Is The ‘Moment Of Silence’ On Its Way To Being Struck Down?

I’ve never been a fan of the “minute of silence” law passed during the Morality Session (aka 78th) of the Texas Legislature back in 2003.

Now, it seems that a memo from the former Commissioner of Education may have provided the ammunition for a federal judge to declare the law unconstitutional:

….The question was whether legislators intended the law to reintroduce prayer in schools.

The Texas law specifies that students may “reflect, pray, meditate, or engage in any other silent activity.”

The state argued there was a secular purpose to the law, while the plaintiffs argued the law is unconstitutional and the statute’s inclusion of the word “pray” showed religious intent.

“It’s your burden to prove it’s a sham,” U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn told the plaintiffs, while telling the state that it needed to prove the law’s intent was secular.

Mr. Croft and his wife, Shannon, sued the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district and Gov. Rick Perry last year after their son’s teacher at Rosemeade Elementary School in Carrollton informed children that the minute was a “time to pray,” then bowed her head and clasped her hands in prayer.

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During the hearing, Judge Lynn questioned a directive issued by the Texas Education Agency’s former commissioner, Shirley Neeley, to the state’s public schools on Oct. 10, 2006 – after the Crofts’ lawsuit was filed – explaining how to carry out the law and its secular reasons.

“The moment of silence statute was passed to encourage thoughtful contemplation at the start of the school day, to promote patriotism through the students’ quiet reflection following the pledges of allegiance, and to protect individual religious freedom,” Dr. Neeley said in the memo.

In that memo, Dr. Neeley also argued that the minute is calming at a time when students are confronted with violence and that the “air of solemnity” fosters discipline.

Mr. Cruz used the same arguments in his defense of the statute, prompting the judge’s questions.

“The timing of this letter providing a secular purpose is troubling to me,” Judge Lynn said.

In that memo, Dr. Neeley noted that teachers and administrators should neither “encourage nor discourage students from choosing on their own to pray during this moment” or favor students who do pray.

The judge noted that while Texas’ legislative history was not as extreme as it was when the Supreme Court ruled against Alabama’s minute of silence law in 1985, there also wasn’t a clear secular reason for the amendment.

There was no clear secular reason for the amendment. There was never any study I was aware of that points to the “minute of silence” having any actual positive impact on students. Clearly, and especially in light of Neely’s memo, it appears that even the judge realizes the state crossed into a very gray area for purely religious purposes.

Too, it appears the same folks will be challenging the idiotic modifications to the pledge to the Texas flag:

Arguments over a lawsuit challenging Texas’ minute of silence law opened in federal court Tuesday in Dallas with the plaintiff revealing a new suit, this time against the state’s pledge.

David Wallace Croft, who identifies himself as an atheist and a humanist, said his latest lawsuit against the state challenges the addition of the words “under God” in the Texas pledge. Legislators approved the wording change this past session. Copies of the lawsuit weren’t immediately available.

I’m not an atheist, but I cannot stand the modification of state and law and symbols simply to please the Religious Right. It’s pointless and discriminates against many Texans who don’t hold those same beliefs.

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