"Religion is an insult to human dignity" - Steven Weinberg

Sid

You can pray anytime or place you want. Now, organized prayer? No.

I can promise that if it starts with rotation between the religions, some Christian ministers will start agitating to get that changed to only Christian prayer.

Religion does not belong in schools nor does it belong in government functions like public meetings or even in public buildings.

Religious people have their homes and places of worship to practice their beliefs, they need to do that and not push them onto other people.

Will Republicans support Muslim prayers in schools? (He asked, knowing full well what the R’s answer would be.)

Prayer in school was outlawed in the 60's (I think, correct me if I'm wrong). Christian Fundamentalism started in the late 1970's. Prayer prior to being outlawed was probably more agnostic in terms, like going to an AA meeting, what the fundie's want today, is militaristic....I could go on, but I'll leave it there.

I was in seventh grade at the time. One of the teachers (not mine, but she lived down the street) got in serious trouble because she continued not only prayer but in reading Bible verses to the students. She was allowed to stay in the classroom but was carefully watched.

Christian Fundamentalism started LONG before the 1970s in the US. The First and Second "Great Awakenings" (1730-1840) gave rise to the Evangelicals and to fundamentalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_fundamentalism

You would be correct to say that the direct influence of fundamentalists became prominent in the 1970s. After Nixon resigned, the GOP turned to the religious right and cultivated them by offering to overturn Roe v Wade or other legislation that appealed to the religious authoritarians.

...and I agree.

Reading of Bible verses in class is hardly fundamentalism, like reading the Koran, the Book of Mormon, etc. So long as you are using it as an education purpose. You can't describe much of human history without mentioning religious influences.

But directly telling you what to believe, how, why etc. is fundamentalism. When being read a Bible verse, you have the decision to interpret it or reject it out right (granted their is enough peer pressure to negate that). The Fundamentalist of today want you to take a test on the Bible on their interpretations in order to graduate.

And yes fundamentalism started prior to the 70's. But the militancy started in the 70's. And is why Christianity continues to shrink while the base becomes more indoctrinated.

So many religious folks want the gov't to lead our children in religion rather than the parents doing it as they prefer.