VMI & Dinner Prayer

[Rick Duncan]

I wonder how much coercion vel non matters in this
context. I would like to know more about the
circumstances of VMI dinner prayers. Are these prayers
part of the official dinner ceremony at VMI, or are
they student-initiated as part of a tradition among
VMI students.

Take a public high school lunch room for instance. In
one case, the principal leads students in prayer
before lunch is served. In another case, a number of
students pray out loud over their meal (and thereby
offend other students at their table who do not wish
to hear prayers). The one case is a pretty clear EC
violation. The latter is a case in which the EC is not
violated by the prayer and one in which the Free
Exercise and Free Speech Clauses arguably protect the
prayer from governmental censorship. No?

Cheers, Rick Duncan



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"Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
    --President George W. Bush (quoting John Page)

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