The Rutherford Institute says yes, the ACLU says no.
I know even as an adult, if I were at a meeting that began with a prayer that referenced a God I didn’t believe in, I would feel like an outsider. And a public school board meeting “ought to be” welcoming to all parents. But where do we draw the line between “ought to be” and “required by law?”
What recourse would a public school parent have if they felt ostracized at such meetings besides the law? It’s not as if they can take their kids to a different public school.
These are my thoughts, and basically why I tend to side with the ACLU.
I lie somewhere between the ACLU and the Rutherford Institute on most issues regarding religous freedom. Closer to the ACLU. But I have no problem with “moments of silence” or “bible study groups” as an optional afterschool activity. (Both stands of which might surprise some of my Liberal friends and relatives.)
My only problem with school prayer is when it becomes mandatory or organized.
YMMV, but I recall having a similar argument on various lists about opening prayers during Starfleet conferences. I was against them and others tried to skate around the use of the Judeo-Christian God by referring to the Maker.
Of course the Starfleet conferences were private so it was more of a question of what was proper and most considerate to all members.
I think Starfleet conferences today have a separate, optional and voluntary, prayer meeting. And I don’t think I’d have a problem with that with respect to Congress, or public school board meetings. (If some of them want to gather somewhere else beforehand and pray, that is their right.)
HAHAHAHAHA do u notice that barely anyones writing on anything else but the harry potter one??? hahahaha
The site statistics tell me that so far this month:
There have been 661 visits to the Harry Potter thread
There have been 1626 visits to the BlondeStar thread
And there have been 5468 visitors to this thread on my old blog.
So yes, Harry Potter is popular…and may be getting the most interactive response of any of the recent threads, with lots of people trying to guess who the HBP will be…but it is only the third most popular of my blog entries so far this month (and has a loooooong way to go to catch up to #1.)