Woo hoo for Illinois
23 January 2009 by Stardust
The new ‘moment of silence” law that was passed by the Illinois General Assembly has been ruled unconstitutional and overturned.
Ill. moment of silence law ruled unconstitutional
CHICAGO – A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the state law requiring a moment of silence in public schools across Illinois is unconstitutional, saying it crosses the line separating church and state.
“The statute is a subtle effort to force students at impressionable ages to contemplate religion,” U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman said in his ruling.
And before the religious go boo-hooing and crying persecution, they need to keep in mind that they are still free to pray their magical mental messages to their god at any time as long as they aren’t disruptive.
Adam Schwartz, senior staff counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization was pleased with the decision “to strike down a statewide law that coerced children to pray as part of an organized activity in our public schools.”
He noted that students remain free to pray on their own in a non-disruptive manner throughout the school day.
23 January 2009, on 1:26 pm
And before the religious go boo-hooing and crying persecution, they need to keep in mind that they are still free to pray their magical mental messages to their god at any time as long as they aren’t disruptive.
Are you seriously denying the religious their right to martyrdom? Why, that’s tantamount to persecution!
23 January 2009, on 1:50 pm
In a January 2nd article at http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/511924.aspx
Michael Newdow filed a lawsuit this week to have “so help me God” removed from the oath of office.
I hope the result of the Newdow lawsuit is as successful as this decision for Illinois.
23 January 2009, on 2:10 pm
Lynda, it would be great if he succeeded, however with a staunch Gob botherer as Obama and other high-level politicians are, I doubt he will win this one.
23 January 2009, on 3:54 pm
Since when was prayer meant to be a public display of piety to begin with? I thought it was all about a personal relationship with God… Group prayer is for temples and churches and places of worship. Mass displays of piety are for douchebags.
23 January 2009, on 8:40 pm
The moment of silence is a farce anyway. How many students actually prayed during this waste of time? In school, I just looked around and waiting for the moment of noise to begin again, kind of like I do when I’m with my father and they’re saying grace before a meal (why do we have to thank god for food anyway? “He” designed us to need it in the first place. Should I thank god before every breath as well?)
23 January 2009, on 9:04 pm
Mass displays of piety are for douchebags.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe Geoff just won our GIFS t-shirt contest…
Hands-down, I might add…
Congrats, Geoff!
(God, that shit cracked me up…)
23 January 2009, on 10:56 pm
More good news. One step at a time.One city one state and pretty soon your talking about the whole country.
It is nice to note that in spite of the massive numbers of religious and godbotherers. There are stil rational people in the government who will do the right thing.
!THANK YOU JUDGE GETTLEMAN!
23 January 2009, on 11:17 pm
When I was a b-leever, I had no problems finding time to pray in school–I neither needed, nor desired a “moment of silence” to do so. And although I thought the world would be a better place if everyone was an xtian, I can not recall a point where I thought it would be a better place if everyone was coerced to join in.
Nice to see the “activist judges” doing their job!
And I agree; Geoff with the win! There truly is something terribly sanctimonious about public displays of affection with your invisible boy-friend.
23 January 2009, on 11:54 pm
I found this blog comment at
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/01/22/silent-no-more-federal-judge-strikes-down-moment-of-silence-in-illinois/
about Gettleman’s decision very interesting:
seamus 1, January 22, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Gettleman has a reputation as one of the better judges in the Northern District of Illinois. It should be noted that our imfamous governer actually vetoed thois statute indicating he thought it was unconstititional along the same lines as the court’s ruling.
What many outside of Illinois won’t realise is that this law was created and pushed through primarilly be African-American Democrat state reps who’s power bases where tightly connected to black mega-churches on the south side of chicago.
The law originally called for “prayer” but was amended to “require” moments of silence.
I am sure millions of dollars of state money have been spent defending this stupid law. I wonder what those dollars could have been used for.
Unfortunately the Republicans don’t have a monopoly on pushing a religeous, strike that, a christian agenda when public resources.
The roll the black churches have played in the civil right movement and voter registration drives is commendable to say the very least. But on the south side Chicago, and no doubt in other cities aswell, these churches really step over the line in thier political activities. White liberal guilt and naked politcal opertunism amongst African-American politicians will ensure this remains the case.
After wasting millions of our tax dollars the ass-weasels who came up with this lawn will be able to address their congregations/constituents and brag about how they are keeping up the good fight in the face of a God-less court system.
In view of Obama’s connections to Chicago and his recent hiring of Arne Duncan, head of Chicago’s Public School system, for US Secretary of Education this decision in Illinois may have a much wider impact.
24 January 2009, on 12:16 am
Well, I don’t think too many xians in Illinois will be happy with Obama’s selection of US Secretary of Education.
Check out the Illinois Family Institute’s views at
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/dsa/contentview.asp?c=34183
In 2006, under Arne Duncan’s leadership, Chicago Public Schools, adopted comprehensive sex education curricula. …..
The Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health held its Spring 2006 fundraiser at the Playboy mansion, which is understandable because who cares more deeply about sexual ethics than Hugh Hefner and his daughter Honorary Event Chair Christie Hefner. ….
“Comprehensive sex education” is education-speak for sex education curricula that, among other things, teach students subversive views of sexual conduct, abortion, and homosexuality.
Then they suggest parents home-school their kids to avoid the sex education classes at their high schools.
You know what happens when you live in a vacuum. Your brains get sucked out.
24 January 2009, on 12:37 am
Then they suggest parents home-school their kids to avoid the sex education classes at their high schools.
And amazing how many of these kids whose parents are against sex education get pregnant. The Baptist youth group I belonged to for a couple of years when in my teens was like the Girls Gone Wild videos. They were a horny bunch. It seems that they were in total rebellion of their parents wishes for them to remain abstinent, and they were careless and half a dozen got pregnant in just those couple of years I belonged to that group. And what did the parents do? Well, encouraged the young teenage boys to “do right by their daughter” and marry her even though they were both 15, 16, 17 years old. One girl, however, disappeared for a short while and came back not pregnant and kept to herself after that and stopped coming to meetings.
24 January 2009, on 12:57 am
^ More like “Illinois Fantasy Institute”, I’d say.
More fundie morons; still insisting on living in the “Dark Ages”
And speaking of…Ages…[lame segue?] Yeah…somewhat OT…but tangential, as usual…
I got into an argument yesterday with someone I do some (very) part-time work with about Evolution; The topic of the “Eye” was brought up, specifically, due to his claim that “the human eye” could not have evolved. We were on a break, and it got rather intense. Point being, he apparently knows absolutely nothing about Evolution.
That led me to search out “The Evolution of the Eye” on Wikipedia…linked YouTubes…AND…finally remembering a really excellent series of YouTube videos about Evolution, the age of the Earth, etc.
I’m going to try to make a DVD of those videos for future reference. (i.e…for friendly distribution?)
Anyway…check it out?…here’s the link (for your archives?) to the…
“Potholer54’s Playlist: From Big Bang to Us — Made Easy”
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DB23537556D7AADB
It’s very clearly presented, I think, and quite thorough; Produced either in the UK or…Australia…?
The author is also, evidently, preparing a series thoroughly boo-hooing Creationism.
24 January 2009, on 11:10 am
The moment of silence is a farce anyway. How many students actually prayed during this waste of time?
More likely, they are day dreaming about the boy or girl they wish they could go out with.
why do we have to thank god for food anyway? “He” designed us to need it in the first place. Should I thank god before every breath as well?
Think that’s ridiculous? Orthodox Jews say a prayer everytime they take a shit. They thank God for giving them an orifice for expelling their bodily wastes. I shit you not!
24 January 2009, on 3:59 pm
Think that’s ridiculous? Orthodox Jews say a prayer everytime they take a shit. They thank God for giving them an orifice for expelling their bodily wastes. I shit you not!
Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to god believers. Guess their god can see them shit so why not give thanks even for the flawed design.
As for kids and the moment of silence…my thoughts would be my gawd let this day be over I hate school. Or take the opportunity to pass a note secretly to a nearby friend. As with my experience, kids will take any type of quiet time to scratch markings in desks, pick their noses, shoot spitballs at other kids, all kinds of stuff. If you don’t keep a kid busy, especially in the younger grades, they will think up all kinds of mischief.
26 January 2009, on 3:23 pm
Lynda said, “You know what happens when you live in a vacuum. Your brains get sucked out.”
Fortunately, I’d just swallowed my drink before reading this.
27 January 2009, on 8:59 pm
Lynda: “Unfortunately the Republicans don’t have a monopoly on pushing a religeous, strike that, a christian agenda when public resources.”
No kidding. I still recall my surprise at hearing that so many African-Americans voted for California’s Prop 8. It seems that “equal rights for me, not for you” still holds true for some people.