Quiet Resolve: Judge Casts Wary Eye On Illinois Moment-Of-Silence Law

Silence, the old saying goes, is golden.

Except when it isn’t. A federal district court in Illinois ruled yesterday that the state’s mandatory moment of silence in public schools must not be enforced until questions about its constitutionality are resolved.

Earlier this year, the legislature overwhelmingly passed the measure. Proponents denied that the bill was intended to advance religion, but it clearly was.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed the proposal, citing religious freedom and parents’ rights.

“The law in Illinois today already allows teachers and students the opportunity to take a moment for silent thought or prayer, if they chose to,” he observed. “I believe this is the right balance between the principles echoed in our constitution, and our deeply held desire to practice our faith. As a parent, I am working with my wife to raise our children to respect prayer and to pray because they want to pray — not because they are required to.”

The legislature was unpersuaded and easily overrode the veto. Illinois resident Rob Sherman and his daughter Dawn filed suit, and now the matter is in the courts.

In his preliminary injunction holding up enforcement of the statute, U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman said the law is vague and raises serious church-state issues. The statute would be constitutional if all it did was mandate silence, he said. But it goes further, offering students a choice between prayer and thinking about the activities of the day. Forcing children to make that choice, held Gettleman, may well violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

The judge worried about the law’s impact on students from different religious traditions.

“[T]he statute is vague as to what activities are permitted during the period of silence,” he noted. “It seems to the court, from the representations made by counsel,…that pupils would be permitted to pray silently at their desks. But would a Muslim pupil be permitted to kneel on a prayer rug on the floor? Would a pupil be permitted to look at a Bible? Would a pupil whose religion requires chanting be permitted to pray, even though doing so would not be ’silent’? Because of the statute’s vagueness, the court is also concerned about possible violations of pupils’ rights under the Free Exercise Clause.”

Judge Gettleman is right to put the law under the closest scrutiny. Government officials have no right to make decisions about the worship practices of our nation’s school children. Those choices should be made by parents, not politicians.

As Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn told USA Today, “The judge understands that there is no motive for a moment of silence except a religious one.”

We hope the Illinois law is struck down, and the sooner the better.

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