A Moment in Question

To claim that the law requiring Illinois students to observe a "moment of silence" is about providing quiet time at the beginning of each day and not a thinly veiled attempt to sneak religion into public schools is like saying the Lite-Brite skyscrapers welcoming the International Boxing Association, fireworks over the lake and the parade down State Street were a celebration of the great sport of pugilism, not the city begging the Olympic Committee for a mulligan after the disastrous La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon.

Sorry, I just don't buy it.

I don't buy that the sponsor of the legislation, Rep. William Davis, described on the official website of Illinois House Democrats as a "dedicated member of New Mount Olive Baptist Church" feels so passionately about the moment of silence because students need time to calm down and think about their plans.

I don't buy Davis' arrogant suggestion that such a law could have prevented a 14-year-old in Cleveland from shooting two students and two teachers before committing suicide because the student would have had an opportunity to "sit and reflect."

(This is a puzzling statement because the student in question was suspended at the time of the shooting, meaning he was at home immediately before the attack, thus lacking the opportunity to observe a moment of silence. Members of the House should really do some research before justifying their actions through pious sound bites.)

And I especially don't buy into the poetic waxing of Rep. Monique Davis, who spends Sundays at Trinity United Church of Christ on W. 95th, when she says that the legislature gives students the chance to "listen to the rustling of leaves, to listen to the chirping of a bird, to listen to the tip-tap of a child walking." Miss Davis, kindly save your eloquence for the description of a nifty camping chair in the L.L. Bean fall catalogue.

The moment of silence has nothing to do with any of that, and we all know it. It is about slowly and quietly enforcing religious observation in public schools, and for the time being the Constitution-be-damned churchgoers have won.

Now let us all bow our heads and observe a moment of silence for separation of church and state.

Matt Bradwell

Chief Operating Officer

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