rR writes:
You don't want prayer because it offends you and you feel like religion is being forced on you. However, in telling us how not to be, you are telling us how to be and doing the same thing you don't want done to yourself. That logic offends me, not that you don't believe in God.
Well, that logic offends me, too, because it has false premises and equivocations. You'll probably also be disappointed to know that public criticism and negative market reactions don't violate free speech rights.
rR writes:
Our very first document states that our rights are endowed by our creator.
By the "our" in "our very first document", I assume you mean the United States of America: that document would be the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence, which was a revolutionary manifesto written by members of diverse colonies (some of which, btw, persecuted each others' members for religious reasons).
God has a place in government. So does atheism.
Neither have any place in our government. You can search our Constitution forever and find no mention of either one.
Also, making this about atheism is a red herring. Many people of faith, Christian and not, object to the co-opting of religion by government.
You want faith to be the official source of secular rule. So does the Taliban. I don't. I want a government of laws, not of gods and men. Ruling by some kind of divine right or another was the status quo throughout most of human history. Oceans of blood were spilled to change that.
Our laws take their authority from the consent of the governed; pray in public, pray in private, pray loud, pray silently, pray to Yahweh, pray to Buddha--I don't care, prayer doesn't offend me. You could even have a Christian prayer meeting in the minutes before a legislative session opens. That's fine, too.
But there's no god in our Constitution, and I don't want one smuggled in the back door. I'm surprised your faith is so weak that you want to do that.
And I'll repeat my earlier warning: You may rue the day you let government determine which prayers are officially sanctioned and which are not.
"If you can keep your head while those around you are losing theirs, you can collect a lot of heads."