April 19, 2002

Senator Brad Burzynski
District Office
505 DeKalb Avenue
PO Box 348
Sycamore, IL 60178

via Fax: (815) 895-2905

Dear Sir,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me regarding HB 4117 and for letting me know of the postponement to next Wednesday of consideration of the bill by the Committee.

When prayer is said out loud in front of an audience, there are two parties who are engaged in prayer. The speaker is engaged in prayer, in that he is engaged in saying the prayer. The audience, however, is also engaged in prayer, in that the audience is engaged in listening to the prayer. In fact, a principal reason for saying prayer out loud is specifically for the purpose of engaging the audience in the prayer of the speaker by causing the audience to listen to the speaker.

The right of every student to the free exercise of religion must apply equally to those students who are in the audience as well as those students who wish to be the speakers. Engaging in student-initiated prayer must be voluntary for both the speaker and the audience. It must not be voluntary for the speaker but involuntary for the audience.

HB 4117, as proposed, protects the rights of only those students who wish to voluntarily engage in student-initiated prayer as speakers. The bill, however, does not protect the rights of students who do not wish to engage in student-initiated prayer as listeners in a captive audience. Students are involuntarily engaged in student-initiated prayer when they are forced, against their will, to listen to the prayers of other students during a captive audience situation.

The whole purpose for engaging in prayer in front of a captive audience is to involuntarily engage in prayer those people who otherwise would choose to not engage in prayer. That’s what’s really going on here, and that’s what I seek to stop with the my proposals. Students have a right to pray if that’s what they want to do, but students also have a right to not be an audience to the prayer of other students.

If students who wish to voluntarily engage in student-initiated prayer really want to ensure that the rights of everybody, and not just their own rights, are respected, then they would either say their prayers silently or they would say them at a time and location when the audience to their prayers consisted solely of those who voluntarily chose to be an audience to prayer. The real intent for saying prayers during captive audience situations is to target to involuntarily engage in prayer those who wish to neither pray nor be an audience to the prayer of others. The Senate should not allow the free exercise of religion principle to be used as a subterfuge for taking public school students who do not wish to engage in prayer and compelling them into involuntarily engaging in prayer.

I propose four changes to HB 4117 that would protect the rights of those students who do not wish to involuntarily engage in student-initiated prayer as members of a captive audience. My proposal, therefore, would protect the rights of all students, both speakers and audience.

On Line 14, after the word "State", add the words "or other students".

On Line 15, after the words "engage in" add a comma, delete the words "or to", and after the word "from" add the words "or be a captive audience to".

On Line 17, after the word "prayer", add the words "when a captive audience of other students is not present."

On Line 19, after the word "State", add the following new sentence: "‘Captive audience’ shall include, but is not limited to, students who are in attendance of a class or who are present at an assembly, graduation ceremony or sporting event that is organized or controlled by the State or the school district."

The bill would now read as follows:

My proposals provide that any student can still engage voluntarily in student-initiated prayer any time a student wants, even during captive audience situations. He just can’t do it in a way that forces other students to listen to him, thus coercing other students to involuntary engage in student-initiated prayer.

As an alternative, keep the bill the way that HB 4117 proposes, but add the following to the end of it:

Neither the state nor any student shall cause any other student to involuntarily engage in student-initiated prayer. A student involuntarily engages in student-initiated prayer when, as a member of a captive audience, he is compelled to listen to the student-initiated prayer of another student.

This proposal equally protects the rights of students who do not wish to involuntarily engage in student-initiated prayer with the rights of students who do wish to voluntarily engage in student-initiated prayer.

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly amended 105 ILCS 5/10-20.14, "Student discipline policies," to add Section D regarding student bullying. While students must be guaranteed freedom from bullying of a sexual, racial or national origin nature, students must also be guaranteed freedom from bullying of a religious nature, or religious harassment. A student engages in religious bullying when he uses student-initiated prayer to insult, condemn or ridicule his fellow students for subscribing to theological opinions different from his own. My proposals would protect students from this type of religious bullying and this type of religious harassment.

My proposals articulate a reasonable and fair method for successfully fulfilling the constitutional principles of the free exercise of religion, separation of state and church and freedom of religion, that are identified in the bill. Freedom of religion includes the right to not engage involuntarily in prayer.

The principle, here, is not freedom from religion, but rather freedom from coercion to involuntarily engage in prayer and freedom from religious bullying.

If you believe that the right to religious freedom belongs equally to students who wish to voluntarily engage in prayer and as well as those students who wish to not engage in prayer, then I urge you to support one set of my proposals.

Please feel free to call me if you’d like to discuss this further.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

Very Truly Yours,

Robert I. Sherman