Court Rules in Favor of Moment of Silence Law

July 26, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

Onn July 26, 2001, The Washington Post published a piece on the court decision to allow a moment of silence in Virginia schools. "Even the judges who this week embraced Virginia's moment of silence law agree that for it to be constitutional, it must neither encourage nor discourage religion." However, "the children who went to court to fight the moment of silence know well that some of their peers are hungry to use that minute to promote the majority faith. There are already reports statewide of teachers encouraging children to pray aloud...The 'secular' purpose of the law is," according to one of the judges who dissented from the majority, 'patently insincere.'"