] Why not? There's organized sports, aren't there? If you
] don't believe in prayer, then don't participate. If it's
] organized, then I don't see this as anything other than a case
] of the school being free to do what it would like.

Because public schools are an extension of the state. An organized religious ceremony in a public school is a state organized religious ceremony. The state is forbidden by the constitution from organizing religious ceremonies. The reason is that once the state enters the business of religion, two problems inevitably arise:

1. People who have a particular faith are given preference to those who do not in matters of justice. This is exactly the subtext of the interest in putting the 10 commandments in court houses. Justice cannot occur in such a court.

2. The state begins to govern through religious edict rather then through law. Religious edicts cannot be questioned. Either you agree with God or you're wrong. If you have laws that cannot be questioned by the citizens then you have a government which cannot be democratic because the people no longer have the ability to dissent. Inevitably this leads to corruption.

RE: Debate