The Times introduces us to Jessica Ahlquist, a young woman who sued her local school district for displaying a prayer in the high school auditorium. Jessica identifies as an atheist and became the target of death threats after a judge ruled that the prayer display is unconstitutional. While the prayer is fairly bland–it asks for God to help the students be nice kids–it clearly advocates a religious perspective and has no place in a public school. That Jessica is now a pariah in her small Rhode Island town isn’t surprising, but it’s still distressing. Jessica didn’t object to the prayer itself; merely its placement in a government building. But many of her neighbors seemed to interpret her objections as a personal attack on their faith. I realize that belief is deeply entwined with the symbols of that belief, but I can’t understand how people can invest so much significance in a prayer that has less punch than a Saltine cracker.
