What do you think about this issue? [quote=New York Times - Rhode Island]Sixteen-year-old Jessica Ahlquist is an atheist, who has incensed her heavily Roman Catholic city, by getting a prayer removed, via a successful lawsuit, from the wall of her high school, where it has hung for 49 years.[/quote] The article describes the item in question: [quote]'The prayer, eight feet tall, is papered onto the wall in the Cranston West auditorium, near the stage. It has hung there since 1963, when a seventh grader wrote it as a sort of moral guide and that year’s graduating class presented it as a gift. It was a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling barring organized prayer in public schools. “Our Heavenly Father,” the prayer begins, “grant us each day the desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically, to be kind and helpful.” It goes on for a few more lines before concluding with “Amen.”'[/quote] [quote]'For Jessica ... “It seemed like it was saying, every time I saw it, ‘You don’t belong here,’...' 'A friend brought the prayer to Jessica’s attention in 2010, when she was a high school freshman. She said nothing at first, but before long someone else — a parent who remained anonymous — filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union.'[/quote] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/us/rhode-island-city-enraged-over-school-prayer-lawsuit.html?_r=1

Tough one for me to accept.

It does bother me to see that kind of thing in a public school, but the prayer was rather generic, and didn't seem to be biased to one religion or another. Unlike the posters for the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) which are quite annoying to a non-Christian.

The prayer can also be interpreted as non-religious. There is nothing wrong with not believing in a God and wanting to grow mentally and morally.

So I'm not sure I would have encouraged my kid to sue or make a fuss.

If they added "In the name of Jesus" at the end of that, I would have raised holy hell.

But I'm OK with a generic "prayer" like that, generally speaking.

And as for feelings of "I don't belong here." I think that's pure bunk. If she can't read the board outside the French class because it is in French, just she complain about that?

Without knowing all the facts, I think she's taking it way overboard and needs to stop feeling persecuted about everything.

I happen to agree that schools should not post faith-related content, and just because it had been hanging there for a while doesn't mean it should stay. Just like doors that say "white only" in a school shouldn't stay just because they'd been there for decades.

If it had just been posted 3 months ago, would people feel differently about the issue?

Good point. You know, that could be the "real" issue with the enduring faith in the ancient myths. People have been doing it for so long, and it's been passed down unquestioned for generations, that it's just "always been that way."

i saw no problem with that in the school myself ..i think we are carrying this politically correct stuff a bit to far...after all there are many things in life we deal with without having to be so extreme...its time to learn to live more understandingly and be tolerant...after all this was a gift also from a former graduating class and this girl whats next for her to fight to have removed ...churches or their crosses ...synagogs...temples...etc...sounds ridiculous but i dont think it is...if this keeps up we will soon be hiding our prayers and worship all over the place...and have to do these things in secret again like a long time ago...

besides if she was a true atheist this should not of bothered her at all...why should something you dont believe in bother you in even the slightest way...i think she just wanted to stir the pot and have her fifteen minutes of fame.

I am in two minds about this.

Certainly this prayer is the sort of thing that probably belongs only in a faith school, yet it was something that kids chose to do and to offer to their school as a gift, so perhaps should simply be acknowledged as such. I am a bit surprised that it hasn't disintegrated by now.

The atheist girl hadn't even noticed it, until it was brought to her attention, and then someone else filed a complaint. I think that she was being used ~ but is ok about it.

We used to say prayers like this every morning, in my non-faith state schools. It was the norm, so this story seemed a little over the top. However, in America, state and religion are separate and there are a lot of people who seem to want to convince everyone that the country should be officially Christian, so I can see that this is an important matter.

The way the girl has been treated is shocking, though.

well i think the way she did what she did is shocking also...and she didnt even notice just in my opinion wanted to start trouble so she got now what she wanted...but just didnt think things out ...that school has the right to accept a gift and display it...its their property after all ...not the the school itself was pushing this ...it ...was...a...gift...

besides like i said ...if she was a true atheist it shouldnt have bothered her anyway...if you dont believe in something why should it have so much of a affect on you...

Sympathy is not the word for it. . . I am da_n proud of her because she has the backbone to do what so many of us either cannot or just won't. Even though I don't agree with her views she needs a pat on the back for standing up and holding out. I am just now starting to understand why the Dark Ages really occurred. The christian God and his Son came to be during the darkest hour of recorded human history thus doesn't anyone find that just a bit hard to understand? Especially christians? First christianity is perceived, Rome becomes corrupted by internal politics and some sort of capitalist conjecture by their leaders and then the Visigoths finish them off. The Dark Ages begin around 470AD and lasts for 600-800 years of pure horror. Plagues, war and ignorance rule the land but you can count on the church to take your money and kill your wife if she boils the fat off your hog to make lard for cooking. During this time, it's estimated, that the christian church kills more people than every pestilence, war and famine combined day for day and since then the numbers are staggering if you measure the actions taken by christian countries, factions and outside groups plus the churches in measuring the numbers killed. During the “Dark Ages” the European Church not only kills lots of people it also takes a lot of land, in fact the only European land holder that holds more land than the Church is the Monarchy(s) . Our situation now is much different or is it? The Vatican is still one of the largest and most powerful entities in the world and it is still one of the largest land owners in the world, thus the Vatican itself is even considered a country unto itself. christian countries, like the good ole USA, still persecute and kill millions every decade because they are not christian, oh wait no they’re terrorists, communists or socialists that’s right please excuse me. People within the borders of the USA, or other christian countries can enjoy social deprivation, isolation and unemployment if they do not adhere to the christian lifestyle, speak out against christianity or if you break any of the social norm as applied by the laws learned in the christian rule book. The USA was founded on freedom but does not seem to enjoy that standard any longer unless you adhere to a very strict set of rules meant to keep you from enjoying your freedom. I'm really not being fair to the christian about all of this because I know many other people, of other religions, that act in the same way and even some of my own. The point I always try to get across is live and let live because it is very possible that none of us are right or all of us are right. I have really been forced to learn how badly people are treated by the church in our country within the last three years...

A school is a public institution, just like a courtroom is. If someone really liked a courtroom and gave it a gift of a gigantic cross to hang on the back wall, it doesn't mean that the courtroom should display it just because it was a gift.

The concept of the object being a gift should have no bearing on the discussion. It doesn't matter if the school paid for the item or got it for free. What matters if it is appropriate for a public institution paid for by taxpayers to display certain objects. So the gift issue should not matter.

If there was a gigantic cross, for example, it wouldn't make it "more right" or "less right" if that cross was a gift. It is still a gigantic cross. So the question is about the item, not about where it came from.

"If she was a true atheist it shouldnt have bothered her anyway"

I am quite curious about this statement. I don't see the connection. An atheist doesn't believe in God. An atheist can still hate the Catholic church for the things it has done.

I know many atheists who are strongly anti-church for a variety of reasons. The fact that they don't believe in God seems to lend a strength to their unhappiness with people who do things claiming that it's in a God's name. They can be deeply upset by mandates telling them to look to a Heavenly Father for guidance.

Atheists can feel a vast variety of ways about issues.