Moments of silence cause uproar

Silence is no longer golden, rather it’s a blatant violation of personal rights. At least that’s what some say.

Illinois is one of 11 states with required periods of reflection for public schools. Students, parents and teachers have staged walkouts, written letters and campaigned to state lawmakers to reverse the measure. The law calls for “silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day,” which varies from three seconds to 20 seconds, depending on the school district. To read more about the backlash from protestors, go to this article.

Protestors site the separation of church and state as the argument against this law. But students aren’t required to say a certain prayer or believe in a certain deity. Three seconds of silence between students saying the Pledge of Allegiance and taking out their vocab books doesn’t amount to endorsement of religion in school.

Even if the classroom does hush whispers or giggles, which is a major feat in itself, each student’s moment of silence is his or hers alone, to think about anything. Lawmakers couldn’t force children’s thoughts in one direction before a required time of silence, and they can’t do it now either. I don’t think that’s their motive.

Although most major religions encourage quiet time for prayer, completely apart from spiritual aspects, doctors recommend daily meditation and reflection for physical and mental wellbeing. Doctors also suggest well-balanced diets, and schools are increasingly implementing healthy food choices, but protestors haven’t made headlines for objecting to state-mandated laws that coincide with Biblical concepts of eating in moderation or children taking care of their bodies.

This isn’t a church/state issue, even though that’s what opponents are trying to make it.

People need a cause, something to be passionate about. One of the students’ parents, who leads the opposition to the law, was identified as an atheist by the reporter of the mentioned article. It seems his crusade to take a state-endorsed God out of schools trumps logic. Because God doesn’t exist in his name or in time that’s supposedly allotted for him.

This parent’s daughter succeeded in removing “God Bless America” from a song lineup at a school event. Believers know that removing God’s name from being uttered in school no more removes Him from the building than saying that oxygen doesn’t exist would change the chemical makeup of what we breathe.

Perhaps nonbelievers think that removing his name — or what they think merely acknowledges his existence — is one step in the right direction to validate their nonbelief, even when the fight is illogical. That would explain the uproar over moments of silence.