Word: prayerful
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...public exhibit of a crucifix submerged in urine, or to utter virtually any conceivable blasphemy in a public place; it is not legal, the federal courts have ruled, to mention God reverently in a classroom, on a football field or at a commencement ceremony as part of a public prayer...
...debate has now arrived at a crossroads. Last month the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that invites it to rewrite the canons of church- state law. Lee v. Weisman involves a Rhode Island rabbi whose bland prayer at a middle-school graduation was later ruled unconstitutional. The rabbi gave thanks to God for "the legacy of America, where diversity is celebrated and the rights of minorities are protected." The district court suggested that the invocation would have been fine if the rabbi had just left out all the references to God. The school board is arguing that...
...landmark 1962 case Engel v. Vitale, the high court threw out a brief nondenominational prayer composed by state officials that was recommended for use in New York State schools. "It is no part of the business of government," ruled the court, "to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite." The following year the court outlawed mandatory daily Bible readings in public schools...
...court became increasingly concerned about government support for religious expression, opponents began speaking up. It was one thing to outlaw state-written prayers, they said, but what about a moment of silence? Perhaps reading the Bible as part of a morning devotional was inappropriate, but what about recognition of extracurricular religious clubs? Justice Potter Stewart, writing in 1963, foreshadowed the debates of the 1980s and '90s when he warned that the court was hardly being neutral in its school-prayer decisions. A ban on noncoercive religious exercises in school placed religion "at an artificial and state-created disadvantage," he said...
However his prayer caused some controversy. Some students said that the prayer failed to include all the religions represented at the University...