Supreme Court's Holy Battles, The

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." So begins the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Correspondent Roger Mudd interviews a number of leading historians in this incisive look at those controversial sixteen words, which have historically signaled the separation of church and state. Beginning with the pioneering efforts of Jefferson and Madison to make Virginia, and later the United States as a whole, the first government and country in the western world to legislate the separation of church and state, this program goes on to examine some of the key issues which have come before the Supreme Court. The last half, in particular, focuses on the decades-long battle over religious prayer in public schools, an issue which is still being challenged today. This is an interesting program which examines our unique governmental system in a country which has the greatest religious plurality in the world. Recommended. (See DOWN THE SHORE for availability.)