More than a Quiet Concern

Barry Goldwater was not the only one talking about decay in the nation's morality. Last week a group of highly respected clergymen, dismayed by Supreme Court decisions in obscenity cases, exploded in furious criticism of the nation's highest court.

What upset the clergymen was the fact that the court recently overturned three state court bans against the sale of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and an Ohio ruling that forbade the showing of a French movie called The Lovers. In all, nine clergymen signed the public statement: Presiding Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke of the Methodist Church New York Conference; the Rev. Wilburn C. West, Eastern States Mission President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; the Rev. W. Scott Morton, Director of New York's Presbyterian University Christian Foundation; Catholic Bishops Leo A. Pursley of Fort Wayne, Aloysius J. Willinger of Monterey-Fresno, Calif., and John King Mussio of Steubenville, Ohio, and New York Rabbis Chaim Lipschitz, Julius G. Neumann and Jehuda Melber. Henry L. Lambert, President of the New York Board of Trade, added his name.

In its decisions, the statement charged, the "Supreme Court of the United States virtually promulgated degeneracy as the standard way of American life.

"In finding that the Constitution was intended as a guarantee for the dissemination of filth, and a device to deprive the public of the right to protect itself against vile and corrupt publications, the 'under God' foundations of the United States were implied to be irrelevant.

"These decisions cannot be accepted quietly by the American people if this nation is to survive. Giving free rein to the vile depiction of violence, perversion, illicit sex and, in consequence, to their performance, is an unerring sign of progressive decay and decline. Further, it gives prophetic meaning to the Soviet intent to 'bury' America.

"We urge that religious leaders of all faiths in all communities stand together in vociferously decrying the fact that the court has presumed to recast the moral law."

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