Thursday, February 05, 2009
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s rhetorical styling is as silly and annoying as that guy in the park wearing whiteface, a turtleneck, and rappelling on an invisible rope. Abbott is miming for an audience, in this case for the court.
Abbott can’t admit what lawmakers clearly wanted when they imposed a “moment of silence” on public schools. They wanted prayer.
To say so — to tell the truth — would be to get the requirement tossed out by the courts. So we get this from him:
“The United States Constitution plainly protects young Texans’ right to observe a moment of silence before school each morning.”
Excuse me? When was that ever an issue?
Of course, that’s not the issue in the case of Croft v. Perry. The issue is the state nodding, winking and nudging public employees and captive student audiences into prayer.
Pro-silence? To the contrary. To suit the ends of noisy politicians, silence has been hijacked by a mischievous state.
A Carrollton couple, David and Shannon Croft, sued Texas over its 2003 law. An appeal of a lower court ruling in Texas’ favor was heard this week in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court.
Before addressing the illegality of what Texas did, let’s address the absurdity of what our attorney general just said, “young Texans’ right . . .”
It’s a construct — rights assigned to masses — we hear all the time when the issue really is state-imposed religion, or majority-imposed religiosity. Proponents say it’s a student’s right to pray in class or before kickoff.
No one has ever argued to the contrary. It’s the organized, state-sponsored act that has been challenged.
This isn’t about rights, Mr. A.G. This is about power — the state saying, “By decree, we will now have a moment of silence — which, mind you, isn’t about religion at all.” Wink. Wink.
It doesn’t matter how many people support state- or majority-imposed religion. The majority has no right. The state has no right. Rights belong to the individual.
On certain key principles, including freedom not to bow one’s head to the entreaties of the pious, the Bill of Rights protects the individual from majority impulses.
Some people insist that religion can and must be administered in sugar-cube form to make the world a godlier place. Since the Supreme Court in 1962 prohibited organized school prayer, we’ve heard appeals to “put God back in school.” Advocates of state-imposed religiosity seem to assert that God can’t exist unless government says it’s so.
Hence, the silent moment movement. Six years ago Texas joined several states with such laws.
Recently a federal court overturned Illinois’ law, ruling that its clear intent was to facilitate prayer. That was as self-evident as the law’s name: Illinois Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act.
That “silent reflection” is an option didn’t relieve Illinois of the fact that the law’s intent is to inject prayer into the classroom.
Intent matters. That was the essence of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Alabama’s silent moment law in 1985.
That’s why Texas is miming for the court, winking all the while, that this law is to protect students’ “right to silence.”
Right. And the objective of traffic lights is the “right of motorists to see red, green and yellow.”
The amazing and telling thing during the statehouse discussion of Texas’ silent-moment law in 2003 was that not once did we hear any of the Republicans in charge — they who often rail against encroaching, busy-body government, take to the microphone and say:
“What? Do we really need the state to play contemplation traffic cop? If we can think of no weightier matters, let us adjourn. I have fields to plow.”
John Young’s column appears Thursday and Sunday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
Comments
By TEENA
Apr 14, 2009 8:59 AM | Link to this
LISTEN.....A MOMENT OF SILENCE....DOES NOT MEAN ...YOU HAVE TO PRAY...JUST MEANS RESPECT FOR THE REASON OF SILENCE AND ....RESPECTING THE RIGHT OF OTHERS WHO ...JUST WANT TO SHOW A MOMENT OF RESPECT OR THE RIGHT TO THE ONES WHOM DECIDE TO SILENTLY SAY A PRAYER. AS IN NOT TO INTERRUPT. A MANNER I HOPE WE HAVE ALL BEEN TAUGHT . A SIMPLE COURTESY ....DOES NOT SAY LETS BOW OR HEADS .....JUST SIMPLY A MOMENT OF SILENCE.
By Evil Clerk
Feb 10, 2009 7:05 AM | Link to this
Robbie, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your judgment might be colored a little here. This doesn't appear to be an overly emotional piece, a screed, "red-faced," "mad," with excessive "temper" or anything else. Besides, I believe you agree with Mr. Young that this isn't a very important issue for our lawmakers or our nation right now, so let's all rejoice in that.
KDF, are you saying that you don't believe that "the letter of the law" should be upheld? Truly, conservatives are in disarray.
By Britt Towery
Feb 9, 2009 9:38 PM | Link to this
As long as there are math tests in school, there will be prayer.
By KDF
Feb 6, 2009 2:51 PM | Link to this
There was a day in America when you sealed a deal with a handshake. Or simply made a verbal agreement to do so. This was before we had to live exactly to the letter of the law (per ACLU). Prayer in school was once looked at that way, and I would not have been the one to stand against prayer time in those days. It was a respected time and I would have been a fool to speak against it. Why do you make life so complicated for us, Mr. Young?
By Robbie
Feb 6, 2009 8:33 AM | Link to this
A 4-year-old throwing a tantrum over Fruit Loops at HEB is similarly expressing his opinion. It doesn't make it any less embarassing to his parents.
I understand that this is a hot-button issue that can get the emotional juices flowing. The purveyors of opinion should have the decency to put together a coherent op-ed, complete with honest information, without allowing the emotional tide to sweep over their keyboard.
In the scheme of things, I'd rate the importance of this topic a 12 on a scale of 1000. Its relevance is really not shining through amid a new president pushing forth his demands in executive orders and Congress debating their option to charge people like me, who work, an additional $940 billion, or what ever we have it up to now.
It just seems like the topic that made Mr. Young mad at the moment, and this is how he conveyed it.
By Greg MacCullough
Feb 5, 2009 12:23 PM | Link to this
Yeah, his article did seem more than a little rantish. However, it is an OPINION page. Despite his tone, I still agree with much of what he said. No one has ever said a student cannot pray before class. What opponents of this law are saying is that it is unconstitutional for the government (or state) to endorse a moment of silence for prayer. What's next, a moment of kneeling and bowing to the east (towards Mecca), performed seven times during the school day?
Proponents of this bill are likely only pushing it for religious and or political reasons. If students want to pray, they can do so. No one is stopping them.
By KDF
Feb 5, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this
Oh, my, Mr. Young. Firstly, any phsycologist will tell you that any person should take a moment of silence before taking on any project, such as the beginning of school. And this individual for prayer thing is strange because we are told by the Apostle Paul to meet in groups, and Jesus did tell us to pray in private places, too. If you are reading your Bible on a daily basis you would most likely understand this. And John, why is our nation failing? Because we keep backing away from Him as the Bible states. As we back away from Him, He will back away from us. <
By Robbie
Feb 5, 2009 10:10 AM | Link to this
Honestly, I believe that this is the reason that this newspaper ahs seen the dramatic drops that it has. In reading this, it seems that Mr. Young's keyboard has busrt into flames. This really is nothing more than a hot-tempered rant. I can almost picture John Young, red-faced and flaming mustache, screeming out random tourette-like obscenities at Greg Abbot.
It seems his temper got the best of him when it comes to presenting a case based in actual truths. The statement that "the Bill of Rights protects the individual from majority impulses" is false. The Bill of Rights is a protection of the American people from our government. The First Amendment guarantees us that government cannot create a religion, nor can they prohibit us from freely expressing our religion. This is what happened in the Supreme Court ruling of 1962. The Supreme Court, a branch of the government, ruled "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion that had been tradition in our schools since we had schools.
Texas entered into the "moment of silence" debate with other states 14 years ago, in 1995, not "six years ago" in 2003 as is written in this op-ed. The 1995 law allowed for schools to volutarily enter into a "moment of silence" to begin the school day. The 2003 law simply amended the existing 1995 to mandate the "moment of silence." The amendment to the law also provided a list for what the "moment of silence" could be used for, including meditation, reflection, and prayer.
The 2003 law is where the state legislature opened itself up to this type of scrutiny. By mandating the "moment of silence," the state pushed its weight upon the schools and students. Not that a "moment of silence" to open the day is altogether damaging, but it was mandated for specific purposes as demanded by the list. The entire provision is now up for dismissal should this one couple of Carrollton parents get their way.
In essence, the 1962 ruling by the Supreme Court began an uproar and overstepped the boundaries of the Bill of Rights. Such "corrective" laws have since been implemented and have caused animosity between competing groups and communities.
The Founders anticipated this happening. That is why they found it necessary to keep the government out of our daily affairs, such as when we can and cannot pray, and how we should behave in our schools. That is the purpose of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. To keep the government out.
This is an issue, that pre-1962, American schools had right. At that point, the prayer was not mandated. It was not forced upon. It was the decision of the individual school and district.
By daniel farmer
Feb 5, 2009 8:25 AM | Link to this
WE NEED TO PUUT GOD BACK IN SCHOOL BECAUES USA IS FALLING ABOUT
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