Action
Alert
Bill
Requires Moment of Silence in Public Schools
posted
January 12, 2004
Action
Needed:
Contact members of the Senate
Criminal, Civil and Public Policy Committee and your district Senator
TODAY! Urge them to Oppose Senate Bill 135!
House
of Representatives Phone: (317)
232-9600, (800) 382-9841
Ø Ask to speak the Member of this
committee that is your Representative.
Ø Be willing to leave a clear,
detailed message with the Representative’s Legislative Assistant.
Ø
Email
addresses and a sample text is at the bottom of this alert.
BACKGROUND:
Moment of Silence:
In 1975 the Indiana General Assembly passed four new
sections of law into the Indiana Code that authorize Voluntary Religious
Observance in Public Schools. You
should know that as the law currently reads, school corporations in Indiana
may institute a moment of silence for prayer or meditation.
In every session, legislation emerges whose intent is to reinforce this
statue and encourage prayer in public schools by reminding school corporations
and teachers of their ability to do so. This
legislation surfaces every year, and usually has good success in passing out
of the Senate Committee and Senate Chamber.
In recent years, legislators have attached amendments to this bill
requiring the posting of “In God We Trust” in every public school
classroom; it’s possible this will happen again this year!
JCRC
POSITION and TALKING POINTS:
Moment of Silence:
Ø
The separation
of church and state, embodied in both the First Amendment and the Indiana
Constitution, is a bulwark of religious liberty in the United States and in
the State of Indiana.
Ø
Support of a
clear separation between church and state includes opposition to efforts to
return formal state-sponsored prayer to public schools.
Ø
A moment of
silence does nothing to improve the State’s educational curriculum.
Ø
The specific language in this bill is extremely
problematic because it requires that all students must sit in their chairs
silently, making no “distracting display” (an indefinable term).
It also requires teachers to enforce this.
Neither Jews, Muslims,
Buddhists, nor even all Christians (such as Pentecostals) pray silently while
sitting in chairs.
Ø
Two crucial questions
then follow: What should be considered a “distracting display” and by what
means should the teacher enforce this?
Ø
Our legislators should be working to improve public
education NOT by spending time on finding ways to insert religion into the
public schools, but rather by spending time on how to fund full-day
kindergarten, how to improve reading levels and test scores, and how to stop
the “brain drain” of college graduates!
Ø
Strengthening
and improving public education in the State of Indiana is at the top of the
Jewish community’s agenda.
TIMELINE / PROCESS:
Lindsey Mintz will testify in front of the Senate Criminal, Civil, and
Public Policy Committee on Tuesday morning, January 13, 2004 at 9:00 am.
Because the Senate is Republican-lead, and often quite conservative,
it’s likely the bill will pass out of the committee and go to the floor of
the Senate so that all 50 members of the Indiana Senate can vote on the bill.
If the bill gets to the Senate floor, I’ll be emailing you again,
reminding you to call your State Senator.
Once a bill gets to the floor, Senators have the opportunity to take
the microphone and speak to their fellow members about the dangers or merits
of the pending legislation so you can encourage your Senator to speak out
against the bill.
Your
calls to Senators are needed!
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR SENATOR and WHOM TO CONTACT:
Mailing
Address:
The Honorable
(Full Name)
Senate, State of Indiana
200 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2786
“Dear
Senator (Last Name),”
Phone:
(317) 232-9400
(800) 382-9467
Ask to
speak with the Senator’s Legislative Assistant – go ahead and leave a very
detailed, slowly spoken message if you get the voice mail.
E-mail:
·
Try linking to
the names listed below by pressing the “Ctrl” button at the same time you
click on the name.
·
If the link
fails to make the connection, you can find email addresses through the
State’s web site at: http://www.state.in.us.
First,
contact members of the Senate Criminal Civil and Public Policy Committee:
|
|
CHAIR |
|
Fort
Wayne |
|
|
|
Ranking
Minority Member |
|
Terre
Haute |
|
|
|
Ranking
Member |
|
Fort
Wayne |
|
|
|
|
|
Martinsville |
|
|
|
|
|
South
Bend |
|
|
|
|
|
Indianapolis,
Carmel |
|
|
|
|
|
Monticello
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gary
|
|
|
|
|
|
East
Chicago |
|
|
|
|
|
Shelburn
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indianapolis
|
Then, contact the
Senator from your district.
To locate
this information, log on to Access Indiana at http://www.state.in.us
and click on “Who’s Your Legislator?”
Sample
Email
Please
personalize this letter and alter the language so it's your own:
Dear
Senator ________,
My name
is ______ and I am writing/calling you today to urge you to oppose Senate Bill
135, which will mandate that all public schools and public school students
observe a moment of silence in every classroom.
The
separation of church and state is embodied in both the First Amendment and the
Indiana Constitution; therefore, mandating that students pray - even silently -
in public schools is unconstitutional.
It might
seem like forcing children to sit silently and pray isn't such a "big
deal" because if a student doesn't want to pray, he or she doesn't have to
do so. But the logic here is simply wrong. From the earliest age,
students understand that what they learn and observe at school from their
teachers is truth. Young children simply won't question their teachers and
ask to leave the room - and if the parents insist, the child will be
embarrassed. Even when students learn to question authority as they age,
it is still implicit that public schools are home to an unbiased interpretation to
areas of study. Older students not wishing to pray or feeling
uncomfortable with the situation will be ostracized. Inserting prayer in
school defies the high standard of religious liberty in this state and
country.
If the
intent of this bill is to protect the free exercise of religion, then it cannot
limit the ways in which it may be exercised - meaning, some people pray out
loud, standing, swaying, singing, or kneeling. Silent, seated prayer only
accommodates Christian pray-ers. What exactly constitutes a
"distracting display? By what
means should the teacher be allowed to enforce this new statute?
What punishments are appropriate for a student not willing to sit and
pray, or one who distracts another from praying?
A moment
of silence does NOTHING to improve the State's education curriculum, nor does it
guarantee an improved moral or ethical standard in students. I am asking
that instead of spending your time on inserting religion into public schools,
you spend it on issues like finding ways to fund full-day kindergarten, to
close the achievement gap, and to stop the "drain brain" from
Indiana.
Thank you
for considering my thoughts as you deliberate on Senate Bill 135 - again I urge
you to vote against this it.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
and contact information
+++++++++++++++++++