FredFlash - 02 November 2007 01:12 PM

truthaddict - 17 October 2007 09:49 AM

even if it is prayer, so what? if its not being forced on others or receiving financing from the school/state via taxes then there is no problem.

You reek of the vile despicable stench of “religious tolerance.”  Go crawl back into your hole with Oliver Ellsworth and Patrick Henry.  Sic em Thomas Paine.

Well I’ll be.  Would you take a look at this -HERE-

Someone is suing over the moment of silence in schools.  Let’s keep an eye on this one.

“supporters claim the students can use this moment of silence as either an opportunity for silent prayer or “for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day.”

Yeah right. And if some Muslims tried this what would the schools say? Matter of fact, let’s just have 5 ‘moments of silence’ a day.

Wait, the ‘anticipated activities of the day’ might include a school shooting…..umm they nicely addressed that issue in the article. Let them have their moment of silence in the restrooms. I wish I could.

I wish they had done the moment of silence thing in Texas public schools when I attended.  I would have used the moment to place cards on my fellow students’ desk that said, “Praying according to the bidding of the state is turning your back on the authority of Christ.”

This is a 14 year old.  Seems to me teenagers are getting smarter.  I don’t think this is the first time teenagers fought back on such religious decisions.  Wasn’t the last one about the pledge or something like that?

erasmusinfinity - 02 November 2007 08:07 PM

Well I’ll be.  Would you take a look at this -HERE-

Someone is suing over the moment of silence in schools.  Let’s keep an eye on this one.

If the executive department of the federal government can promote Christianity, why not let the states do it as well?

Neither one of them should.  As a fellow baptist, you agree about that right? 

erasmusinfinity - 05 November 2007 06:03 AM

Neither one of them should.  As a fellow baptist, you agree about that right? 

Right.  However, since the executive branch of the federal government now has authority to promote religion, I believe that, for the sake of uniformity, the same jurisdiction should be be extended to all levels of government.

Progress is being made!  HERE it is.

CHICAGO — A federal judge put a stop Thursday to enforcing a mandatory moment of silence in Illinois public schools that opponents say is an attempt to institute school prayer.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman ordered the State Board of Education not to enforce the new law while a suit filed by the father of a public school student proceeds. On Wednesday, the judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the moment of silence in that student’s suburban Chicago school district.

Excellent. We’ll see where it goes from here. My only concern—and it is a grave one—is that it’s not clear that if this made its way to the Supreme Court they would necessarily decide in our favor.

By Jeff Coen | Tribune staff reporter

12:33 AM CST, November 15, 2007

Judge bans moment of silence in suburban district

A federal judge today issued a preliminary injunction barring a suburban school district from implementing the state’s new law mandating a moment of silence at the start of classes, calling the statute too vague and “likely unconstitutional.”

Edited to remove copyrighted material. Please limit quotes to “fair use” and/or include a link to the original article.

dougsmith—Admin

(Here’s news about the stealth religious campaign for the camel’s-nose-in-the-tent strategy of getting a “moment of silence” in public schools.—Josh)

Evangelist for Silence Promotes a Quiet Gift

Debra Nussbaum Cohen
Published February 03, 2010, issue of February 12, 2010.
http://forward.com/articles/124918/
[E]very morning at 8:30, half an hour after rambunctious kids come bouncing into the building in their blue school uniforms, this school becomes remarkable: . . .  It gets quiet. For a full minute, there is only silence.

After a teacher and a handful of students announce the moment of silence over the loudspeaker system and offer something to think about for that day - a personal goal, or how to help someone else - each and every person at P.S. 191, from the littlest 4-year-old prekindergartener to the principal, pauses for 60 seconds.

P.S. 191 has been observing this morning ritual for the past three years, ever since Avraham Frank, a Hasidic Jew heeding the last Lubavitcher Rebbe’s call for a daily moment of silence in public schools, walked in off the street and introduced the idea to the principal. So far Frank . . . has persuaded administrators at 13 public schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens to institute a moment of silence. His goal, he said, is to get moments of silence into schools “all over the city.”

Though school-sponsored prayer in American public schools has been prohibited since the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Engel v. Vitale, voluntary, student-initiated, private prayer is not. In response to the ban on school-sponsored prayer, there has been a nationwide push for the introduction into public schools of daily moments of silence that students can use to pray or reflect. . . .

erasmusinfinity - 17 October 2007 08:12 AM

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/disguised-silence/index.html

Prayer in public schools under another name?

I see absolutely no problem with this and the knee jerk reaction to it by some Atheists and secularists is very very unfortunate and part of what produces such a negative image for Atheists.

Wait a minute, what’s this with A moment of silence?  Shouldn’t it be SIX moments of silence?  After all Moslems are supposed to pray six times a day.  And, the school could furnish small “meditation/silence” carpets to each student.   

Occam

Occam - 08 February 2010 07:32 PM

Wait a minute, what’s this with A moment of silence?  Shouldn’t it be SIX moments of silence?  After all Moslems are supposed to pray six times a day.  And, the school could furnish small “meditation/silence” carpets to each student.   

Occam

They would also have to paint large compasses on the floor so they can be sure their moments of silences are properly aimed.