American Theocracy – #2 – Northstate Science

American Theocracy – #2

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cjobrien

25 March 2008

The Illinois state government passed a new law, “The Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act”, which mandated that public school students observe a moment of silence or prayer. What business does the government have in forcing kids to pray or for that matter, observe a moment of silence? Students have thousands of opportunities a day to observe a moment of silence, a prayer or other form of meditation without having to drag the teacher and other students into it. At the local high school here students voluntarily gather around the flag pole for prayer before class starts – nothing wrong with that, they get about 20 students doing it (out of 1200): they don’t bother anyone and students are free to join or not. Why bother to mandate it, unless the real purpose is to move us a bit closer to a theocracy? As noted in the article:

Instead of kowtowing to the desires of Religious Right lobbyists, many of whom are itching to turn public schools into religious academies, Illinois lawmakers should stop meddling in prayer and get back to the business of running a secular government.

Amen to that! Fortunately, more reasonable heads are prevailing….

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5 responses to “American Theocracy – #2”

afarensis

26 March 2008

What has a lot of people up in arms is that the previous law in Illinois allowed a moment of reflection or prayer for those who felt that they need it. This law mandates that all shall participate.

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stushie

27 March 2008

It’s unconstitutional and will be ferreted out by the Supreme Court. It’s also impractical – you can’t force people to pray, just like you can’t force them to be patriotic.

Anyway, forced prayer is hypocritical and totally rejected by God. Maybe some of the legislators should actually read the Gospels…

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wineymomma

27 March 2008

I hate the idea that this sort of thing is mandatory. I always enjoyed having the moment to collect my thoughts but the only thing about it that was mandatory was that you respect your neighbor by staying in a quiet state your self.

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Jesse

27 March 2008

ah yes. public education woes.

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American Theocracy – #2.5 « Northstate Science

27 March 2008

[…] it’s over. While I may have scooped Afarensis on the story, his in-depth reporting of an Illinois law mandatory a moment of silence greatly surpasses my own. […]

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