Going to have to bring Christianity back into school too now.
No getting around it, can't have one without acknowledging all the rest.
Otherwise is complete discrimination against all the other belief systems.
All have a right to pray, if one prays, all can do it.
Jesus told his followers not to pray in the street to be seen by men, but to go quietly to their closets to pray in secret.
So are you asking to have Christian prayer in your schools? Youve already got it. You have every right to how your head and speak in your heart to your God anytime you want.
Or are you asking to have someone lead you in "prayer" like a sermon but addeessed to God? Muslim students dont get sermons or religious instruction in public school.
When Christians try to have school prayer they mean to have it in the classroom or on the sports arena. If you dont fit in you stand out. In our Western society it is considered ill mannered not to how your head and remain quiet while someone else prays. This means other students who do not pray are forced by good manbners to take a prayer break.
Muslims are not asking to pray in the classroom or to compel polite bon Muslims to observe their prayers. Rhey want to go to a special room and do their ritual prayer, alone. They are doing as Jesus advised, going off away from others to pray quietly in seclusion together.
While the Muslims pray, nothing prevents Christians from sitting together and praying silently together, or praying the rosary. They have identical rights to pray as Muslims.
I happen to believe the Muslim prayer room will be divisive among students. It will create division among Muslim students. I hope the Muslim community is mature enough to handle it well. Consider a school in which Christians are a minority. Catholics pray one way, Lutherans another. Some raise their hands and holler while others sit together in silence. Some will love to ostentatiously parade off to prayee while others prefer to keep their personal relationship with their God dignified and discrete. It will end in squabbles, unless that community is unified and tolerant.
There will be other issues. Some smart ass from the gifted class will find the weak limits to push. Adolescence is all about transgression and testing limits.
It will get silly, as religion always does in the post modern world.
