Silence

Silence gets an earful, and Illinois lurches back towards liberty


In the fall of 2007 the Illinois legislature passed, over the Governor's veto, the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act. This was purported to provide an opportunity for captive children to engage in "silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day."

It was not (wink, wink), I say not, a tranparent attempt to back-door a school prayer law.

And never mind that the Christian News Wire bleated out the news with the headline "Illinois 'Moment of Silence' - Putting Public School Prayer Back in Place" (linky).

The inevitable lawsuits were filed, and legislators began to propose that perhaps the law ought to be amended to remove the references to prayer, or perhaps to rename it the "Silent Reflection and 'Look over there! Shiny!' Student Prayer Act"

The [Illinois] House voted Tuesday to reverse the requirement after getting an earful of complaints from school administrators and teacher unions who found the requirement poorly thought out and unenforceable.

The Chicago Tribune, March 5, 2008

Pray (not at all silently) with Dirty John Bonny, Jesus and Gloria Gaynor here.