Parents sue alleging that Texas schools' mandated moment of silence violates Establishment Clause
The parents of elementary school children are suing the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District (C-FBISD) in a Texas federal district court alleging that the state's mandated moment of silence in public schools violates the Establishment Clause principle of separation of church and state. The suit also names Governor Rick Perry as a defendant. David and Shannon Croft claim one of their children was told by a teacher to be quiet because the minute is a "time for prayer." Mr. Crofts contends that there is no secular reason for a moment of silence and characterizes it as a "ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school." C-FBISD officials have declined to comment on the suit. Mr. Croft is no stranger to filing complaints regarding what he perceives as Establishment Clause violations. In the past, he has objected to religious-themed songs such as "Silent Night" and "God Bless the U.S.A.," to Good News Bible Club meetings at the school, and to a poster reading "In God We Trust." Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Governor Perry, disputes the allegations, saying state law clearly gives children the freedom to do what they wish with the moment of silence. "If the student wants to review mentally to get ready for a test or pray silently, they can," say Ms. Walt. "The law does not set it up specifically as a moment for prayer." Although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Alabama moment of silence law in 1985, the Court declined to hear a challenge to Virginia's moment of silence law in 2001. Even so, Dean Cook, Mr. Croft's attorney, believes the Alabama case is precedent. "This is an issue of trying to impose religion," Mr. Cook says. "There's nothing stopping students from silently praying during the day, so there's no need for this accommodation." Mr. Croft counts Michael Newdow of Pledge of Allegiance fame among his heroes. "I don't want my children exposed to people telling them the supernatural is real," says Mr. Croft. "I completely reject Judeo-Christian monotheism."
Dallas Morning NewsBy Katherine Leal Unmuth
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Editor's Note: The Supreme Court case was Wallace v. Jaffree
, 472 U.S. 38 (1985), in which the Court invalidated an amendment to an existing Alabama statute that already had provided for a moment of silence, in order to add expressly that the moment could be used for voluntary prayer; Alabama politicians characterized the amendment as an "effort to return voluntary prayer" to public schools. The Virginia case that the Court declined to review was Brown v. Gilmore
, 258 F.3d 265 (4th Cir. 2001), in which the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a state law establishing a minute of silence in which "each pupil may, in the exercise of his or her individual choice, meditate, pray, or engage in any other silent activity which does not interfere with, distract, or impede other pupils in the like exercise of individual choice."]