Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
I, personally, would have no problem if a Muslim speaker thanked Allah, or a Hindu thanked Ganesh. In my mind it's like one person calling a vehicle with an engine a motorcar and another person calling it an automobile.
As a staunch supporter of sepereation of chursch and state, I would have a problem with ANy religious speech used in a government tax payer supported venue. I think it is disrespectful to all beliefs to assume that a prayer or thanks to a deity other than their own would be the same for everyone. A generic "prayer" which may not have all the aspects of a person's beliefs and traditions of prayer sort of sullies religion overall. I would think that the stronger one's beliefs are, the more they would want that seperation to keep their religious traditions pure.