First Amendment
US Judge Overturns Ill. Moment of Silence Law
Posted Jan 22, 2009, 01:02 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal judge has overturned an Illinois law that requires a moment of silence in public schools.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said the law endorsed religion in violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause, the Daily Herald reports. "The statute is a subtle effort to force students at impressionable ages to contemplate religion," Gettleman wrote in Wednesday’s decision (PDF posted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois).
“The clear language of the statute compels each classroom teacher to ensure that the period of silence is used by each student only for prayer or reflection on the activities of the day ahead,” Gettleman wrote. “Even silent thoughts by a student about a professional sporting event or a family vacation would appear to violate the stated intent of the statute.”
To comply with the requirement that silent time be used for only two purposes, teachers would have to explain the permitted options, according to the opinion. “The plain language of the statute, therefore, suggests an intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools,” Gettleman said.
The law was challenged by atheist Rob Sherman and his daughter, Dawn, a high school student in a suburb near Chicago, the Associated Press reports.
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