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But a large majority of Protestant and Roman Catholic clergymen were sharply hostile toward the decision. Francis Cardinal Spellman, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, pronounced himself "shocked and frightened.'' The decision, he said, "strikes at the very heart of the Godly tradition in which America's children have for so long been raised." Evangelist Billy Graham condemned the ruling as "another step toward secularism." A conference of 120 Protestant Episcopal clergymen from Long Island churches adopted a resolution saying: "The ultimate effect of this decision may be to nullify and threaten with destruction the American people's long-continued and precious religious tradition of reliance upon Divine Providence."
Two former U.S. Presidents took issue with the court. Said Dwight Eisenhower: "I always thought that this nation was essentially a religious one." Herbert Hoover was more outspoken. He called the decision a "disintegration of one of the most sacred of American heritages." Congress, he said, "should at once submit an amendment to the Constitution which establishes the right to religious devotion in all governmental agencies—national, state or local." President Kennedy carefully—and wisely—supported the court's decision-making power, avoided direct comment on the merits of the decision (Eisenhower employed much the same technique in his reaction to the 1954 desegregation decision and was loudly criticized for his hesitancy). For those who disagree with the decision, said Kennedy, there is "a very easy remedy, and that is to pray ourselves, and I would think it would be a welcome reminder to every American family that we can pray a good deal more at home and attend our churches with a good deal more fidelity." Melancholy Lessons. Much of last week's controversy arose from confusion about what the Supreme Court ruled—and, perhaps more importantly, what it did not rule. All too typical was the reaction of an Atlanta clergyman who called the decision "the most terrible thing that's ever happened to us"—then admitted he did not really know what the decision said.
Others instinctively felt that the Supreme Court was setting forth a new doctrine that distorted the intent of the authors of the First Amendment. Thus Cardinal Spellman called the ruling a "tragic misreading of the prayerfully weighed words of our Founding Fathers." But Founding Father James Madison, among others, interpreted the prohibition against "establishment of religion" far more strictly and sweepingly than the Supreme Court did last week. In Madison's opinion, tax exemption for churches was unconstitutional. So were chaplains for Congress or for the armed forces. So.