Atheist

Hawkins                                                                                                           3-20-05
  Imagine your children being harassed, insulted and threatened by their peers that physical harm would be done to them and their families. This would be happening because their Atheist and choose not to participate in religious activities such as a moment of silence. In school, what would be thought to be a safe environment, and instead of learning being tortured because of the policy of a moment of silence. This is why no public schools should be able to prohibit a moment of silence.
A moment of silence is seen to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court states that a moment of silence violates the law of church and state separation. In 1962, in the Engel vs. Vitale case, five parents sued the New Hyde Park School District because it was thought that the prayer was offensive. The Supreme Court’s decision was in favor of Engel six to one. The courts decision was prayer in public schools is unconstitutional. Also, in the Supreme Court case of Abington School District vs. Schempp in 1963 it was decided that a moment of silence was unconstitutional.   Finally, in 1985, in the court case of Wallace vs. Jaffree, the Supreme Court said that a moment of silence in Alabama was unconstitutional. The court decided on this case six to three. These are only three of the Supreme Court cases which state that moment of silence or prayer is unconstitutional in public schools.
          It states in Ellen Johnson testimonial that in Alabama Atheist children to be ostracized by their peers and, these conflicts go unnoticed by the schools administrators. These reports say that the children are being harassed by classmates because they ‘re Atheist and choose not to participate in religious activities such as the moment of silence. Atheist children are going to school everyday and being tortured because their school decided to prohibit   a...