My son was forced to pray at a school-sponsored event; sucks to be agnostic in a Christian culture

[ChoppinBroccoli]

65. As For Myself, This Is What I Do When Faced With Those Situations

First of all, for purposes of full disclosure, I'm not a religious person. I'm not an Atheist, but I have a healthy disrespect for pretty much all forms of ORGANIZED religion. Whenever I'm at an event where a prayer is being conducted (I actually had this happen yesterday--I was attending my nephew's baptism at a Catholic church, and I find the Catholic sect to be particularly ridiculous with all their dogged adherence to meaningless ritual), I simply refuse to take part. I don't make a spectacle of myself; I simply don't participate. I don't fold my hands or bow my head or "go through the motions." I just remain silent out of respect for the "believers" around me, and I look the person conducting the prayer right in the eye, as I would for anything else he/she said. In my experience, this is the best way to handle things. Just my opinion based on my own life experiences. No need to start a Holy War. No need to call attention to the fact that you're not conforming or demand that the others do as you do. Just follow your own path.

I understand your frustration. I went through a similar "moral dilemma" last year when I found out my 5-year-old son was being asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (I have a major problem with any kind of loyalty oath, especially one being forced on a 5-year-old child--it smacks of indoctrination). At the end of the day, I decided that my raising a stink about it would only cause more problems than it would solve, especially since children that age have no idea what the words mean anyway. When he gets old enough to start making his own decisions about such issues, I'll encourage him to do the exact same thing: follow his convictions while respecting others' beliefs at the same time.