Atlanta (NC) - The Georgia Council of Churches gave its approval to the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning prayer in public schools, and raised objection to the ways in which religious holidays are observed in the schools.

The ecumenical body, representing 11 major denominations in Georgia, called for government neutrality on matters of religious belief, and further proposed that baccalaureate services not be held under public school auspices.

The council, in a resolution approved at its annual meeting, declared its opposition “to the use of the power and influence of government to promote any religious beliefs, even those held in common by most citizens.”

The Rev. Robert Thomason of the Wesley Foundation, Milledgeville, Ga., a member of the Georgia Study Committee on Church-State Relationships which drafted the resolution, said that in approving the resolution the Georgia Council of Churches “comes out on the same side as the Supreme Court decision.” “But,” he explained, “we did so for different reasons. Theirs were legal and ours were theological.”

The Methodist minister said the commission which drafted the report studied the question for 10 months. The committee included Baptists, Jews and Catholics who were not members of the council.

The ministers and laymen disapproved of “any government action of which the primary purpose or result is to promote belief or disbelief in particular religious principles.”

Asserting that the “maintenance and furtherance of religion” are the responsibilities of the church, the synagogue and the home, “and not of the public school or of any other institution of government,” the Georgia church representatives warned that government support of religion is inevitably a form of coercion and is “ineffective and detrimental.”

The Rev. Mr. Thomason said the committee is seeking support from members of the Roman Catholic, Jewish and Baptist faiths by circulating the resolution among them. He noted that public school prayer or baccalaureate services could offend members of the Roman Catholic or Jewish faith, even though the Protestant Christian services were generally agreeable to the majority of parents and students.

“Inevitably, there are relations between church and state,” he said, “but it is not the business of government to hold religious services.”