Open letter to all Atheists.

It is typically considered that the Lord's Prayer is a pattern to follow in praying. In other words, rather than simply reciting "forgive us our sins..." one should deal with specific sins which you yourself are guilty of. And when asking to "give us this day, our daily bread." we should be bringing our specific, daily needs to him. He certainly had his most harsh words for those who were most "religious." IMO, the problem with organized religion is that it is all too easy to make the organized religious practices themselves the focus and primary significance rather than the purpose behind those practices. So for this case as an example, praying the Lord's Prayer verbatim can become a religious practice with no real meaning that becomes the focus rather than the actual principals behind it.HBD

Yea, I see this as the crux of the problem in allowing state-sponsored prayer. If only Christian prayers were allowed at the beginning of Congress or in school, that would be the state sponsoring a particular religious affiliation. Would they have to take the time to allow every possible religious group a time to offer a prayer? Seems a big waste of time to me.No, I would not be pleased if my child's classroom began everyday with a Muslim prayer or some Buddist meditation. And it really doesn't make sense to use some generic prayer "Oh [insert name of personal god here], helps us this day..." Kinda pointless.Maybe a good compromise would be to have a few moments of silence for prayer/meditation/reflection to get your heart and mind prepared for the task at hand and to commit to unselfishly doing the right thing. Our Congressmen/women could certainly use such a time HBD

His longest and most detailed recorded prayer was at the Passover meal when he prayed for himself, the disciples, their future and for all future believers - recorded in John 17. Not really a public prayer, but it was in a group setting.There is also Luke 18 where Jesus tells some parables about prayer. One is about persistence and one is about is praying in humility.If you take an overall look at what Jesus taught about prayer and religious conduct in general, he insists that it is not to be used for person glorification, but is to be done in humility, for the glorification of God and for other people.I think you pretty much got the gist of it, I just wanted to add those couple of examples to your list of instructions.HBD

Lol. Yea students would only use that time to pick their nose, or write a note to their friend or sneak a peak up little Suzy's skirt. HBD