Post by AuntieSocial on Nov 14, 2003 11:13:09 GMT -5
I wasn't sure where to post this, but since Edward Schempp was an atheist activist, I thought this would be the best place ...
May the worms put his remains to good use!
Maverick: Added to the news page. Message icon updated.
Obituaries: Edward Schempp, 95, social activist
By Sally A. Downey
Published: November 13, 2003
Publication: Philadelphia Inquirer
Edward L. Schempp, 95, a social activist and churchgoer who won a U.S. Supreme Court case prohibiting required Bible-reading in the Abington schools, died of heart failure Saturday at Hayward Convalescent Hospital in Hayward, Calif.
In 1963, in School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, the high court in an 8-1 ruling upheld a decision of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia banning Bible-reading in schools because it violated the First Amendment's barring of the establishment of religion.
The case began around the Schempps' dining room table in Roslyn seven years earlier. Edward Schempp's son Ellery, then a junior at Abington High School, told his parents he was going to protest the required reading of the Bible in his homeroom. His father, a practicing Unitarian, "didn't tell me to do it or not to do," Ellery Schempp said.
On Nov. 26, 1956, the son read passages from the Koran during the Bible-reading time and was sent to the principal's office. That night, he wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union, of which his father was a member, asking it to test the constitutionality of the required Bible-reading.
After the district court ruling in 1959, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law allowing objectors to be excused from Bible-reading. Edward Schempp testified, however, that objectors would be considered "oddballs," or worse, communists and atheists. The district court ruled that the legislation did not alter its decision, and the lawsuit made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was coupled with that of atheist Madalyn Murray, who opposed the reciting of the Lord's prayer in Baltimore schools.
Months after the ruling, Mr. Schempp wrote a letter to a newspaper saying that some of the thousands of letters his family had received after the ruling were "so vile" they were turned over to postal authorities. Mr. Schempp grew up in Olney. He met his future wife, Sidney Gerber, while on vacation in San Francisco.
He built a home in Roslyn in 1947 and made equipment for the television industry in his garage while working as an electronics engineer for National Union in Hatboro. Four years ago, the Schempps moved to California to be near their daughter, Donna.
Mr. Schempp was a founding member of the BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Warrington and in recent years had been a member of Cherry Hill Unitarian Church. His son said Mr. Schempp loved hymns and good sermons, and had read the Bible, though he did not take it literally. In 1986, he self-published the Buyer's Guide to Gods, which outlined his humanist approach to religion. He marched against the Vietnam War in the 1970s and wrote to newspapers condemning social injustice.
In addition to his wife of 69 years, and son and daughter, Mr. Schempp is survived by another son, Roger; a brother; and two sisters.
A memorial service is planned for a later date. Burial is private.
By Sally A. Downey
Published: November 13, 2003
Publication: Philadelphia Inquirer
Edward L. Schempp, 95, a social activist and churchgoer who won a U.S. Supreme Court case prohibiting required Bible-reading in the Abington schools, died of heart failure Saturday at Hayward Convalescent Hospital in Hayward, Calif.
In 1963, in School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, the high court in an 8-1 ruling upheld a decision of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia banning Bible-reading in schools because it violated the First Amendment's barring of the establishment of religion.
The case began around the Schempps' dining room table in Roslyn seven years earlier. Edward Schempp's son Ellery, then a junior at Abington High School, told his parents he was going to protest the required reading of the Bible in his homeroom. His father, a practicing Unitarian, "didn't tell me to do it or not to do," Ellery Schempp said.
On Nov. 26, 1956, the son read passages from the Koran during the Bible-reading time and was sent to the principal's office. That night, he wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union, of which his father was a member, asking it to test the constitutionality of the required Bible-reading.
After the district court ruling in 1959, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law allowing objectors to be excused from Bible-reading. Edward Schempp testified, however, that objectors would be considered "oddballs," or worse, communists and atheists. The district court ruled that the legislation did not alter its decision, and the lawsuit made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was coupled with that of atheist Madalyn Murray, who opposed the reciting of the Lord's prayer in Baltimore schools.
Months after the ruling, Mr. Schempp wrote a letter to a newspaper saying that some of the thousands of letters his family had received after the ruling were "so vile" they were turned over to postal authorities. Mr. Schempp grew up in Olney. He met his future wife, Sidney Gerber, while on vacation in San Francisco.
He built a home in Roslyn in 1947 and made equipment for the television industry in his garage while working as an electronics engineer for National Union in Hatboro. Four years ago, the Schempps moved to California to be near their daughter, Donna.
Mr. Schempp was a founding member of the BuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Warrington and in recent years had been a member of Cherry Hill Unitarian Church. His son said Mr. Schempp loved hymns and good sermons, and had read the Bible, though he did not take it literally. In 1986, he self-published the Buyer's Guide to Gods, which outlined his humanist approach to religion. He marched against the Vietnam War in the 1970s and wrote to newspapers condemning social injustice.
In addition to his wife of 69 years, and son and daughter, Mr. Schempp is survived by another son, Roger; a brother; and two sisters.
A memorial service is planned for a later date. Burial is private.
May the worms put his remains to good use!
Maverick: Added to the news page. Message icon updated.
