Springfield, USA - School prayer will return to many Illinois schools Tuesday after a court ruling last Thursday reinstated a law that requires daily school prayer in the form of a moment of silence for all Illinois K-12 students.
The 7th Circuit Court has lifted an injunction against “The Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act.” Friday the Illinois Board of Education announced that it expects schools to begin enforcing the ruling immediately.
In 2009, District Judge Robert Gettleman ruled the act unconstitutional: "The plain language of the statute... suggests and intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools," the judge wrote in his decision. But in October of last year, a three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to overturn Judge Gettleman's decision.
The dissenting judge, Ann Claire Williams, wasn't persuaded: "let's call a spade a spade - statutes like these are about prayer in schools," she wrote in her opinion.
Some school officials plan for students to pause for a moment every morning to honor the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act and then recite the Pledge of Allegiance before hearing daily announcements. Others plan to consult their attorneys and school boards before reinstating the act.
Parent Rob Sherman, an atheist who filed a challenge to the law on behalf of numerous concerned parents and citizens, says he will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Theoretically, the "silent reflection" is not to be conducted as a religious exercise. Yet the title of the act alone, as Judge Gettleman pointed out in his original ruling, seems an obvious attempt to force prayer into public school.