A little behind the current posts, but it's one of my favorite soap boxes... (I don't have the texts I'm paraphrasing in front of me, so any mistakes are the fault of my rotten memory and worse typing) Please note the two pasted quotes from earlier posts... someday I'll learn enough HTML coding to do simple stuff like bolding or italicizing.

"Congress shall make no law respecting the institution of a religion..."

In his letter to the Danbury Baptist church, Jefferson stated that the purpose of this phrase was to: ...draw an inviolable wall of separation between church and state... NotE: not just Congress, but the whole apparatus of the state.

"It's a dodgy issue at best, as it all comes down to a matter of opinion for the most part... at what point does requesting a 'moment of prayer' go from being a personal gesture and become a governmental declaration? I suppose that Bush's prayer would all be considered 'personal gesture', as long as he does not try to mandate mandatory prayer via executive order or what have you. "

Any act done in this manner, and done from a position of authority, is legally considered to have been done under "color of authority" of the office, and in the absence of specific explanations, is interpreted as being in line with the common perception of his views.

Therefore, his mandate definitely CAN be seen as an unconstitutional directive from the president, and not a personal gesture. If he had stated "I will be prying...." that would be personal, but this is religious pressure under the authority of the states banner, however arguably well and nobly intentioned that it may (or may not) have been.

And one final note of hope... It may be 4 years to the next presidential election, but it's only two years until we can fight for Congress!

Jeff