Miss Simplee Sufficient

Faith is a fundamental thing... It pervades every aspect of your life. While faith is a personal thing - a private thing - it also have public manifestations. One such example is meal time...

Whether you eat in the campus cafeteria, in your dorm room or at a restaurant, each of these settings fall beyond the boundaries of your personalized place of worship. And with so many arguments, judicial mandates and ever-changing legislation dealing with the importance of separation of church and state - what’s a woman of faith supposed to do?

Everywhere you turn, you’ll hear arguments: “Is it freedom of religion or freedom from religion?” suddenly, something like blessing your food (which was once second nature) can find you on the receiving end of legal or campus action.

The next time that you feel led to pray in public, here are a few things you should try to keep in mind:

• Unless you’re at a church function, you may want to say your prayers silently.
• If you’re in a group praying in public, it’s okay to hold hands and form a circle, but you still may wish to utter your prayers silently.
• If you’re at a small, mixed-faith gathering, you can ask others if your praying is okay or whether they find it offensive.
• If you’re attending a campus activity, you can pray silently or ask for a “moment of silence or reflection”, but ask around before leading a public spoken prayer or you may be deemed unconstitutional.
• Finally, know your rights. You don’t have to abandon the tenets of your faith in order to be politically correct. Your religious freedom is just as important as every other Americans’!