Prayer Or Silence? How about both or neither?

http://blog.al.com/jkennedy/2010/04/joey_kennedy_upset_about_praye.html

Joey Kennedy a board member of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty asks:

“We get too silly with these arguments. There's nothing wrong with prayer before a council meeting. Or with "In God We Trust" on our coins and currency. Or in acknowledging a higher power and hoping that power will offer grace to each of us, every one. Or a moment of silence.
What do you think?”

The origins of “In God We Trust” date back to the 1800s. However, its use was not made mandatory until 1955 as part of the reaction to red scare (In God We Trust, U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 11, 1955, http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/index.cfm?action=fun_facts5, retrieved 2009-02-08). Last time I had checked, the Cold War was over. Why America would insist on using a motto that became mandatory due to a threat that no longer exists “godless communism” is beyond me. The threats facing America today are motivated by anything but godlessness.

A moment of silence would actually be preferable. Prayer does not have to be eliminated outright if a moment of silence is rotated in though Kennedy is proposing an “or” rather than an “either” scenario. In which case I say: neither.