You are articulate and thought-provoking, Angelia. The strongest parts of your column deal with the blatant silliness of the "moment of silence" you described. The practice doesn't sound effective; it is fraught with potential for misuse; and it exposes the school to unnecessary litigation.
I'm not convinced by your legal argument, though. A moment of silence is not unconstitutional on its face. The Supreme Court case Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) struck down an Alabama law, but only because the state legislature blatantly tried to endorse prayer. The Court said, "The legislative intent to return prayer to the public schools is, of course, quite different from merely protecting every student's right to engage in voluntary prayer during an appropriate moment of silence during the schoolday." So, the Court specifically affirmed that a moment of silence can be "appropriate" - even if it involves prayer. Now, there may be something else about the Tennessee law that would make it fail a constitutional test, but I doubt the case is as open-and-shut as your column suggests. A moment of silence may be bad policy, but it's not necessarily unconstitutional or discriminatory. That case has not been made. Aaron --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
