By JESSICA GARRISON
TIMES STAFF WRITER
http://www.latimes.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=la%2D000095958dec02
December 2 2001

Seizing an opportunity, advocates of school prayer are advancing a host of new initiatives since Sept. 11 to set aside a moment for God--or at least for silence--during the public school day.
Efforts range from proposed state legislation in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Florida to measures in individual cities ranging from Harvey, Ill., to West Covina.
"There's more religious expression going on in our public schools than at any time in history," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative American Center for Law and Justice. "This is going to change the tone of public schools in America." The trend worries civil libertarians, who contend that though silent prayer already is permitted, mandating or encouraging it is both unconstitutional and a dangerous practice for public schools in a democracy.
"There's been an increase in constitutionally protected religious expression," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "And there has also been a considerable increase in unconstitutional activity."
But prayer supporters appear to have the mood of the country on their side--a mood that quickly veered toward approval of religion in public places after the terrorist attacks. President Bush called for a national day of prayer and remembrance, and "God Bless America" signs sprouted outside businesses and on school marquees.
Last week, the West Covina School Board voted unanimously to have each class begin the day with a moment of silence, making the 10,000-student district the first in Los Angeles County to institute such a practice, according to board members. The policy, which even critics of school prayer concede is legal, must be voted on once more before it becomes final.
"We've talked about this before but never acted," West Covina School Board President Mike Spence said. After Sept. 11, he added, "We felt an urgency to bring a moment of silence into schools. . . . Children and staff need time to reflect or pray."
Local Leaders Taking Steps
West Covina trustees were careful to emphasize that they intend the moment to be secular, though individual students may pray if they wish. But parents at the meeting were delighted and said they were sure their children would use the time to pray.
"This is fantastic," said parent Rosa Zimmer, PTA president at Merced Elementary School. "This is a heavily religious community and it's about time."
Across the country, other local leaders are taking similar steps.
In Harvey, Ill., a Chicago suburb, the City Council passed a resolution in late September urging the local school district to bring back prayer in the schools, although the school board has shown no inclination to do so.
In Greenbrier, Ark., the school board voted in October to support student-led prayer at high school football games.
In Southern California, a coalition of clergy and school board members is drafting a petition asking Bush to encourage a moment of silence each day in schools.
"I think our children are hurting and I think they are afraid," said Kathy Smith, a member of the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Education who is leading the petition drive. "Our children need and deserve to live in a country of renewed spirit which will help bind us as one."
Even if that is so, said Joseph Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the moment-of-silence movement constitutes "a backdoor effort to get school-sponsored prayer back in the classroom."
Not according to the students in Pam Bookout's English class at Brookhurst Junior High School in Anaheim. The Anaheim Union High School District has had a mandatory minute of silence for two years. It has never been challenged in court.
On a recent morning, seventh-graders chatted and rummaged through their backpacks as a voice over the loudspeaker introduced an inspirational quote: "Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect. . . . Today, notice who is giving and receiving respect and who is not." Next came the announcement: "Now let's take a moment and reflect."
Both the loudspeaker and the room went silent. Some students bowed their heads. Others stared dreamily out the window or up at the teacher.
But few of the students said they have ever spent those 60 seconds engaged in prayer.
Jacob Moreno said he thought about his math class. Jon Koriel hoped he would not get detention that day. Sean Williams worried that he had forgotten about a test. Naomi Hom thought of strategies to improve her grades. There was one day, Naomi said, when she did use the moment for prayer: Sept. 11. That morning, she said, "I did pray, hoping that we'd survive the day." She found the prayer comforting.
It's not surprising that religious fervor would take hold of Americans at such a time, said Ronald Thiemann, a professor of religion and society at Harvard University's Divinity School and the author of "Religion in Public Life: A Dilemma for Democracy." He said the current initiatives may not stand the test of time.
"You always see an outburst of this kind of religion after this kind of tragedy," Thiemann said. "And what we're also seeing is an expedient attempt on the part of the political right to use this as an attempt to pass legislation."
Though religious symbolism flooded back into American political discourse and church attendance leaped after the terrorist attacks, it is too soon after Sept. 11 to know whether Americans really have embraced a newfound spirituality, Thiemann said.
"It's been cathartic for America," he said. "But I don't sense that there's any general national mood to overturn the general freedoms."
Political Climate Helps the Cause
Richard Quinn, a Republican assemblyman in South Carolina who has a school prayer bill ready to introduce when the Legislature convenes in January, said the political climate helps his cause. It's about time, he said, that legislators are "taking on the American Civil Liberties Union."
School prayer traditionally has faced serious legal obstacles, but such politicians as Quinn think the opportunity for their legislation has never been more promising. "It tempts the law," Quinn said of his forthcoming bill, "but it doesn't challenge the law.
"I think we have to take advantage of that being a greater issue in people's minds," he said. "We're trying to use the tragedy to a positive end."
Such sentiments draw a dismissive response from Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He accuses politicians of using tragedy and disregarding the Constitution to advance a religious agenda. In his eyes, that violates the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1961 ruling banning prayer in the classroom.
"I get a little cynical about politicians who, instead of having brilliant new ideas about how to fight bioterrorism, turn to religion and try to convince people they are doing something important," Lynn said.
Other groups that traditionally oppose such moves have been quieter on the issue.
Leaders of the national ACLU declined to comment publicly on the spate of prayer initiatives--although the ACLU's Washington office issued a written statement saying the organization continues "to stand by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."
The ACLU's San Francisco affiliate was heavily criticized this fall after it objected to a "God Bless America" sign that went up on a school marquee near Sacramento. The ACLU took the matter no further, but the controversy prompted a battle cry from conservatives across the country who vowed to defend any school that faced challenges over such signs.
The ACLU "got burned badly by the incident in Sacramento," said Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "A lot of people took that to be unpatriotic."
Larry Frankel, executive director of the ACLU's Pennsylvania office, said his group will wait before acting on a bill there until it is taken up by the Senate.
In October, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 200 to 1 to call for a moment of silent prayer or meditation each morning. To be excused, students would need a note from their parents. The bill, which also would require students to say the Pledge of Allegiance each day, needs the approval of the state Senate and the governor's signature to become law.
"It's not worth making noise" yet about the prayer and pledge bill, Frankel said. "It may draw more attention to it than needs to be drawn." Instead, Frankel said, he's been worrying more about expansions of the government's ability to conduct wiretaps.
The Pennsylvania bill is similar to an earlier Virginia law requiring schools to begin the day with a moment of silence. The ACLU claimed that the measure amounted to an endorsement of prayer in the schools, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge. That allowed to stand a lower court ruling that students' rights weren't violated because they weren't forced or encouraged to pray.
Such questions would become moot if Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.) is successful with his announced plan to ask Congress to approve a constitutional amendment that would, among other things, permit students to pray aloud in school. Such prayer has been forbidden in public schools since 1961.
But constitutional amendments are extremely difficult to enact. They require two-thirds approval of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states' legislatures. A similar amendment introduced by the Oklahoma congressman in 1998 fell short in its House vote, but after Sept. 11, Istook said, he thinks the amendment has a better chance.
Sept. 11 also convinced Wilbert "Tee" Holloway, a Florida legislator, that children need permission to pray aloud in school. His bill, which was passed by the state Assembly but must be reintroduced next year so the state Senate can vote on it, would allow children to lead prayers at graduation and all school assemblies--except sports events, where student-led prayers were explicitly prohibited by a Supreme Court ruling last year.
"Prayer is the way we communicate," the Miami-Dade County Democrat said. "When I am told to stand in silence, or say a silent prayer, that is just not how I would want to teach my children. I want them to be able to express themselves openly and confidently.
"Sept. 11 adds credence to the fact that we should be allowed to pray openly," Holloway added. "Why are we holding our beliefs back in school?"

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