'Silence' on hold for now
Law could be voided in Illinois as judge orders state to back off on school
mandate
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-silencect_webnov16,1,4761433.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
[excerpt]
By Jeff Coen | Tribune staff reporter
10:47 PM CST, November 15, 2007
School districts looking for clarity on how to handle the new Illinois law
mandating a moment of silence at the start of the school day will have to
wait.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the superintendent of the Illinois
State Board of Education not to issue any directive on how the pause should
be approached. He also held that no district should be punished for
ignoring the law.
But that changes little, because the state superintendent's office hasn't
yet sought to enforce the statute that took effect in October.
By the action, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman essentially froze the
controversy over the moment of silence as he considers a lawsuit brought
against Township High School District 214 in the northwest suburbs.
On Wednesday Gettleman issued a preliminary injunction barring the
district—but that district only—from holding the moment of silence while
the lawsuit progresses through court.
Gettleman has called the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act vague and
"likely unconstitutional" but said he would not yet issue a statewide
injunction. That could change in the coming weeks if the judge grants an
expected motion to include all of the state's 680 districts as defendants.
Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the State Board of Education, said the
superintendent's office has taken no stance on the law.
"We will certainly comply with the judge's order," Vanover said. "The
agency's position has been that there are no penalty provisions in the law;
therefore, there would be no ability to enforce it."
For the time being at least, each school district besides District 214
still has discretion on whether or not students have a moment of silence
each day. Some districts, including Evanston-Skokie School District 65,
have chosen not to hold the moments of silence.
Plaintiff Rob Sherman, a longtime atheist activist, sued District 214 and
the state superintendent on behalf of his daughter, a freshman at Buffalo
Grove High School. His lawyer, Gregory Kulis, has argued the statute is
unconstitutional because it amounts to a government endorsement of
religion.
Gettleman promised to weigh the merits of the law but has said he likely
agrees with Sherman's position.
The law as now written has a "potential chilling effect on First Amendment
rights," Gettleman wrote in a ruling issued later Thursday.
[end excerpt]
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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