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Murph, my opinion, is that very few people are against religion, or anti-God. The problem has never been with religion or prayer. The problem addressed by the removal of religious practices from public schools is the following: (still my opinion!) : When religion or customs or beliefs are DISCUSSED or STUDIED in public schools, it is GOOD! When religion etc., is PRACTICED in the public schools, it makes people who do not practice that particular "brand", feel either excluded, or worse yet, included in practices they are not comfortable with or may even be threatened by. Due to majority rule in most areas, and that many areas have a majority of one religion being practiced, it would follow in many minds, that (for example): If most of the students in a school are Jewish, they should be encouraged to lead the entire school in prayer, in Hebrew, and to insist that ALL the students attend these prayers, read from the Torah, eat only Kosher food, and go home at night and tell their parents they are going to practice Judaism in order to fit in and not feel out of place in front of the other students. If this really was attempted, the entire school system would erupt in chaos amid lawsuits and pandemonium. This is one area where majority rule is not fair to everyone. A better choice, to me, is let each individual practice his or her beliefs freely and without intruding on anyone else's rights to do the same, while in the public school. I believe that on this list, anyone who wants to offer a prayer or ask for one as most of us have, should be encouraged. More specific involvement in religion, just like any other non-PD related posting, is best done offlist, to keep the volume of posting within reason, not to discourage anyone's right to worship (or not....) Ken B