A Moment of Silence for New York's Schoolchildren

To the Honorable Eliot Spitzer, governor of the State of New York and;
the Honorable Sheldon Silver, speaker of the New York State Assembly and;
the Honorable Joseph Bruno, majority leader of the New York State Senate and;
all the Honorable members of the New York State Senate and Assembly, Greetings.

Comes now the undersigned petitioners to request of your excellencies that the Public School Children of the State of New York be permitted up to sixty (60) seconds at the start of each school day for silent, private meditation. The content and nature of such meditation shall be solely up to the discretion of each student.

Whereas Public schools can neither foster religion nor preclude it. Our public schools must treat religion with fairness and respect and vigorously protect religious expression as well as the freedom of conscience of all other students. In so doing our public schools reaffirm the First Amendment and enrich the lives of their students. - Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley June 1998

and Whereas Gen. Colin Powell (USA Ret.) has recommended a simple moment of silence at the start of each school day. Students could use this interval to pray, meditate, contemplate or study.

and whereas the book "An Outrageous Idea: Natural Prayer" written by Patty Jo Cornish and illustrated by James Hubbell promotes this concept. "We have forgotten that we are all in this together. And, we keep separating ourselves from ourselves, by color, by football teams, by clothes, by money, by creed, by greed, by boundaries, by age, and so on and on. We need something to pull us all together. Natural Prayer could be that miracle. It includes everyone, even the non-believers."

and Whereas a moment of silence would allow students with religious beliefs as diverse as Atheism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Neopaganism, etc. to participate together; some would pray; others would reflect on the upcoming day; others would meditate. There would be provision for all. A moment of silence could contribute to acceptance of diversity within the student body, and eventually lead to less violence on campus.

and whereas such laws have been held to be constitutional in many other states and U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton ruled in a 15 page decision in favor of a similiar law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He wrote, in part: "The court finds that the Commonwealth's daily observance of one minute of silence act is constitutional. The act was enacted for a secular purpose, does not advance or inhibit religion, nor is there excessive entanglement with religion...Students may think as they wish -- and this thinking can be purely religious in nature or purely secular in nature. All that is required is that they sit silently"

Now, Therefore, we the undersigned do urge and request that the New York State legislature adopt legislation that will permit and guarantee a moment of silence to all public school children in the state of New York.