the U.S. Supreme Court itself."

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