By Julia Olson
Assistant Editor
A bill to require a mandatory moment of silence in all Ohio public schools is under consideration in the Senate. The bill, introduced by Senator Niraj Antani (R, Dayton), will need to be passed by both the Ohio Senate and House before it ends up on Governor Mike DeWine’s desk. Senator Antani no longer serves in the Ohio Senate, having lost his seat to Democrat Willis Blackshear, Jr. in the 2024 elections.
According to the Moment of Silence International Director, Avraham Frank, 17 states have mandated a moment of silence in their public schools. In a phone interview with the American Israelite, Frank said that the “purpose of the moment of silence is to inculcate morality and promote increased bonding between parents and children.”
Frank suggests that “children will go to the parents for advice, for discussion and for all the things that are necessary for the child according to the parents’ philosophy,” and that these conversations will inform what the child thinks about during the moment of silence.
“They can’t be left out randomly to any ideology or any adult,” added Frank.
Frank also included that moments of silence decreased drug use, furthering a claim made by Dr. Herbert Benson in “The Relaxation Response,” written in 1975.
Bills requiring moments of silence have seen plenty of days in American legislatures, with court challenges to the bills typically following their passage. In 1985, the American Supreme Court ruled that an Alabama law requiring a moment of silence in public schools violated the First Amendment. The discussion took center stage in the national discourse again in 2007, when an Illinois law requiring a mandatory moment of silence was challenged by an Illinois school student and her father. In 2008 a judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the state from implementing the law. The law was later upheld in 2011. A similar bill was delivered to Governor Andy Beshear’s desk on March 14, 2025. The ACLU has called the Kentucky House Bill “a thinly veiled attempt at requiring prayer in public schools.”
The movement of for moments of silence in public schools clarifies that students are not required to pray during the time and will have the freedom to ruminate on whatever they choose.
The Moment of Silence website is currently tracking 34 states with ongoing Moment of Silence of School Prayer Legislation.
