Andrew Sullivan's response to atheists suing over daily moments of silence in schools:

Look: I'm a defender of the rights of atheists. And I'm passionate about secularism. But I don't think these public displays of milque-toast religiosity are that big a deal. I grew up in a country with an established church and as part of my government-funded education, I attended Anglican morning services on a daily basis. I handled it. In fact, I'm sure it helped my Catholicism to endure. And I'm not a little grateful that it introduced me to the Book Of Common Prayer. A little coexistence with the majority is not going to kill anyone. Chill.

I hate this argument...fucking hate it. The point is not whether it hurts anyone. It wouldn't hurt kids to face Mecca and say Muslim prayers every day, but I'm guessing most Americans wouldn't go for that. The issue is not harm.

The point is, if you have some sort of school-wide activity, no matter how brief, it needs to be justified. "What does it hurt?" is a shitty argument. If I were a parent, I'd want to know what purpose it serves. If I got some mealy-mouthed response about how it relaxes kids and clears their minds for the day ahead, I'd say thanks very much, but we're perfectly capable of having mind-clearing moments of silence on our own time before school...when they get there we'd like you to fucking teach them.

That is all.