Book Burning

[denuseri]

Look at it this way: would you object to people starting a meeting with the traditional Jewish prayer "I thank God for not having made me a woman"?

No, I have no issues with other jews praying, though I am very unfamiliar with the paticular prayer your talking about.

Or with a collective assertion of belief in Marxism and the eventual triumph of the Communist Party?

An actual pledge or assertion of belief and having a silent time for prayer before an event or meeting where each can pray in their own way to thier own gods are two very different things.

Or with a declaration that Scientology is the only true way and this meeting will be conducted in accordance with the principles of Dianetics?

Again what your proposing is very different from what happens when people are accepting of others faith's in addition to their own. A time for non-denominational prayer before a meeting or event is not a declaration of any one faith or belief system over another.

The point is, a prayer is an assertion of a belief system.

No the point of prayer is to communicate to one's god or gods. An Oath or a confession of one's faith via utterance of the "Apostle's Creed" for example are assertions of belief.

If you happen to disagree with that belief system - and, moreover, you live in a country where it is constitutionally mandated that government should not be bound by any one belief system - are you not entitled to object to someone implicitly dedicating the proceedings to their chosen belief system?

Freedom of speech means one can object until they are blue in the face, but it doesnt mean one can disrupt the proceedings of a local assembly of people or infringe on their rights to the same. If the individuals present at any meeting wish to pray they will anyways.

Again having a moment of prayer where each individual can pray to their god is not a "dedication" or an assertion of faith or any kind of branding whatsoever.

[Thorne]

Again having a moment of prayer where each individual can pray to their god is not a "dedication" or an assertion of faith or any kind of branding whatsoever.

But what we are talking about here is NOT just a "moment of silence" but the actual recitation of a prayer at the start of an official meeting. These are very seldom 'non-denominational", but even if they were they are illegal since they still single out non-believers. If you honestly believe, as you have repeatedly stated, that atheism is a religion then you would have to agree that saying ANY prayers to ANY gods is a slap in the face to atheists.

And we're not talking about private groups here, but official government agencies. Private groups can do whatever they please. Anyone who doesn't like it can leave the group and start one of their own. But people can't just up and start their own board of education, for example.