Prayer is an intensely personal matter between the individual and God. The practice of praying should take place in your home or in church.

If you are going to have a public prayer whose prayer will it be, a Southern Baptist prayer, a Catholic prayer or a Mormon prayer?

The Supreme Court of the United States has settled this issue and has held that no pubic prayers should take place in any official setting like a city council. One gets the feeling that so-called conservatives believe that since the present court is conservative, it is time to re-visit the issue.

I don’t want the government to be in my home or my church and I definitely do not want government to force upon me or others a prayer not of my choosing or their choosing. The view that this type of thing can be good for you is sanctimonious and a tyrannical act.

The founders wanted a wall between church and state, a wall of separation. The first amendment was chosen not by a coincidence to state in terms that are not ambiguous that Congress shall not establish any religion. We may freely practice any religion without any government telling me or any other citizens how to worship.

It was not just James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson who spoke on the subject of having a wall between church and state. Edmund Randolf of Virginia said,”no power is given to Congress over religion.” Madison added ‘ There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion.’ The founders felt no need to be redundant in stating the need for the same restrictions for states.

The words of the first amendment to the Constitution should suffice in maintaining the separation and wall between church and state. It is to my way of thinking a conservative position to maintain such a separation. Only mischief can result from an imposition of a specific prayer upon a public audience. It is an act of tyranny for any religion to impose any prayer on anyone or for any governmental entity to do the same.