Robert Todd Carroll
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moment of silence"A moment of silence" (a.k.a. "moment of silent meditation") is a code expression for prayer time. The United States Constitution forbids any religion, including Christianity, from being the state religion. It forbids forcing every American to kowtow to the beliefs of any sect. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that requiring prayer in government institutions is unconstitutional, so Christians who want to have a public display of religious worship in places such as public schools, high school football fields, or government offices have created the ruse of the moment of silence. Even though judges and justices know that the moment of silence is code for prayer time, they have encouraged the ruse to flourish by publicly advising that laws requiring moments of silence are constitutional as long as they don't specify what is to be done during the moment of silence. Christian judges have rationalized their rulings by pretending that they don't know for sure that the reason for the law is to have a public display of people praying while pretending to be observing a moment of silence. Encouraging hypocritical behavior has become a pastime among certain Christian evangelists and judges, and the moment of silence marks one of their proudest achievements. One thing the courts have not requested is proof that these moments of silence, which deprive people of their liberty, are necessary to accomplish some legitimate civic purpose. The moment of silence is a way to shut up those who loudly proclaim their fear of oppression in the name of religion. Those who think that prayer is the answer to our problems should consider that if this were a Christian nation, the Bill of Rights would be gone. The history of Christianity is not the history of liberty, but of repression, oppression, and censorship. The Europeans who first displaced the natives of this country came here because Christian sects controlled governments and oppressed those who didn't share their religious views. Unfortunately, it turned out that most of the pilgrims who arrived here were just as intolerant as those who had oppressed them in Europe. Freedom of religion meant not just freedom to practice your own religion but power to enforce that religion on anyone in your political community. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say. Those who stand around in silence while religion is publicly united to our schools, our patriotic songs, our civic meetings, and our sporting events will regret it when they realize that the only silence truly desired by the Christian lawmakers and judges pushing these moments of silent meditation is the silence of the opposition. The state of Virginia passed a "minute of silence law." It was upheld by a federal district court in 2000 and a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2001. See also creationism. further reading
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©copyright 2006 Robert Todd Carroll |
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updated 01/13/08
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