It’s time to revisit the potential of religion as a civilising force

I READ recently about an American school principal who found he was prohibited by law from saying a prayer over the public address system at the start of a high school football game. This was on the grounds that the prayer would offend non-Christian minorities.

"As I understand the law," he told the spectators in the stadium, "I can use this public facility to present the merits of killing an unborn baby as a viable means of birth control. If someone is offended, that's OK.

"I can designate a school day as Earth Day and involve students in activities to worship religiously and praise the goddess Mother Earth and call it ecology. If someone is offended, that's OK.