
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994                   TAG: 9411280016
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY PUT . . .

THE FOLLIES of North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms need no further introduction, but Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's reaction this week to the prospect of a Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Helms was worth noting. Just as President Clinton is rightfully commander in chief of the armed forces, Specter said, Helms is entitled by seniority to chair Foreign Relations.

Not so. Clinton is commander in chief by virtue of the Constitution and election to the presidency. Seniority equals committee chairmanship only by virtue of a Senate rule. In this era of public demand for congressional reform, the rule should be changed. The newly majority Republican caucus should elect its committee chairs, looking to qualifications rather than seniority.

WITH government-controlled school prayer seriously proposed, some religious groups are properly recognizing and balking at the threat to their freedom. It's a good time to recall the wry wisdom in a colloquy attributed to Cardinal Newman. An ecumenical Protestant divine approached him and said, ``We both worship the same God.'' To which Newman responded: ``Yes, you in your way, I in His.''

by CNB